Martin Paterson speaks on becoming the new Notts County boss, his plans and time at Burton Albion before leaving the League One side.
The 38 year old was thrilled about being named as the new head coach of the Magpies, acknowledging the competitive nature of securing such a role.
He impressed the owners, including Roberto, during interviews and is eager to start working, focusing on laying the groundwork for the team.
Patterson finds Notts County unique due to its clear vision from the owners, talking about the specific recruitment strategies and a defined playing style.
He felt an immediate alignment with these principles during interviews, valuing the club’s structure and honesty about past mistakes, which he believes can drive success.
Have a watch of his interview below, where he spoke on the ole as Head Coach, coaching staff, playing style, philosophy, coaching journey, pre-season, squad assessment and transfer activity.
Notts County cause a stir with fans as they explain their decision to appoint Martin Paterson
Interviewer: Martin, congratulations on your appointment. It’s great to have you here as our head coach. Just give us your initial thoughts and feelings.
Martin: Well, delighted. First and foremost, It’s never easy to get an appointment now, especially with the questions and the formats of interviews. So I was lucky enough to to get the opportunity to interview and get in front of the owners, Roberto, and impressed them enough to get the the job. So I’m delighted. It’s, you know, it takes a lot to get a job. And and now that I have it, I’m feeling very pleased, but that doesn’t last longer because I’m in working today. And, putting in the the start points of, the football team.
Interviewer: It is a two way street though. You wanna be in a job that, you you’re happy with and you appreciate the structure and the environment. What is it about Notts that appeal to you?
Martin: Well, I think, if I’m honest, it’s a unique club. And I say that in a positive aspect where the owners are very clear what they want. They want people to do things in a certain way, use certain things for recruitment, play football in a certain way. And what we had, I believe is, instant alignment on that. And I think when you have alignment, you can you can be successful. I was very honest in my interviews about how I see football. I was very honest about what I think I can confidently add. I was also very confident about things that have happened in the past where I’ve made mistakes. And the key thing for me is to learn from them and put it into practice, and it’d be beneficial for the football club.
Interviewer: It is a unique structure. It’s, you know, it’s something that’s been deployed in other sports, and it’s also coming more in more into football as well. But just give us your sort of overall perception of of how things are going to be done here at Notts.
Martin: Well, I think they’ve had success doing things in a certain way. So I talk to more about adding things on rather than taking away. I think playing football in the positive way that that we have been playing, will continue. I also think that the format allows people to get on with their specific jobs and concentrate on one thing. Mine is a head coach, so it’s dealing with the team. That appealed to me. The fact that it’s a massive club always appeals to any head coach. And it’s a massive club in a division where it’s hard. It was unlucky not to get promoted last year. So for me, that’s a positive that you come in, play positive football, for the ultimate goal, of getting the team promoted.
Interviewer: You’ll be sitting on a technical board, which also includes our owners, director of football, Roberto, and doctor David Rhodes, head of performance, performance, along with your support staff. Within that structure, there’ll be pre and post match meetings. There’ll be other meetings to discuss football strategy along the way. It’s those sort of pre and post match meetings I kind of wanna hone in on, and it, you know, it’s a real sense of collaboration, isn’t it? In terms of arming you with as much information as possible from the data side, and other factors to to help you win matches.
Martin: Yeah. I think you you hit the nail on the head. It’s a collaborative effort. It’s, as a head coach, yes, I’m in charge with decisions. But when you debrief and you speak quite honestly with people around the football club who are honest, and if I’m honest, you might be able to get better performances, better results. I’m not above being told that in moments I may have made a mistake or I might see things in a different way. And that we can improve. And if I can show the humility to listen and improve, and take things on board, I think everybody around me, the players can do the same. And it’s a learning environment. We have to learn to be better on a daily on a daily basis. But what it what it gets is everything is transparent. Everyone speaks the truth in the meeting. And it’s for the benefit of of the football club because, it’s not about me, it’s not about the people on the board. It’s about using that process to improve things on the pitch, so the players can show a real positive way of playing. The supporters sit down, on Saturdays and enjoy watching the team play, which is paramount.
Interviewer: Do you see the value as a head coach and and as part of the wider coaching team in having that structured dialogue, that opportunity for pre and post match discussions to talk about maybe what you’ve seen on the training field to challenge perhaps the data that has been suggested, you know, might be able to help you? Is having that connection and that structure between yourself and the non football, the non coaching staff, is that valuable?
