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, rugb ...

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 Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

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 First team may refer to: Sports * First team (association football) Association football (more commonly known as football) was first codified in 1863 in England, although games that involved the kicking of a ball were evident considerably e ...

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 football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

, before being substituted after 80 minutes. Pattison was later named man of the match 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 Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

three days later. He then scored the second goal against local rivals

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn professio ...

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 Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club (simply known as Sundowns) is a South African professional football club based in Mamelodi, Pretoria in the Gauteng province that plays in the Premier Soccer League, the first tier of South African football ...

Orlando Pirates Orlando Pirates Football Club (often known as "The Buccaneers") is a South African professional football club based in the Houghton suburb of the city of Johannesburg and plays in the top-tier system of Football in South Africa known as DStv ...

. 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 Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road ...

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 Jonathan Mark Howson (born 21 May 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Middlesbrough in the Championship. Howson started his professional career at Leeds United, where he made 225 appearances following his d ...

. On 27 January 2012 Leeds United Manager

Simon Grayson Simon Nicholas Grayson (born 16 December 1969) is an English professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Indian Super League club Bengaluru. As a player, he was a right back, but he was also utilised in ...

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 Santos Football Club or simply Santos, also officially known under their sponsored title as Engen Santos, is a South African professional soccer club based in the Lansdowne, a suburb of the city of Cape Town. It plays in the SAFA Second Divi ...

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 Bidvest Wits Football Club, (simply often known as Wits University F.C. or Wits) was a South African professional football club from Johannesburg which played in the Premier Soccer League the first-tier of South African league football system. ...

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-professi ...

club

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Millennium Bridge, The Sage, and the Baltic Centre for Contemporary ...

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

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. Historically, it was known in Roman times as Arbeia, and as Caer Urfa by Early Middle Ages. According to the 20 ...

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

, 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 a ...

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 coun ...

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 n ...

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

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

in February 2011. He was later called up as a late replacement for the injured

Jabulani Shongwe Jabulani Shongwe (born 28 February 1990) is a South African soccer player who plays as a midfielder for South African club Highlands Park Highlands Park Football Club was a South African professional soccer club who played in Modderfont ...

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. 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