An old school attitude has endeared Callum Paterson to his old school club manager.
And at the beginning of a new era for Scotland, the Cardiff City man’s willingness to play wherever asked could also be very useful for his new national coach.
Paterson made his name as an up-and-down right back with Hearts, who could also be deployed at centre-back.
He can now add attacking midfielder to his CV, after impressing Neil Warnock in that position in a promotion push that has Cardiff on the verge of the Premier League.
If Alex McLeish is looking for versatility, Paterson is definitely his man.
“I’ve been playing just off the striker,” he said. “I run about and press as many people as I can and then get in the box as much as I can.
“I’m not the most technical number 10 in the world. I’m more of a punt and run kind of guy.
“I’ve played in lots of different positions in the past. It doesn’t do me any damage. You get to learn different things about the game as you see it from different angles. I’m enjoying it.
“If I keep scoring and doing well, it’s only going to be a good season for me.
“In my opinion there’s no point in pigeon-holing yourself into one position on the pitch. If someone else is doing well, you might not get in the team.
“So I’m happy to get in anywhere at the moment.”
Right-back has been a problem position for Scotland in recent times and slotting in there wouldn’t be an issue for Paterson.
“I’m just happy to play,” he said.
“If that’s where people want to play me, I’ll try and do a job for them.
“I’ve not had a conversation with the manager yet about where he sees me playing.”
Things are looking up for Paterson these days but sustaining a serious knee injury when he was rumoured to be the subject of a bid from West Ham, at a time when he only had a few months left of his Hearts contract, was a worrying time.
“Everything happens for a reason,” he said.
“I am happy to be part of Cardiff and happy to be back in the national fold and back playing. It keeps my mind positive and everything else positive.
“When I got the injury, that was a low point. Everyone knows a cruciate is nine months to a year. I only had six months left on my contract. It wasn’t a good situation for me, my girlfriend, my family. Even my cat was stressed! I’m kidding. My cat is a good guy. Like I said, you’ve got to be positive.
“You have just got to surround yourself with positive people, think positive thoughts and get yourself in the right mindset.
“I read a book called ‘The Secret’ and that was the key. It is a little book that is full of quotes. It has got 365 different positive quotes. I read them whenever I fancied. A couple of boys I knew had read it before. They said to me to keep a hold of it and it would help me out.
“Big Brad McKay at Hearts used to pin one up on the wall every day. It is a good book to read. I have finished it and moved on. It helped when I was injured.
“I think it was West Ham (who were interested in him). There was a bit of paper stuff, but nothing was set in stone. Thankfully, Neil (Warnock) took a chance on me and I have repaid him for that.”
Scotland have a few players at English top flight clubs, and in the near future Paterson could become the next one.
“It’s going well for me at the moment but everyone knows the Championship is a funny old league and anything can happen,” he said. “But we’ve got to be positive and look to go up.
“It is a tough ask to play in that league week in, week out. I didn’t get much of a sniff at the start. The team was doing so well and I was just coming back from injury. I have shoe-horned my way into a position that I am doing well in and I want to try and keep hold of that.
“The team is doing really well at the minute and it is good to be part of.
“The manager is old school. All the other teams around us are playing the new style football with wing-backs and pass and move.
“But the old school seems to be working at the moment so he’s not going to change that any time soon.”
