THE road to recovery is not always easy to navigate.

That those who tread it have at first become lost can make that seem like an axiom, but it still led Steve Paterson somewhere familiar as he sought sanctuary from his demons.

It is now a decade since the former Aberdeen manager made public his thrall to alcohol and five years after he went into rehab to battle a gambling addiction which left him at long odds to rebuild his career.

Now on a surer footing, the 55-year-old will step into the dugout as Formartine United manager this afternoon as his side host East Stirlingshire in the first round of the Ramsdens Cup. "It's a wee club – it came into the Highland League in 2009," he says.

Paterson's own arrival in the division was more than 30 years ago, showing enough potential at Nairn County to earn the nickname Pele and a move to Manchester United.

After later succumbing to injuries, Paterson showed an aptitude for coaching – making Super Caley go ballistic on his way to taking charge at Pittodrie in 2002. Those are the statistics of his career but they have been hidden easily by the facts of his addictions; the coach infamously being too hungover to attend Aberdeen's draw with Dundee in 2003 and later recalling similar episodes in his autobiography.

The marks they left behind make it hard not to stare, but Paterson will now permit himself only a cursory glance. His efforts to rebuild his life have found parallels at Formartine since the club lost its way in the league campaign during his first season in charge – "It was kind of disastrous [finishing in 11th place]" – before recovering to finish just two points behind champions Cove Rangers last term, allowing for the prospect of Paterson extending his contract beyond the summer.

Since the picture of the future was once distorted by a bleary haze, Paterson can take satisfaction in having such a clear ambition. With his squad bolstered by former Dundee defender Craig McKeown and erstwhile Celtic and Aberdeen midfielder Callum Bagshaw, the opportunity to define that progress with a win over East Stirling is a delicious one.

It is all the more tantalising given the relative success of Highland League clubs in cup competitions.

"You only need to look at the likes of Deveronvale, who finished seventh [in the league last season]; they knocked out Peterhead in the Challenge Cup and then Stirling, while Turriff drew with Morton at home," says Paterson. "The standard of the league has improved a lot over the last 10 years, I'd say."

He could say the same for himself, too. Paterson had been recruited by Aberdeen following the inexorable rise of Inverness Caledonian Thistle under his charge but he could not recreate the same form at Pittodrie, or later at Peterhead. It is his return to the Highlands which has reunited him with the sense of success with which he had become estranged.

"I have come full circle in a sense," says Paterson. "It has been hugely satisfying because I was in the wilderness and had well-publicised problems to deal with four or five years ago. I was out the game for a couple of years . . . I probably needed that break to get my own life sorted. I've an opportunity at Formartine now; it is an ambitious team and we came close to the championship."

Touching on the pulse of competition will always enliven the conversation but Paterson is not about to get carried away. Not now. "I've got a lot to do at Formartine," he says. "It would be more likely that I look for something abroad after this, maybe . . . to be honest I'm happy where I'm at and I think I should just enjoy it, you know."

He might in future encounter another fork in the road, but for now at least Paterson is able to enjoy the journey.