Martin: It is valuable, because as much as I’m a footballing man, I don’t pretend to know data. I don’t, You know, I’m quite, honest to say that I don’t know data in and out, and why would I? So to get a better understanding, I ask questions. Okay. Why? Why would you do this? Why would you sign him? What we’re looking at? And then vice versa, if I have an opinion, I voice it, but it’s simply just an opinion. But it’s for the benefit of getting better and always with the interest of the football club, which should always come first. So I think there’s a benefit to all of the things we’ve talked about, data, the human element of evaluating players and the way that we play. And again, using it as a tool for collaborating for the greater good of improvement of the team.
Interviewer: Andy Edwards is your assistant head coach. You’ve had conversations with him. Just give us sort of your feelings around working with him.
Martin: Well, delighted to get him on board. He’s got a long history of coaching. He’s just recently been with the FA, working with the top talents in the country. He’s a good coach. He knows football. And the relationship will grow, as the weeks go. The most important thing, he’s passionate. He wants to improve players, which is is a massive part of our coaching journey to make players better. And I see it as a great addition to the football club and to myself, and I’ll be leaning in on him heavily to run the sessions, to coach the players alongside me, and Sam, and and Steve. And it’s exciting because we get a pre season. I haven’t, as a head coach, had a pre season before, which is is paramount and it’s really, really, exciting because you get to work with the players, get them to understand what you actually want, and have six weeks to to put it into practice. So day one, you’ll be ready to go.
Interviewer: And in Sam Slocombe, you you’ll be working with somebody who has huge affinity to the club, massive connection with the fans, and with many members of the current squad. Do you do you see the value in that as well?
Martin: Yeah. I think it’s it’s self explanatory, that value. It’s free information for me on all the players and and how the how the team’s been successful, over the years. It also might be helpful to me the way he see things have have gone slightly wrong in moments, as it always will. So not only from his playing experience and and and his status with the supporters in the club and his growth as a coach as well, because we’ve got to develop him as a coach. It’s just it’s just a great addition to my coaching staff. Free information for me and help. And hopefully I can help him on his journey as well, and we can all, work together to get the team successful this year.
Interviewer: You spoke a little bit about style of play earlier. The club does have a very sort of clear DNA and philosophy on the way that they want to play, but obviously as head coach, you’ll be implementing your own ideas and tweaks to to that system. Can you just give us any insights on what you what are the basic principles of what you’re looking for from your team?
Martin: Yeah. Again, I think I go back to what I said and I wanna reiterate this. There’s not a lot that’s wrong. I spoke with the owners and Roberto in terms of my style. My style is not important. What’s important is continuity with the ball. The the owners have talked massively about they want that to continue, which I agree. And we all want to dominate the ball. But where I think, I see areas to improve, and I’ve spoke with the staff, is I think the positivity in moments of the out possession stuff. The positivity with when we do have the ball, can we be just a little bit more effective and a little bit more progressive with it a little bit earlier? But that’s not taken away from the fact that, yes, of course, you want to dominate the ball. But I’m a positive head coach. Everyday I come in to work hard, I want the players to be the same. And I want to play positive football that people want to watch. Everybody thinks about possession stats, and it’s really, really important to have the ball. But it’s also important to be entertaining, and to play forward, and to be not only finish a game and talk about 60% possession, but also talk about, okay, what outcomes do we get? Do we get passes forward? Do we get crosses into the box, attempts on goal? But talk is very cheap, and I wanna be careful not to start day one. Talk about we’re gonna be this, we’re gonna be that. Ultimately, I need to work hard over the, pre season with my staff and the team. And we need to make sure in the first five, ten games, organically the supporters see with their own eyes. So I’m not gonna try and win people over and start talking about a beautiful game sat in a chair, or on a tactics board. I’m gonna wait, and I’m gonna earn earn my cross with the supporters, with the team’s performances. But I can assure you, we’ll be working hard to sustain the good things that have gone out of this football club, and add in little things that I think can be a little bit more positive to make the team better.
Interviewer: Let’s talk a little bit more about your overall journey as a coach. Because it actually started, I believe you were only 20 years old when you started doing your coaching badges. Can you just tell us about that story? Because it’s a really interesting one.
