Steve Paterson

Manager Steve Paterson’s reward with his time at Formartine United was seeing the Aberdeenshire Cup sitting at North Lodge after a sensational 3-2 victory over local rivals Inverurie Loco Works at Bellslea. The experienced manager started his playing career at Nairn County as a central defender before joining Manchester United in July 1975. He made a total of six league appearances for the Red Devils over five seasons, moving on to Sheffield United in a £60,000 deal but an ankle injury sustained in pre-season training forced Paterson to retire. Steve made his comeback as player in July 1981 with Buckie Thistle before joining Peterhead and then moving on for a spell playing for Hong Kong Rangers before rejoining Nairn County in August 1982. His travels continued when he teamed up again with former boss Tommy Docherty at Sydney Olympic and then moved on to become first European to play in Japan in 1983. Success followed in Japan with cup wins and titles with Yomiuri before his playing career was again cut short by persistent injury problems. His management career began in the Highland League with Elgin City, before he moved on to Huntly. In the summer of 1995 he joined Inverness Caledonian Thistle, who were in the Scottish Third Division at that time. Paterson spent seven and a half years at Caley Thistle, their longest serving manager to date. During this time, he took the club from the Third Division to the First Division and presided over the team's famous victories against Celtic in the Scottish Cup. Paterson was offered the manager's position at Aberdeen and became the clubs manager in December 2002 lasting eighteen months at Pittodrie with his assistant Duncan Shearer. His next managerial post was with Highland League side Forres Mechanics, which he left in the summer of 2006 to become the new manager of Peterhead, a position from which he was eventually left in January 2008. Steve returned to Huntly after a spell out of the game in October 2010, before departing in April 2011 to take over the Managers position at North Lodge.