Chris Erskine has revealed that an inspired positional switch helped his Dundee United team-mate and good pal Paul Paton win international recognition.
Paton is currently away with the Northern Ireland squad preparing for their Euro 2016 double-header against the Faroe Islands and Greece.
However, his call-up to Michael O’Neill’s squad might never have happened if Tannadice boss Jackie McNamara hadn’t realised when he was manager at Partick Thistle that Paton wasn’t playing in his best position.
He moved him into central midfield and the rest, as they say, is history.
Erskine, who played with Paton at Thistle, said: “I am delighted for him. I have known Pates for a few years now and he is a great lad and a good friend of mine.
“To see him break into an international team as well is fantastic. He deserves it as he works hard every single day in training.
“He has been playing well and he deserves to be there. I always thought he was good enough to get there. He is great at what he does.
“When the gaffer took over at Partick Thistle, he was playing right-back but the gaffer moved him into centre midfield straight away.
“So obviously the gaffer saw his strengths and thought he would be better in there. As soon as he did, you could tell that should have been his position all along and he has never looked back.
“He has done brilliantly and I am delighted for him.
“To be honest, I didn’t know about the Northern Ireland connection. Pates has always known but I was surprised as he certainly doesn’t sound Northern Irish!
“He has already played friendlies in Chile and Uruguay against some of the best players in the world which is a great experience for him. Hopefully, he will soon break properly into the team.”
Erskine has also made a breakthrough of his own this season, becoming a firm fixture in McNamara’s United starting line-up.
The midfielder struggled to make an impact after joining the Tangerines along with Paton last summer and he was eventually loaned back to the Jags in January.
He was given regular starts at Firhill and returned to Tannadice with his confidence restored.
Erskine has sparkled since the beginning of the season, scoring four goals so far and he admits he is enjoying his football once again.
He said: “Since I came back, it has been great. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen after last year but I have had a good run of games now and my form is picking up a wee bit.
“I have scored a few goals as well which is always pleasing. I think the difference between last season and this one is just a bit of confidence.
“I was a bit low last year as things hadn’t gone as well as I would have liked. I think going back to Thistle helped a lot as I hadn’t played at this level before and I needed a run of games.
“I couldn’t get that at United but I think playing regularly at Thistle proved to me that I could play in the Premiership.
“It stood me in good stead to come back here this year. I have also been working hard in pre-season to get myself back in the manager’s plans and I have managed to do that.”
Erskine will enjoy this weekend’s international break spending time with his wife and young daughter.
While grateful for the time off, he would have liked to have gone into the break on the back of a win.
However, the Tangerines slumped to a disappointing defeat at Kilmarnock last Friday, losing their place at the top of the Premiership.
Erskine though is hoping that the loss will ultimately work to their advantage.
He said: “It wasn’t great at all, probably the worst we have been this season, to be honest. We have had good results so far so it was a bit of a shock to the system.
“Hopefully it will be a kick up the backside for us.
“I don’t think we worked as hard as we have been on Friday. That’s where all good performances start, working hard for each other right through the team.
“We just seemed a bit off it on Friday for some reason. We had worked really hard in the games beforehand and I don’t think we did that at Kilmarnock.
“I don’t think we were feeling any extra pressure at all.
“We were on a great run of wins which if anything is good for your confidence. Maybe we got a wee bit complacent with it. But hopefully that will give us a bit of a kick to get back to what we do best.”