I ALEX PATTISON

ALEX PATTISON

Harrogate Town’s new centre midfielder whose bite in the tackle and hunger to score goals could quickly make him a fan favourite in North Yorkshire. From joining Middlesbrough’s academy at the age of seven to coming just one conversation away from quitting the game completely at the age of 21 years old, this is ‘Pato’s’ story...

Interview by Henry Whitaker

Born in the large market town of Darlington in Durham, Pattison began his footballing journey with Mount Pleasant Rangers under 7s before being quickly scouted by those at Middlesbrough Football Club.

As a self-proclaimed “energetic and loud” kid, Pattison - or Pato as he’s called by his friends and teammates - loved his early years with the Boro academy. He’d train three times a week in a talented team and although it meant a lot of travelling for his mum and dad, they never thought twice about doing whatever they could for their young lad with a dream.

At 14 years old, along with a bunch of his teammates, Pato was handed a scholarship contract, over a year earlier than the norm. He was in a team with the likes of Dael Fry, Marcus Tavernier, Harry Chapman and Hayden Coulsen, all players who are now regulars in the Sky Bet Championship. Although “buzzing” to get the scholarship, Pato and his family knew that in the long run there was a chance that it could mean nothing.

“It was the first milestone to becoming a pro,” Pato says. “Me and my family were buzzing but they were also quite chilled out and realistic, knowing how hard it is to become a professional footballer and that in the long run, a scholarship didn’t mean too much.”

The midfielder continued to impress as he moved up through the age groups, quickly signing his first pro deal at the age of 17 years old and then in the following season, being a part of the Middlesbrough youth team which won the U18s Northern Division.

The Boro youngsters won their league by nine points, sitting above the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Manchester United’s academies. It meant they’d qualified for the u19s UEFA Champions League.

Pato and his teammates would go on to beat Stade de Reims, Torino and Dynamo Kiev to set up a round of 16 tie against one of the competition’s favourites, Paris Saint Germain.

A single goal just before half-time for PSG settled the contest but it had been a great journey for Pato and his teammates.

“It was a really good experience, we cruised through the tournament until PSG and they ended up making it to the final. I don’t think many people would have thought a Middlesbrough team could get that far,” Pato confesses.

The midfielder would now make the step up the under 23s side and occasionally train with the first team and although Pato “enjoyed the experience” being in and around the first team, his overall relationship with Boro was deteriorating.

“I wanted to be out playing somewhere regularly,” Pato explains. “I knew I wouldn’t play in the first team so I wanted to get out as soon as possible. It was a good experience training with the first team while being so young, it toughens you up a bit and makes you realise the standards you need to play first-team games but I wanted to go out and experience that as quickly as possible, if that had been in the lower leagues, so be it.”

Pato’s start to the 2017/18 season was disrupted by a broken ankle and on his journey to recovery, a loan move to York City was put in place in December 2017. He spent a month with the Minstermen before the Boro hierarchy called the midfielder back, a decision Pato wasn’t pleased with.

“I actually really enjoyed it at York but Middlesbrough wanted me to get experience at a higher level. York were fighting for playoffs and I did end up going back to them in February but at that point, I think the momentum in the group had somewhat diminished and we ended up missing out on the playoffs.”

The midfielder continues, “The games meant a lot more as I was playing for points. The EFL Trophy was big while with Boro but realistically we knew we wouldn’t win the tournament whereas playing

As the 2017/18 season came to an end, Pato was ready to leave Boro and start the next chapter of his career. However, as compensation for the ankle injury, Middlesbrough offered Pato a year extension and with little to show for in terms of first-team action, it was a deal he “had to sign”.

He joined Yeovil Town on loan for the 2018/19 season and made his debut for the at the time League Two side against Mansfield in a 2-2 draw. Pato believes he started well with the club before a back injury put him on the sidelines for five months. It wouldn’t be until March 2019 when Pato returned and at this point, Yeovil were struggling and eventually relegated to the National League.

It was a far from ideal situation for Pato, who at 21 years old, was beginning to enjoy the “thrill” of playing League Two football week in, week out. Then away from football, personal circumstances made life so much tougher.

During that season, Pato received the news that his mother, Alison, had become very ill and then in May 2019, Alison sadly passed away at the age of 55. The devastation of losing his mum understandably sent Pato to a bad place for a few months. “What happened away from football probably showed on the pitch and it took a few months to get back to myself. Football was the last thing on my mind. My mum was really poorly and on the same day I got back from my loan at Yeovil, my mum passed away. I was close to giving it up and was in a bad way throughout the second half of the season. I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to continue playing football.”

