Head coach Martin Paterson has said he was quick to sign a new deal with Notts County, describing the job as “the honour of my professional life”.
The promotion-winning boss extended his contract until the summer of 2029 after overseeing a solid start to the club’s first League One campaign for 11 years.
It was in Paterson’s first full campaign as a boss that the 39-year-old last season guided Notts back to the third tier via the League Two play-offs.
Notts have been beaten just once in their opening six league games of 2026-27 and are 16th in the table.
Paterson said he had been “quite relaxed” about contract talks with the club, which he said “didn’t take long”.
He told BBC Radio Nottingham: “It was quite seamless the way it was done and discussed.
“I’m delighted and happy, but also very conscious that the most important part of me signing a new contract is that it’s both parts of me deciding to commit to the football club and the football club committing to me.”
When asked what the job at Notts means to him, Paterson added: “It’s been the honour of my professional life.
“Coaching is a lifestyle, it’s the commitment of my entire life. With my wife and kids, it’s a Notts County household. It just matters so much, every weekend.”
Before last season, Paterson’s only previous experience as a head coach was the stint he had at Burton Albion in the second half of the 2023-24 campaign.
While he helped the Brewers avoid relegation, the former Northern Ireland international striker departed at the end of that season.
After that, he went back to working as an assistant coach under Michael Duff at Huddersfield Town, having previously also been the 48-year-old’s number two at Swansea City and Barnsley.
As a head coach in a famously fickle industry, where the term ‘managerial merry-go-round ‘is often used to describe how clubs chop and change bosses at pace, Paterson says he “lives life one week at a time”.
That much he made clear when trying to move questions about his new contract on to talk about Notts’ next opponents Reading.
“It just want to get my head down now, keep working hard for this football club and making sure we keep being competitive while making the marginal gains I think we can make,” he said.
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