Pat joined the Dons from Clyde on May 11, 1910 and immediately struck up a great understanding with Aberdeen's international winger Willie Lennie. The left-wing combination of Travers and Lennie was a major factor in the Dons' title push during the 1910-11 season. During the summer of 1911, after having a transfer request turned down by the Pittodrie board, "Paddy" displayed a side to his nature that would serve him well in the future as a manager. He negotiated a re-instatement to the junior ranks and from there arranged his own transfer to Celtic.

After one season at Parkhead, during which Travers won a Scottish Cup winners' medal, scoring a semi-final brace that dumped the Dons en-route, he returned to Pittodrie for a further two-year spell, and in 1914 he joined his hometown club Dumbarton. Following World War One Pat had a two-year spell as a coach in Norwegian football before returning to Dumbarton to take over as player-manager. However, Travers found himself heading north once again when he returned to Pittodrie to succeed Peter Simpson as Dons' coach on July 1, 1922. Later that same month Billy Russell, an accomplished runner, was named as an assistant to Travers. Following Jimmy Philips' resignation in June 1924, Travers was appointed as Aberdeen's manager on August 1 and he quickly settled into the job.

Despite his obvious coaching credentials, he saw no reason to change the manager-trainer relationship of the times, leaving his former assistant Russell in sole charge of the training duties. After a difficult first season that had few highlights other than the brilliance of future "Wembley Wizard" Alex Jackson, Travers slowly began to build a side that would bring a first major tantalisingly close. The 1925-26 season saw Travers guide the Dons to their fifth Scottish Cup semi-final but a change of boss brought no change in luck and the Dons last four jinx struck again to deny the Black and Golds a first-ever final.

Travers was very much a figure of authority, but he did not abuse his power, and consequently was well respected by his players. His wide experience as a player had taught Pat the value of looking far and wide for playing potential and he quickly put that into practice at Pittodrie. The depressed United States soccer scene was an early source of fresh talent for Travers to plunder and later he was to cultivate links with both the Irish Free State and South Africa. Travers tenure at Pittodrie can basically be looked at as a tale of two teams. The first began to take shape during a trip to South Africa in 1927, and over a period of three years developed into a side that ran Rangers close for the League title in the 1929-30 season. The Dons ended that campaign as the only side in Britain with an undefeated home record. However, the following season brought controversy and mystery when Travers was party to the sensational "banishment" of five players - four of them established first team stand outs - in a still unexplained mid-season clear-out that fuelled inevitable rumours concerning a possible bribery scandal.

Travers met all such rumours with a stoic silence and got on with the task in hand, putting together another top-class side with the assistance of former team-mate Donald Colman who had taken over from Billy Russell in March 1931. In the event Travers assembled what many people regarded as the finest side ever to grace Pittodrie. Willie Cooper, Matt Armstrong, Willie Mills and Billy Strauss were just some of the names that went to make up the great Black and gold side of the mid-1930s.

After another failure in the Scottish Cup semi-final in 1935, the Dons finally broke that last four bogey by beating Morton at Easter Road in April 1937. The Dons first-ever Scottish Cup final attracted a still unbeaten record attendance of 146,433 but opponents Celtic had the upper hand to run out 2-1 winners and deny Travers his first trophy as manager. Pat was in the process of rebuilding for the third time at Pittodrie midway through the 1937-38 season when he was approached by his former club Clyde about the vacant manager's post at Shawfield, and in November 1937 he became the new manager of Clyde. In a gesture typical of the times, Travers was presented with a silver tea-service on his departure to Shawfield.

Ironically in a repeat of his playing days, Travers immediately tasted success in the Scottish Cup on leaving Pittodrie when he guided his new charges to a Scottish Cup triumph in 1939.