Pato’s contract with Middlesbrough had now expired and it wasn’t until July that he had decided he wanted to give football one last shot. That opportunity came with Gareth Ainsworth’s Wycombe Wanderers.

“I was grateful for them taking a chance on me,” Pato admits. “Ainsworth was quality, one of the nicest you’d meet and I don’t have a bad word to say about him.”

The midfielder made his debut on the opening day of the League One season against Bolton Wanderers and would go on to make 16 further appearances for the Chairboys before the season was prematurely ended due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Wycombe were sat third in the table when it all came to halt and it had been a remarkable campaign for Pato’s new club. The season prior,

Pattison (#8) celebrates with his Wycombe teammates after beating Oxford in the Play-Off Final at Wembley

they avoided relegation by just three points but were now on the verge of creating history.

“I think we were favourites to get relegated before the season began,” Pato chuckles. “We signed a lot of good loan players and the group was one of the best I’ve been a part of, to be honest. I think that’s what pushed us to do so well. Everyone there brought something to the table; Adebayo Akinfenwa, David Stockdale, Anthony Stewart, Scott Kashket. It created a great balance in the changing room and there was literally not one player who wasn’t liked.”

Pato adds, “I think by Christmas we had only lost one game in the league and we had that mindset of ‘why not?’. There was no pressure, nobody expected us to do so well so we kept doing what we had been and let it all take care of itself.”

When the season was forced to take a break, Pato concedes that it did allow him to focus on himself and get in a much stronger position, both physically and mentally. The midfielder lost 10kg of weight he didn’t need to carry and then when he returned to training for the playoffs, Ainsworth had noticed the hard work. The 23-year-old found himself in the manager’s plans for the playoffs, something Pato didn’t expect. He featured in both legs of Wycombe’s semi-final victory and then played 45 minutes at Wembley where the Chairboys were promoted to the Championship for the first time in the club’s history. Having started on the bench, Pato was brought on at half-time following an injury to Matt Bloomfield and it was a moment he’ll never forget.

“It was probably the best experience I’ve had in football,” Pato says with a humble smile. “I got ready not knowing if it would be me that came on but I then asked the Gaffer and he told me to get ready. I was buzzing to be honest, knowing it was probably my only chance to ever play at Wembley and I ended up becoming a Championship player from it. It’s every kid’s dream to play at Wembley, some Premier League players don’t get to do it so it’s a great achievement.”

Pato had now played enough times to trigger a one-year extension with Wycombe and he did just that, featuring for the Championship new boys against Rotherham United on the opening day of the season. Although not expecting to be

a main feature in the Wycombe team, the signs were promising, that was until the midfielder got Covid early into the campaign, forcing him to miss enough games for him to lose his place in the squad. A couple of sub appearances would come Pato’s way in December but other than that, the midfielder didn’t see time on the pitch.

The man from Darlington was now far away from home, far away from his girlfriend and not even playing the sport he loves. A decision had to be made and it became a lot easier once Pato found out his partner was pregnant.

“When I first signed I had nothing to stay at home for, I needed to get away and have a fresh start, giving football one last shot,” Pato explains. I then got with my girlfriend and she got pregnant which of course changes everything. I needed to be closer to home. It wasn’t worth me not seeing my family and not playing football. As soon as I found out she was pregnant I knew I was moving back home. I felt bad not being there so I had to get home.”

Although Wycombe agreed for Pato to leave, the midfielder was in fact in Ainsworth’s plans for the club’s upcoming League One Season. It’s why when Harrogate Town manager Simon Weaver went in for the box-to-box midfielder, it became even more of a coup that Pato decided to sign on the dotted line for the North Yorkshire outfit.

“As soon as I left Wycombe, my agent rang me and said Harrogate were interested and they were pretty much the closest team to where I was living,” Pato says. “I said to get it sorted straight away, I didn’t wait for anything else to come my way.”

A silky mover and scoring on his competitive debut against Rochdale on the opening day of the season, Pato has already got Town fans excited and rightly so. The midfielder, whose best years are ahead of him, is confident the only way is up from here.

“The club’s come so far and I think I’ve got a lot to bring to the squad. I was buzzing to get going, show what I can do and let the fans see what I’m about. I’m in a good place mentally as well and I think it bodes well for the season. I know how good I can be, I want to score goals and help the team finish as high as we can.”

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