Glentoran FC wishes to clarify comments attributed to manager Eddie Patterson over the weekend.
Eddie Patterson was unhappy at the performance of the referee during our defeat by Cliftonville at Solitude and his post match comments to that effect were accurately reflected in reports in all of the mainstream daily newspapers on Monday morning. The club wishes to make clear that other tongue in cheek comments attributed to Eddie on an independent website were not intended for publication or public consumption.
Eddie has said to the club website: “I was obviously unhappy with the referee’s performance on Saturday and it is part of my job to make my feelings clear on matters affecting the team. There was no intent at all to suggest that the referee was guilty of anything other than what was in my eyes a poor performance on the day. I made some obviously tongue in cheek comments which the regular professional journalists at the conference understood to be as such. This was reflected by the fact that those comments were not published in any of the mainstream match reports.
Tongue in cheek comments by managers and players are commonplace at post match press conferences throughout football and professional journalists know what is or isn’t intended for publication. That’s what happened on Saturday.
I understand that my comments may have caused concerns and I apologise to the two clubs, the Cliftonville Chairman and both sets of supporters for any embarrassment caused.”