Craig Paterson: Hibs have handled salary deferrals in best possible way

Hibs chief executive Leeann Dempster and club owner Ron Gordon

Craig Paterson has praised Hibs’ treatment of staff in a difficult situation and saluted players such as skipper David Gray for driving talks about wage deferrals with the club’s hierarchy.

Owner Ron Gordon and chief executive Leeann Dempster met with a delegation of more experienced players last week and a sliding scale of deferrals was agreed with the first-team squad. Hibs announced on Friday that most of their staff have been furloughed due to the current shutdown, with employees surrendering between 20 and 50 per cent of their wages to a later date.

This course of action is with a view to saving jobs in the long term. Former Easter Road centre half Paterson’s career dates back to a time when clubs effectively owned players and there was very little appetite to reach a compromise in a dispute. The 60-year-old acknowledged the part played by better paid senior players in coming to an agreement last week.

“The big difficulty with teams like Hibs is that you are going to have boys on good money and a lot of younger players who are not,” he said. “There are some who can afford it, some who can’t afford it.

“It is a difficult thing to judge. Hibs seem to have found a way to keep the players on board. They seem to have accepted it. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence. It’s nice to see that both ends of the business are working together. It’s a sensible way to do it: sit down and talk to the experienced players, they can get the message over to the younger lads.

“Some of the younger ones who can’t afford to take a drop maybe won’t have to take a drop. Some of the other lads who have had decent careers can bite the bullet – and it seems they are going to do exactly that. In recent years it seems Hibs have run their finances pretty well. They seem to have managed to keep things in check. It shows a company being well run.”

“Some people are in a far better position than others,” he added. “Everyone will want to do something but it will have to be a sliding scale that works for everyone. People who are in a better position to lead are the guys who are stepping up, and it’s pleasing to see that.

“There will be other members of staff who you see at the club everyday, you don’t want to see them struggling either. It’s a time for everybody to do what they can. If you are in a position to do more, then it’s good to see some doing that.”

Paterson had planned on staying at Hibs for the duration of his career but was sold to Rangers in 1982 and won two League Cups, the second time as skipper against Dundee United. Finding his first-team opportunities had been restricted due to the Graeme Souness revolution, he left for Motherwell. A successful five-year spell ended slightly sourly.

“I did not sign a new contract at Motherwell and it was not until the next October that Kilmarnock took a chance and signed me via a tribunal, which got me back into the game. I was not going to sign a new contract at Motherwell but I could not walk away.

“The club owned you. If you did not accept the deal they were offering that was you, out of football.”

Paterson’s last game for Motherwell was the 1991 Scottish Cup final against Dundee United, recently replayed on BBC Scotland. “I was sitting watching something else and I was getting texts: ‘who’s that boy with the dark hair??’” He flicked over. Motherwell won 4-3 in extra time.

“People say, you lost a goal in the final minute of normal time, that must have been a hammer blow. But a few years previously I was playing in a League Cup final for Rangers v Celtic. We were 2-0 up and they equalised in the last minute and we won in extra time. I had been through it before so I was not too doom and gloom.”

He was reminded of the ferocity of the tackling. “Luc Nijholt was the first to get booked and there had been some pretty meaty challenges before that,” he said. “But that was the way you played in those days. The manager – Jock Wallace, John Greg or Eddie Turnbull or whoever – would slaughter you if you let the opposition player hurt you. That was the cardinal sin.”

Paterson’s recent double hip operation is possibly related to operating as a centre-half in those rugged times. He is currently recuperating at home in Penicuik. “The surgeon said – and I knew this because I have been struggling long enough – that I should have had it done years ago,” he said. “I wanted to wait until I was 60 because they say with the new technology it should last you to the end of your days. I tried to hang on as best I could. There came a time when I could barely walk.”