Matty Pattison (born 27 October 1986) is a South African former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and current head of youth development at Whickham.

Early life

Pattison, who was born in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a Megacity#List of megacities, megacity, and is List of urban areas by p ...

, began to play football at an early age. He and his family then moved to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in 1997, when he was eleven years old. He joined Newcastle Youth Academy at the age of fourteen.

Club career

Newcastle United

He got his first taste of senior football in a pre-season

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against Celtic in August 2004. Unfortunately, Pattison was put on the sideline for the whole 2004–05 season with two knee ligament injuries that threatened to end his career. However, he showed his resilience and made his competitive first team debut on 25 February 2006 in a Premier League match against Everton, coming on as a substitute. Pattison made his first start for the club later in the same season against

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional Association football, football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English foo ...

, before being substituted after 80 minutes. Pattison was later named

man of the match In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...

for the impressive contribution he made during the 3–0 win.

Norwich City

Pattison joined Norwich City for a short loan period in November 2007, following ex-manager Glenn Roeder. After making 10 appearances and impressing, the deal was made permanent once the transfer window opened on 4 January 2008 for an undisclosed fee, on a three and a half-year contract. In a bizarre incident, it was reported on 19 March, that Pattison had been arrested by police after being caught not only drink-driving, but doing so whilst only wearing underwear. However it was revealed during his resulting court case that he was fully clothed at the time of his arrest. Pattison did not score during his first year with Norwich City, despite striking the goal frame on a number of occasions. His first goal finally came in the 2–1 win at Nottingham Forest on 22 November 2008, and was quickly followed up with another against Crystal Palace three days later. He then scored the second goal against local rivals Ipswich Town on 7 December to take his tally to three in four games.

Mamelodi Sundowns

On 3 August 2009 Pattison was reported by South African media to be leaving Norwich to play in South Africa, either for Mamelodi Sundowns or Orlando Pirates. On 6 August Pattison returned to his native South Africa to join Mamelodi Sundowns for an undisclosed fee in hope of breaking into the South African national team for the

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

in South Africa. Matty was on trial at

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

side Leeds United and had scored two goals in two friendly games, putting in some hard working performances in his quest to secure a permanent move back to English football. Leeds saw Matty as a potential solution to their midfield problems following the sale of Jonny Howson. On 27 January 2012 Leeds United Manager Simon Grayson said he would not be offering Matty a deal at the club. Matty also had a trial with Scottish club Hibernian in January 2012 but eventually, he signed a six-month deal with Engen Santos on 31 January 2012. On 1 May 2012, Matty departed from Santos prior to the expiration of the contract. After parting ways with Santos, on 3 June 2012, it was announced that Matty would join South African club Bidvest Wits.

Gateshead

On 3 October 2014, Pattison signed for

Conference Premier The National League, known as the Vanarama National League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the National League System and fifth-highest of the overall English football league system. It is the highest league that is semi-profess ...

club Gateshead until the end of the 2014–15 season, subject to international clearance. He made his debut on 11 October in a 1–1 draw with Forest Green Rovers. He scored his first goal for Gateshead on 11 November in a 3–3 draw with Lincoln City. After two seasons with the club, Pattison was released by Gateshead in May 2016.

South Shields

On 24 May 2017, Pattison signed for

Northern League Northern League may refer to: Sport Baseball * Northern League (baseball, 1902–71), a name used by several minor leagues that operated in the upper midwestern U.S. and Manitoba from 1902 to 1971 * Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), an indep ...

club

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on a free transfer from Blyth Spartans.

Whickham

At the beginning of the 2018–19 season, the former South African International moved to Whickham and was named manager in November 2019.

Return to Gateshead

After leaving Whickham in February 2020, Pattison was added to the first team squad at Gateshead, where he had been named Academy Coach whilst at Whickham.

Dunston UTS

On 19th August 2021, Pattison signed for Northern Premier League Division One East club Dunston UTS. He made his debut on 21 August coming off of the bench against Newcastle Benfield in a 2-1 win in the FA Cup Preliminary Round. Pattison made his final appearance for Dunston UTS after a substitute appearance in a 2-2 draw against

Bamber Bridge Bamber Bridge is an urban village in Lancashire, England, south-east of Preston, in the borough of South Ribble. The name derives from the Old English "bēam" and "brycg", which probably means "tree-trunk bridge". The population was 13,945 at ...

in the FA Trophy Third Qualifying Round, on 30th October 2021. On 20th November 2021, Matty Pattison announced his decision to end his playing career in football.

International career

Although having been called up to the senior squad several times, Pattison was first capped for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

off the bench against the US in November 2010. Pattison was selected for the nation's

29-man squad for a training camp in Durban from 15 to 28 January 2010, playing in an unofficial friendly match against

Swaziland Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

. Pattison came off the bench to win his second cap against

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in February 2011. He was later called up as a late replacement for the injured Jabulani Shongwe in the 2014 African Nations Championship. He came off the bench against Mozambique on 11 January to win his third cap

Non-playing career

On 17 January 2022, Pattison was announced as a lead coach for

i2i Soccer Academy I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''i'' (pronounced ), plural ...

. On 8 June 2022, Pattison was also announced as head of youth development at Whickham FC.

Awards

Nedbank Cup Player of the Tournament: 2010

References

External links

* *https://web.archive.org/web/20090822023350/http://www.football365.co.za/player/0,25236,14311_180855,00.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Pattison, Matty 1986 births Living people Sportspeople from Johannesburg South African people of English descent White South African people Association football midfielders South African soccer players South African expatriate soccer players South African expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Newcastle United F.C. players Norwich City F.C. players Mamelodi Sundowns F.C. players Santos F.C. (South Africa) players Bidvest Wits F.C. players Gateshead F.C. players Blyth Spartans A.F.C. players South Shields F.C. (1974) players Whickham F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players National League (English football) players Northern Premier League players Northern Football League players South Africa international soccer players