Mark Patterson played almost 500 league games in a 16-year career and, as documented in his funny, down-to-earth and thought-provoking autobiography Old School, his time as a professional footballer straddled two eras. At 18, he played for his hometown team Blackburn Rovers against Kevin Keegan and Newcastle United at a century-old St James’ Park.
He later battled with Paul Gascoigne at Middlesbrough’s shiny new Riverside Stadium, a month before Gazza was sensationally omitted from England’s World Cup squad. He played in dilapidated stadiums, with and against proper ‘old school’ footballers, and later had a taste of the promised land of the ‘new school’ after helping Bolton Wanderers rise from the third tier and into the Premiership.
Patterson played for some of English football’s proudest football clubs, including Blackburn, Preston North End, Bolton and Sheffield United, and had two spells at now-defunct Bury. As his career fizzled out, so did his bank balance and marriage. Divorce and bankruptcy followed. But his old school spirit got him through…
 
About the authors
Mark Patterson is a former professional footballer who made almost 500 league appearances in the 1980s and 90s. He then had a stint in coaching and management, before taking a break to focus on setting up his landscape gardening business. Mark is married with a football-loving step-daughter, and a grown-up son and daughter.
Co-author Kevin O’Hara is a partnership development manager for the NHS by day, and a writer by night. He wrote a football-based novel in the early 2000s and is happily married with two daughters, aged 16 and 20.
A Bolton Wanderers fan, Kevin watched Mark’s most successful spell as a player from the stands when he helped Bolton rise from the third tier of English football into the Premiership. Mark was Bolton’s captain on a famous night at Anfield when the Second Division side knocked out the FA Cup holders. Kevin was at the game.
They met a number of years ago through a mutual friend and Kevin convinced Mark to write his book after hearing a number of very funny stories of Mark’s time in football. The rest, as they say, is history…