New lawnmower and fresh thinking – Paterson on Notts promotion
· Yahoo Sports
Notts County boss Martin Paterson wasted no time in identifying his first summer transfer target after guiding the Magpies to League One for the first time in 11 years.
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Forget about it being a dashing forward who can fly about the turf, or a box-to-box midfielder who can cover every blade of grass.
What the green-fingered boss is thinking of is more about pure lawn-clipping accuracy.
It was after Notts overcame Chesterfield in their play-off semi-final that the 38-year-old said he would begin preparations for their final showdown with Salford City at Wembley by "chopping stuff down" in his garden while listening to country music.
On Monday, he oversaw an eye-catching 3-0 victory at the national stadium.
"We have achieved something now and I'll be making lots of comments to the owners about buying me a new lawnmower and I hope they do," Paterson said with a grin during his post-match press conference.
Paterson says he discovered the benefits of tending plants – and generally cutting down things - this season as a way of dealing with the demands of the job.
At Notts, he has overseen promotion in what has been his first full season in management.
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With a short spell in charge of League One side Burton Albion in 2024 being his only previous experience as a boss, the former Huddersfield Town, Swansea, Barnsley and Inter Miami assistant coach was greeted as an underwhelming choice when appointed as head coach at Meadow Lane last summer.
"People don't understand, they don't know how hard football is to get a Burton Albion team safe in League One with not much [resource]," he told BBC Sport.
"I got them safe and that was the remit.
"But you get doubted and questions are always asked in this industry, because it's the opium of the people. Everyone loves football. So, I used that as fuel to come and join Notts County, a massive football club in a great city."
While reluctant to talk at length about himself, the former Stoke and Huddersfield striker, who helped fire Burnley to promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs in 2009, said taking Notts up to League One as head coach ranks "as number one for my career achievements".
"It's relief that we have achieved what we came here to do," he said of the victory against Salford in the final.
"I'm going enjoy it with my family, because on days like this people skim over it too quickly.
"And I'm really going to extend this 24-48 hours to enjoy it because I don't think people see what we go through - I'm only a young head coach, only 18 months in and this is my first full year and I'm emotionally tired."
Paterson on working in 'unique' circumstances
When appointed at Notts, Paterson became part of a radical new approach to how the Magpies would be managed.
As head coach, he took his place on the newly-created technical board, headed by Notts owners Christoffer and Alexander Reedtz – Danish brothers who also own football analytics company Football Radar – and which includes a director of football Richard Montague, as well as others.
On his arrival at Meadow Lane in June 2025 he readily accepted that he would be "one cog" in a wider management committee.
"It's unique, I know that, but it's something that I've embraced and aligned with," Paterson said at Wembley when asked about working with the technical board this season.
"But really, it is the same thing that has happened over 170 years of football's existence. The owners want to know what I'm doing and why I'm doing it and that is what the technical board meeting is for. It's for me to explain why did that player play, why did I do this against this team and why did I not have that player in the squad.
"It's from the honesty that I always carry that it has not been a problem for me."