Martin: Yeah. I think that, I was, I had a bad knee injury at the time, and I was always interested in coaching. But, I was told by people that in and around me, to go and get my coaching badges just in case, and I did. It was one of the best things I ever did. I think I was one of the youngest to have a license in the country. My one of my partners on the course was was Eddie Howe, who was that year then manager of Burnley. And we’re on the both on the same coaching course. So that was strange, but also really good in terms of my learning as a young coach and and and watching people like that grow. And being on the same course as as someone as him, and then him becoming a manager and being a mentor. So I was young when I started coaching. I’m still believe I’m young. I’m still learning, and that’s another thing I’ve got to address. I’m not sat here pretending to be the finished article. I know that I need to grow, learn with the football club. And I’ve got a quiet confidence in what I can do, but also I know there’s things that I I need to get better at. And I’m hoping to do that here, because we can all talk about style of play. We can all talk about if I’m good, if I’m bad. But ultimately, we need to win games of football, which is key which is really key for this football club in this division. Because we can’t hide behind the fact that what the objective is, and I won’t. But my coaching journey started early as I’ve talked about. But I I feel that I’m more than ready to be a head coach. I’ve been one before. I’ve learned my lessons and and and key ingredients to what works, what doesn’t. And I’m ready to take this fantastic football club forward.
Interviewer: We’ll talk a bit more about your experience as a head coach at Burton shortly, but you sort of cut your teeth as a coach and an assistant head coach in America. You went on to work with with Phil Neville.
Martin: Yeah. I was assistant manager to Phil Neville, Inter Miami. Great experience. Phil, a fantastic mentor for me. Someone that promoted me for the 20 very quickly, which I was delighted with. And again, first and foremost, Phil was excellent in the way that he treated people. And I’m the same. I think everyone focuses on the football, but they forget about the human element of how you treat people in the club. From the kit man, the tea lady, all the way up to the to the sporting directors and the owners. You you should treat people with respect and you should be be a good person. And that’s one thing I learned from Phil. And all of his, you know, the the football clubs he’s been at, the things that he’s achieved in football. The first thing he was was a fantastic human being and really kind and allowed me to coach and grow, in the first team in the MLS. So, yeah, I really enjoyed that period.
Interviewer: Then you linked up with your former teammate, Michael Duff. What was that experience like being an assistant head coach to him at three different clubs in the EFL?
Martin: Yeah. Again, another mentor of mine, I say Duffo, but I’ll call him Michael out of respect. What he’s done for me and he’s always believed in me, took me pretty much every club he’s been at. I’ve learned from him. I think he’s someone with a phenomenal win percentage. I think he’s nearly 50%. So to learn how to be a head coach from underneath him is invaluable, but also the friendship that that we’ve struck up over the years as coaches, not just as players because we won a promotion to the Premier League together. But we struck up a friendship as coaches out of honesty and hard work. My job was simply to translate what he wanted to the players. And we were very unlucky at Barnsley not to win promotion. We went to Swansea. Again, we were a very dominant possession team. I enjoyed my time there, just didn’t quite work out for us both. And then we’ve had a spell at Huddersfield where, again, it was indifferent. We had a 16 unbeaten spell, but football doesn’t owe you anything. It is tough. But again, a great mentor of mine. I’m very thankful for the things he’s done for me.
Interviewer: Yeah. And all that experience that you built led to an opportunity with Burton Albion last season. Just tell us about the remit that you were given there. It was a short term contract, obviously. You know, I believe it was a fairly challenging situation. Do you wanna just sort of tell us more about that experience?
Martin: Yeah. Challenging in an aspect where you go in and the remit is to stay within the division. A crash course in head coach at that time I was manager at that football club with responsible for recruitment, responsible for loan window, responsible for the team’s performances. Something that I embraced, and and I give it my all. It come with difficulties, and I think one of my key learning is is is emotional control. I think we went in early on, we got some great results, and probably thought that it would be not easy swimming, but I thought that okay, we’ve we’ve got the team in a good spot. Spot. Then I went on a little bit of a bad spell. And what I’ve learned on a debrief of myself from that is to be completely, controlled with your emotions. So when things go well, yep, fantastic. But stay really calm and and and continue to improve because just around the corner football owes you nothing. But the positive was that we managed to get the team safe, and and I learned valuable lessons about being a head coach. This is a little bit different of a football club. I’ve got massive support around me. I’ve got a leadership in place that will that will do most things for me. And my focus is simply on just being a head coach of the football team. But again, it was a difficult experience, but one that I’ve learned from and one that I again When you’ve worked at football clubs, the key thing for me is that you hold your head up high and and you leave the football club in a better space. My remit was to leave the club in the same space, which I’m actually very proud of doing because it was difficult. Really difficult with the level that we were playing at, and no disrespect. The group that we had probably, wasn’t at that level at the time. And again, massive lessons learned. And I think when you are a head coach, it’s about being honest that you did certain things good, but also accepting probably didn’t do things well. And there’s no shame in saying that and growing. I’ve got thick skin. I’ve got a resilience to myself that wants to be better. So rather than just blanket it all off as an ultimate success, getting them safe, I’ve took on board the lessons I could have done better, and I’ll take that into Notts County.
