'Don't resent football' - Paton hopes his journey can inspire young players
Dundee United striker Ruari Paton hopes the way he was rekindled his career can inspire young players cut loose by clubs to keep chasing their dream.Irishman Paton, who arrived on loan from Port Vale in January, admits being part of United's European challenge is a far cry from where he was when he was released by Hibs as a 19-year-old.Speaking prior to Saturday's Premiership visit of Celtic, he said: "You are 19, your life is just starting, even now I am 24 I feel like a completely different person that I was then. But did I feel like the bottom of my world had gone? Absolutely."I would love if even one younger person watched my interviews and my story and understood that through a couple of years of really hard graft and performing at certain levels and just scaling bigger and bigger, they can look at my story and think your career is not over just because you were released by a professional club. It is far from over."I would reinforce that to every young person I meet. Don't be resentful to football, because football isn't the problem."Don't get resentful towards the game, enjoy it and play it while you can, immerse yourself in it every day because it doesn't owe you anything."But it is absolutely brilliant to play in and there is no reason why you can't go back up the way again, especially in Scotland."After his Easter Road exit, Paton rebuilt his career at East Kilbride, Stranraer, Queen of the South and Queen's Park before making the move to England.He has struggled for game time and has yet to score since he arrived at United but maintains he has "loved it".He said: "I knew fine well I was putting myself in a situation where I wasn't guaranteed to play every minute."It is not in my personality to be fearful or afraid of a jump or failing. I would be more than happy to come and fail, it doesn't bother me in the slightest, I have failed miles worse before."I have loved it. A lot of people fall out of love with football, they will come up here and tell you they love it, but they don't. A lot of footballers don't love football."I still do love it when I look around and think 'the stadium is full, it is amazing' you have to try to enjoy every moment as it comes."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Glasgow Times
16 minutes ago
- Glasgow Times
Spurs' Mikey Moore aiming for another European trophy with England Under-19s
Having made his Spurs debut at the end of the last season, the highly-rated 17-year-old kicked on and showed glimpses of his outstanding potential during a topsy-turvy campaign in north London. Moore made 19 appearances in all competitions for his boyhood club, with five of those coming in a Europa League campaign that ended with Tottenham beating Manchester United to win a first trophy since 2008. Mikey Moore celebrates after Tottenham won the Europa League final (Nick Potts/PA) The winger was on the bench in Bilbao and three weeks on has more continental glory in his sights as England kick-off their bid for Under-19 European Championship glory against Norway on Saturday. 'It was a top experience – some of the best times of my life on that Wednesday night,' Moore told the PA news agency. 'Hopefully going on to win another medal and another trophy with these boys here would be a brilliant feeling, and experience for everyone. 'There's some top players. We think we can go on and hopefully win the tournament. It's been a good little build-up but excited to get into the games now.' Mikey Moore could be one of the stars of this summer's Under-19 Euros (Nick Potts/PA) England have been preparing for their shot at Under-19s glory in Romania over the past week, when it was confirmed Brentford boss Frank would be succeeding Ange Postecoglou as Tottenham manager. 'With Ange, I'm thankful to him,' Moore said. 'He gave me an opportunity to go and show people what I could do. 'Now I'm just excited to get back and hopefully go and impress the new manager. Try and show what I can do, really. 'I started away at Brentford, where obviously he was in charge, and I've played against his team before. 'I've heard that he's a good man and he's a good manager. One of the boys here (with the Under-19s) works under him and says good things about him, so I'm just excited to get going under him, really.' Frank is sure to be an interested observer as Moore looks to help England win the Under-19 Euros for the third time. The 17-year-old could be one of the stars of the tournament judging by some of his Spurs displays, with team-mate James Maddison likening him to Neymar after October's Europa League win against AZ Alkmaar. Moore went on to become the youngest Englishman to score a major European goal, breaking a record held by Jimmy Greaves since 1957, with his superb goal against Elfsborg in January, but there have also been some difficult moments. 1️⃣ Mikey Moore – 17y 172d2️⃣ Jimmy Greaves – 17y 245d Mikey is now the youngest English goalscorer in major European competition history 🤯 — Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 30, 2025 'When I look back on the season, when I go back to (last) pre-season I didn't ever expect to be in the position I was halfway through the season,' Moore said. 'But obviously it wasn't all great, it didn't all go to plan. I think there were certain parts in the season where I've not struggled, but had down moments. 'But when I look back on it it's been a massive learning year for me, and it's obviously come to an end now almost, and we came out successful. It's a season I will always look back on and be proud of.'
