Jags on the cup trail
East Kilbride Thistle boss relishing new challenge
PAUL THOMSON: Obviously there is a big game coming up for you, but first of all, I wanted to understand what the attraction was in coming to the Showpark. Although they won promotion last season, the club has been through a lot in recent years, so what made you want this job?
Alan Paterson: I always knew there was going to be no money. But money is not everything.
Billy Dolan: It’s more of a challenge, I think.
AP: I don’t get anything out of this other than the challenge. I stand in my tracksuit in the p ****** rain after walking out in the p ****** rain delivering the post all day. I’ve got a day job so I’m fine. Don’t get me wrong, if we got something for doing this it would be great.
BD: Aye, hold on. If somebody wants to give us £600 a week between the three of us, we’ll take it! We’ll no turn that down! (laughs)
AP: Yeah, but I grew up in Bosfield Road in the Village and every day after school we would come down and jump the fence at the Showpark and play World Cuppy. Then on a Saturday we’d always go down to the game - and don’t get me wrong, if there was a ball lying about we would steal it because I couldn’t afford a Mitre.
BD: We’d go in back gardens and knock balls sometimes!
AP: Aye the guy at the Showpark used to say he’d give us £1 each if we got the ball when it went out the park. We used to get into the games for nothing for doing that. So I’d go down there and watching guys like Donny Ballantyne, John Workman and Tony Gallagher was great.
BD: Yeah, Joe Reilly and all that as well.
AP: I remember when I’d just left Queen’s Park, EK had just got promoted. John McClymont was the manager then and a lot of my mates were playing. There was a big crowd and I remember thinking I’d like to play here. When I left Queen’s Park I ended up joining Cambuslang Rangers and I really enjoyed my time there. But I always had it in the back of mind that I wanted to go back to Thistle and have a go at it. Not long after, John Brogan phoned me and I went to Thistle and had a good first season. The second season we played Clydebank when they’d just came out of senior football, so they still had a big crowd. It was Rab McKinnon’s last game and we needed to win to get promoted. There was something like 3000 people there that night and we won 3-0. It was great and such a big buzz going back into the social club after that. And that’s a big miss down there, that place burning down.
BD: You talk about past players, I remember when I was a wee boy going in at Celtic and they had names like Charlie Nicholas and all that, but when I bumped into Joe Reilly I was — and I still get — a bit starstruck. At the time I was playing reserve team football along with some high end players, but I remember Joe made a point of coming up to talk to me one day and I was chuffed to bits that night. As Patsy says being a young boy and remembering all these things, going to Ibrox and watching them win the Junior Cup it was great. I went to the game. I used to play with Greenhills Villa and we ran a bus to it. They were big names for us as young boys growing up in East Kilbride, so for a guy like Joe Reilly making a point to speak to me at 17 years-old when I was playing for Celtic was a big thing for me. There’s a romance down there that can be tapped into and local boys playing for the team makes it even better.
PT: You mention the local boys, do you feel that has been a big part in the success you’ve had so far? Everyone being so familiar with one another?
AP: I took in a Thistle game last year and I never knew half of them. I knew Barry Devine, Alan McFadden, but the rest of them all I didn’t have a clue who they were. We’ve got one boy from Blantyre and one from Hamilton, but the rest are all EK boys. That helps. Their parents are coming down as well, so you get more through the door. But you’ve got to be successful for people to come and watch you as well and as long as the results keep coming, people will keep coming to watch us. And that’s one of the reasons we really want a good cup run. When we went to Culter in the last round and won, their facilities were amazing. I was thinking about the players we could attract if we had something like that. Sometimes we are better not taking players down to the Showpark if we want to sign them, we should take them down to Kirktonholme Pitches instead (laughs). But we don’t butter things up. It’s like Ronseal, we are exactly what it says on the tin.
BD: See if you are honest and transparent with players it makes a big difference. We