Interviewer: One of the challenges as you alluded to earlier was that you went in mid season, but you do have four or five days to really sort of get yourself prepared for the the lads return for pre season training on Friday. What will happen between now and then?
Martin: Yeah. That’s it’s a luxury for a coach to have a pre season. Like you say, I went in middle of the season, in a transfer window, and and played Derby on the, I think, the second night of my reign. And I conceded a last minute goal in the 98th minute. So, yes, pre season is a luxury. So what we’re doing now is we’re planning, the trainings, we’re planning the travels. And we’re assessing all the players in key areas of where they can improve. Getting the DNA of the football club, ingrained in them. There are a lot of them already have it, but it’s important that in the pre season, the tweaks that I think we can improve, the positive tweaks. They’re fully understanding of what they are, and and and they they go out and and can perform these tweaks on match day one, and not overthink it, be free with the way that they play.
Interviewer: What do you make of the squad?
Martin: The squad, again, I watched them last year multiple times. The squad is good. The squad is good. We’ve got good players. Yes, there’s key areas that that we’ve lost. There’s key areas that we’re obviously actively Roberto is obviously, looking at and recruiting. The squad at the moment, we’ve got some good players. Yes, we’re aware of certain areas that we need to add But my job is to coach what we have. A lot of people will tell you what players can’t do. I think the key thing for us at this moment with the squad is coach what we have and what they can do. And again, as I’ve said, and I keep reinforcing, adding the tweaks that I think can make the team even better. But I’m a positive, head coach, like I’ve said before. And I wanna look at the strengths and utilise them.
Interviewer: Some of those tweaks you’ll be looking to put into action out in Germany. Very interesting pre season, calendar out there. Are you looking forward to that and meeting a lot of the fans out there?
Martin: Yeah. I am. And and I think that fans that can attempt to travel this time of year to Germany to watch the club, it’s it’s gonna be important that we we go and spend some time with them. And and and, they they get to know me a little bit on a personal level. So I’ll go and and talk to them all. And for their dedication to travel over to Germany or for people to watch the the games. It’s, you know, we we have got the best job in the world. And we are appreciative of of people that go out and support the football club. Whether it be on TV or or traveling. So, and we’re looking from day one to play positive football and and put in practice some of the things. It might take a little bit of time for it to be effective and and to it work consistently. But the players don’t have to worry about that. It’s for me to coach and, what I want is is a group that enjoy playing for Notts County, which should be should be high up on everyone’s list, and the supporters are coming and enjoy watching them.
Interviewer: As you mentioned, director of football, Roberto Gagliardi, he’s a busy man at the minute. It is the transfer window. Got to ask you about one particular man that we brought in, Tom Iorpenda. Obviously, you know him from Huddersfield. Just sort of give us your thoughts on on what you think he led to the group.
Martin: Yes. I know Tom. I’ve coached him. He’s got a high ceiling. He really has. He’s been caught in a very difficult situation when a player makes the transition where he’s probably just gone past the B team and probably quite wasn’t ready to challenge some of the really good league one players we had at the time at Huddersfield. So he was caught in a real dangerous window. So we were delighted to to get him on board, because he’s got a really high ceiling, some really strong attributes. He’s a very tall boy, but excellent with his technical ability. He’s got good physicality in terms of traveling with the ball as well. He can drive with the football, and can handle the ball very well, with his passes. So he’s a really interesting good addition. He’s gonna get used to being in a different environment. He’s gonna get used to playing football a bit more regularly. And like any young player or any player for not counting, you’ve got to earn the right to wear the shirt. So, that’s for him to come in and challenge the other midfielders in pre season. But Tom’s got a really high ceiling and and really strong attributes, to be successful at this level.
Interviewer: And in terms of further additions, you won’t have the same level of responsibility and pressure on you as you you perhaps did at Burton because obviously the story the club is structured here, but the head coach nevertheless does have a significant say in the in the direction with player recruitment. Are you looking forward to sort of those conversations with with Roberto, I’m guessing, over the next days and weeks?
Martin: Yeah. The conversations have begun and stay pretty much 24/7 while whilst the windows open. But, yeah. Again, I’m very lucky to have a clear structure in front of me, that’s been successful in moments. So the club are clear on what they want the players to look like, what the players want to do. And my job is to to probably guide in terms of which player fits the group better, fits the team better, and ultimately they make a decision. But my job is to get the players and coach them, and to give them the platform to enjoy, and give them the platform to produce moments that wins games of football.
