FANS GAVE ME A FAIR DEAL
Paterson thanks Swansea fans for warm welcome back after his contract dispute
JAMIE PATERSON offered heartfelt thanks to the Swansea supporters for showing him support on his return.
Paterson paid tribute to fans who stuck by him during his return after the midfielder had missed six games as a result of a contract dispute.
The former Bristol City man, who was picked up for nothing last summer but has become the Welsh club’s most influential creator, laid on the only goal for Michael Obafemi.
Paterson was described by head coach Russell Martin as not being in the right frame of mind to play when he fell out with the club’s hierarchy in December over the wages offered next season in a twoyear deal.
The 29-year-old was hoping a triggered deal, based on the number of games played, would mean a pay hike. The club stuck to the terms agreed – a stance most fans supported on social media.
But if Paterson feared a rough reception on his return, he was pleasantly surprised by their willingness to let grudges go.
“That was amazing, to be fair,” he said, after Swansea coped with 10 men for 40 minutes to dent Blackburn’s hopes of automatic promotion.
“They got behind me, they sang my name, it was an amazing feeling and I was just glad to give them the three points. I love playing football. Sometimes things off the pitch can be difficult and I just want to get back to playing football.
“The fans helped settle my nerves and I was glad to be able to repay them with an assist, and we got three points against a really good side.
“I will try and score and assist as many times as I can, and bring the leadership and experience the gaffer talks to me about.”
For his part, Martin has shown he is shrewd enough to steer a middle ground between owners and players, without breaking the trust of either.
“I don’t see it as Pato’s fault,” said Martin.
“It’s really difficult to ignore the noise sometimes as a professional footballer and he wasn’t able to do that. It really affected him.” Blackburn had plenty of chances after Ryan Manning was sent off for a second yellow card offence in the 53rd minute, but couldn’t hit the target.
Rovers boss Tony Mowbray appears to have accepted his team are unlikely to hang on to second pl ac e in th e Championship and suggested a play-off place is their goal.
“We’ve got 16 games left and we have to win half of them,” said Mowbray (right).
“If we can then that will undoubtedly cement a playoff place and then hopefully we can win more than that and see how the rest do. It’s about the games we win, not the games we lose.”