Ex-Rangers right back Nathan Patterson was in the news for wanting to return to Ibrox and complete ‘unfinished business’. And there is no question the boy didn’t want to leave, but given then-manager Steven Gerrard’s dismissal of him before Giovanni van Bronckhorst did the same, he had to switch to actually play football.
At his age Patterson couldn’t sit on the Rangers bench every week while James Tavernier remained untouchable in front of him, the boy had to leave and it was Gerrard’s fault in the main – he was the one who knew how good Patterson was, but stuck by his captain come hell or high water, and those were times the captain wasn’t playing terribly well.
So we got the £16M for Patto, and he got his big move from Ibrox to the English Premier League, but his heart, like that of so many young players who are forced into leaving, remained and remains in Govan, and he’d love to come back:
“Of course I’d love to go back to Rangers later on in my career and finish what I started. It would be great to finish at Ibrox. It’s where I started off my career so it would be nice to play in front of those fans again. There’s a bit of unfinished business for me. I was involved in 55 but I’d like to go back and get more titles. I went to Seville last summer for the Europa League Final and hoped they could win it but they just fell short. And I’ll always be a massive Rangers fan. I still watch them every week. My dad’s a big Rangers man too. It was his dream to see me play for the club. But he knew I might not get this chance again. He was even more supportive of the move than I was. He realised it was an easy decision. And at least it’s still blue shirts he’s cheering on at Everton!”
There is no young player of Patterson’s quality that wants to come back to the Scottish Premiership while they’re going into the peak of their career in the English Premier League – it’s a dumb move for anyone to want to come back early, unless they’re painfully homesick.
But Patterson clearly wants back to Ibrox and when he gets the chance to in maybe 5-10 years, he will absolutely want to take it.
And he’ll be completely welcomed back.