Former Newcastle United midfielder Matty Pattison speaks to Mark Carruthers about his first few weeks as assistant manager at South Shields FC.
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00:00Matty, I'll see a few weeks into your new role now, back in the club you're very familiar
00:06with, but enjoying it?
00:07Yeah, yeah, of course. I'm really enjoying it. Obviously, I know some of the boys anyway,
00:12some of the staff, so it's been an easy transition for me to be fair, but one I've enjoyed.
00:16So it's been a tough couple of weeks in terms of results, but however the performances have
00:21been there, we've just probably sort of lacked that clinical edge with some of our finishing
00:29at times. But in the main, the boys have done really well and I think their luck's
00:33going to start to change a little bit now. Obviously, two good results in the last three
00:37games and a positive performance even last Saturday away at Chorley, where we should
00:41have got more from the game.
00:42I suppose being in and around the club as well before taking the new role, that's helped
00:46because of that familiarity?
00:47Yeah, of course. Like I said, it's a good thing for the club. You've got somebody who's
00:54stepping up from an academy role up into the first team and shows that there's a progression
00:59there and that's what the club's about. So it was a bit of a no-brainer for me to step
01:05up to that role and it's one that I'm enjoying.
01:08Obviously, you had a playing role here a good few years ago now, it feels. A lot of change
01:13though between that time?
01:14Yeah, of course. A lot of change, a lot of good change. A big new stand, which I never
01:20got the pleasure of playing in front of. But really good things happening in the club
01:24and obviously we want to help us kick on another level again.
01:27And being full-time as well, at this level it's become more commonplace I guess in non-league
01:32but that's got to be an advantage as well with you and Elliot getting time on the training
01:36pitch with the players?
01:37Yeah, like you say, you can do that. You can come in every day, the boys are in their environment,
01:42they're together a lot. So it does build that togetherness as a squad and as a group. So
01:47I think it's a key thing for us.
01:50Obviously, you've managed to coach before but early in your career when you were playing
01:53with Newcastle Norwich and clubs like that, was it always on your agenda? Did you always
01:57want to go into coaching?
01:58I probably didn't think about it as much back then but I think any footballer, it's probably
02:04more of a natural transition to go into coaching because it's what you've always known. That's
02:09been the case for me. You've got to have the passion obviously and you've got to enjoy
02:12it so I've certainly got those things and I'm keen to keep learning and improving obviously,
02:17which I think I will do under the gaffer.
02:20You've worked under some brilliant managers, some of my managers, I know you had a good
02:23relationship with Glenn Rohde as well. Do you take inspiration from some of them?
02:27I think you've got to. Like you say, there's been some big characters that I've played
02:33for so if you can take bits from all of them and try and put them into your own identity
02:40if you like. That's what I try and do but I like to keep that core bit as myself. That's
02:47what I want to keep doing.