Glory In Gothenburg - Sir Alex Challenge

EDIT

I have decided to take part in the Sir Alex Ferguson Challenge.

Craig Paterson has been appointed the new manager of a Scottish First Division Club. We will exclusively reveal which club he has joined in due course.

Wikipedia: Craig Paterson (born 16.09.1980) is a Scottish football manager and former player. Paterson played prominently as a striker.

Early Life

Born to Mark Paterson, a fabricator in the oil industry, and his wife, Irene (née Austin), Craig Paterson was born at his grandmother's home on Cairngorm Drive, Aberdeen, on 16 September 1980, but grew up in a tenement at 18 Arbroath Way which has since been demolished where he lived with his parents as well as his younger brother Alan.

He attended Kirkhill Primary School and later Kincorth Academy, and supported Aberdeen.

Playing Career

Paterson's playing career began as an amateur with Peterhead, where he made his debut as a striker aged 16. He described his first match as a "nightmare", but scored Peterhead's goal in a 2–1 defeat against East Stirlingshire. Perhaps his most notable game for Peterhead was the 7–1 defeat away to Clyde on Boxing Day 1998 when ex-England international Peter Beardsley scored four of the Clyde goals. Paterson was the solitary Peterhead goalscorer.

Despite scoring 20 goals in his 31 games for Peterhead, he could not command a regular place in the side and moved to Brechin City in 1999. Although he continued to score regularly at Brechin City, he was still unable to command a regular place and regularly requested transfers. Paterson was out of favour at the club and he even considered emigrating to Canada, however Brechin City's failure to sign a forward led the manager to select Paterson for a match against Aberdeen, in which he scored a hat trick in a surprise victory. Livingston signed him the following summer (2003), and Paterson became a full-time professional footballer.

The following season (2004/2005), Livingston were strong challengers for the Scottish League and reached the Scottish Cup Final, but Paterson was dropped for the final after a poor performance in a league game against Brechin City. Livingston lost the final 3–2 to Celtic, then failed to win the League by one point. The 2006/2007 season saw Paterson notch up 45 goals in 51 games for Livingston. Along with Anthony Stokes of Falkrik, he was the top goalscorer in the Scottish League with 31 goals.

He then joined Aberdeen for £5,000,000, then a record fee for a transfer between two Scottish clubs. He was blamed for a goal that they conceded in the 2009 Scottish Cup Final, in a match in which he was designated to mark Celtic captain, Stephen McManus, and was subsequently forced to play for the club's junior side instead of for the first team. According to his brother, Paterson was so upset by the experience that he threw his losers' medal away. There have been claims that he suffered discrimination at Aberdeen after his marriage to a Rangers supporter, Kimberley Bartlett, but Paterson himself made in clear in an article with the Evening Express that Aberdeen knew of his wife's support when he joined the club and that he left the club very reluctantly, due to the fall-out from his alleged cup final mistake.

The following October, Birmingham City wanted to sign Paterson, but his wife was not keen on moving to England at that time so he went to Partick Thistle instead. He was promoted to player-coach there, but when Ian McCall became manager he removed Paterson's coaching responsibilities. Paterson responded by requesting a transfer and moved to Hamilton Academical, where he finished his playing career in 2013.

Managerial Career

Tbc...