Rhyl Journal
31 minutes ago
- Rhyl Journal
Spurs' Mikey Moore aiming for another European trophy with England Under-19s
Having made his Spurs debut at the end of the last season, the highly-rated 17-year-old kicked on and showed glimpses of his outstanding potential during a topsy-turvy campaign in north London. Moore made 19 appearances in all competitions for his boyhood club, with five of those coming in a Europa League campaign that ended with Tottenham beating Manchester United to win a first trophy since 2008. The winger was on the bench in Bilbao and three weeks on has more continental glory in his sights as England kick-off their bid for Under-19 European Championship glory against Norway on Saturday. 'It was a top experience – some of the best times of my life on that Wednesday night,' Moore told the PA news agency. 'Hopefully going on to win another medal and another trophy with these boys here would be a brilliant feeling, and experience for everyone. 'There's some top players. We think we can go on and hopefully win the tournament. It's been a good little build-up but excited to get into the games now.' England have been preparing for their shot at Under-19s glory in Romania over the past week, when it was confirmed Brentford boss Frank would be succeeding Ange Postecoglou as Tottenham manager. 'With Ange, I'm thankful to him,' Moore said. 'He gave me an opportunity to go and show people what I could do. 'Now I'm just excited to get back and hopefully go and impress the new manager. Try and show what I can do, really. 'I started away at Brentford, where obviously he was in charge, and I've played against his team before. 'I've heard that he's a good man and he's a good manager. One of the boys here (with the Under-19s) works under him and says good things about him, so I'm just excited to get going under him, really.' Frank is sure to be an interested observer as Moore looks to help England win the Under-19 Euros for the third time. The 17-year-old could be one of the stars of the tournament judging by some of his Spurs displays, with team-mate James Maddison likening him to Neymar after October's Europa League win against AZ Alkmaar. Moore went on to become the youngest Englishman to score a major European goal, breaking a record held by Jimmy Greaves since 1957, with his superb goal against Elfsborg in January, but there have also been some difficult moments. 1️⃣ Mikey Moore – 17y 172d2️⃣ Jimmy Greaves – 17y 245d Mikey is now the youngest English goalscorer in major European competition history 🤯 — Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) January 30, 2025 'When I look back on the season, when I go back to (last) pre-season I didn't ever expect to be in the position I was halfway through the season,' Moore said. 'But obviously it wasn't all great, it didn't all go to plan. I think there were certain parts in the season where I've not struggled, but had down moments. 'But when I look back on it it's been a massive learning year for me, and it's obviously come to an end now almost, and we came out successful. It's a season I will always look back on and be proud of.'
Scottish Sun
an hour ago
- Scottish Sun
Thousands of Celtic fans face missing out on club's next Premier Cup Hampden appearances after latest SPFL pyro charge
THOUSANDS of Celtic fans face being locked out of Hampden for the club's appearances at the business end of the Premier Sports Cup after the club were served with an SPFL notice of complaint. We told you back in March how the Hoops - and their fellow finalists Rangers - were handed an immediate ticket cuts of 500 seats for their next Premier Sports Cup appearance at Hampden. 2 Celtic fans orchestrated a massive pyro display on the last day of the season Credit: Kenny Ramsay 2 The Green Brigade pyro Credit: Kenny Ramsay But included in that statement was a further suspended sanction of a further 800-ticket cut for a breach of league rules on pyrotechnics in a match in any SPFL competition. To be precise, the verdict applied a "suspended sanction of a reduction of 800 tickets for a future Premier Sports Cup match to be played at Hampden Park in the event of another breach of SPFL Rule H34 through pyrotechnic use by supporters of the Club in any SPFL competition before 30 March 2027." And that spells bad news for Hoops fans, who along with Aberdeen and Partick Thistle have just been handed a disciplinary charge at the SPFL which relates to the use of pyrotechnics. The match in question was their final game of the season, the 1-1 draw against St Mirren last month after which they lifted the Premiership trophy. Hoops ultras revealed banners with a no-entry sign over Celtic chief executive Michael Nicholson and the words "Fan engagement up in smoke" . Rule H34 in the SPFL rule book states that "Each Club must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that its Players, officials, supporters and any person exercising a function for or connected with the Club do not engage in Unacceptable Conduct at a Stadium on the occasion of an Official Match." It is also required that any club "identifies any of its supporters who engage in Unacceptable Conduct at an Official Match; and it takes proportionate disciplinary measures in respect of supporters so identified in terms of Rule H34.2." So should the forthcoming SPFL hearing find the Hoops guilty of that breach, the logical conclusion is that it will trigger the additional 800-ticket sanction for that 'future' Premier Sports Cup match at Hampden. With the wording of the punishment is ambiguous, all that remains unclear is whether Celtic would be handed an IMMEDIATE 1300-seat reduction for their first match at Hampden. Alternatively, the sanction could be spread over more than one match (ie a 500 ticket reduction for Celtic's first Hampden Premier Sports Cup match, 800 for the second). Having established an initial tariff of 500 tickets for the first offence, it would be strange if the cut was limited to 800 altogether for a second offence. Lowdown: SPFL notices of complaint over pyro The following clubs have been served with SPFL complaints Partick Thistle - During an away match against Ayr United a two-minute delay occurred due to pyrotechnics being used and subsequently thrown on to the pitch. A further two-minute delay occurred later in the match following a large-scale pitch incursion. Aberdeen - During a home match against Celtic (live on Sky Sports), the broadcaster had to issue an apology for interruptions to the broadcast following a pyrotechnic display, which caused significant smoke clouds to form. Celtic - During (and prior to) a home match against St. Mirren a large-scale orchestrated pyrotechnic display took place in the north-east corner of the stadium. The news came as SPFL bosses announced that fans have smashed the SPFL attendance record for the third consecutive year in season 2024/25. The SPFL have been contacted for comment. Keep up to date with ALL the latest news and transfers at the Scottish Sun football page
