From stopping goals them... Pat’s the way
There’s a feeling among the national media that Cardiff City are having us all on. They’ve been fielding a former Hearts right-back as their striker in the Premier League and he’s actually scoring goals.
Four of them to be precise – more than any other Cardiff player.
Callum Paterson’s transformation from useful utility player to the Bluebirds’ foremost focal point is certainly one of the more intriguing talking points of the season.
Especially when you consider Paterson the person as well as the player. Paterson the joker, the flossing figure of fun who combines silly celebrations with a serious style of forward play that is confounding Premier League defences the world over.
So just how did the slightly cumbersome, moustachioed 24-year-old from Edinburgh become a Cardiff City cult hero?
Once a striker, always a striker?
“CALLUM’S not a full back – he can’t defend,” said Warnock last season.
“I’ll have to have a word with Craig Levein when I see him. I’ve been sold a dummy by Hearts there.”
Warnock’s words seemed slightly bizarre given the success Paterson enjoyed as a right-back north of the border.
But the Yorkshireman was nevertheless determined to find Paterson a place in his team, first as an attacking midfielder and more recently as a striker.
We’ve heard the words ‘Paterson is not a striker’ on many occasions this season. ‘Makeshift’ has been a commonly used term.
But former Hearts boss John McGlynn, now in charge of Raith Rovers in the Scottish third tier, thought in 2012 along the same lines as Warnock would six years later.
On coming across a 17-year-old Paterson, he was willing to throw him into the Hearts first team – up front.
“I’d just arrived at the club in that summer and there was a number of cutbacks, a number of players had left in the summer,” says McGlynn.
“Callum was known to me and the youth team coach at the time, Darren Murray, had played Callum in lots of different positions.
“We had only a couple of other strikers at the club at the time. Callum was very quick, very strong and very powerful – also very good in the air – so he ticked a lot of boxes playing up front.”
It didn’t work for McGlynn in such dramatic fashion as it’s worked for Warnock, but the seeds were sown.
Loving every minute
ONE of the main reasons why both McGlynn and Warnock were willing to take a gamble on Paterson was his boundless enthusiam.
Sol Bamba echoes Warnock’s belief that “he just cannot defend, trust me”, but has been taken aback by the Scot’s willingness to perform tasks without question, without complaint.
“What’s important for the gaffer is that you’re ready to go through brick walls and if you do, he’ll look after you,” says Bamba.
“He just gets on with it, even when he doesn’t touch the ball in a game like Liverpool, he’ll always work hard.”
Paterson is just loving every minute.
He has developed a remarkable relationship with the Cardiff fans too – who adore not just his work rate and unerring knack of scoring, but his eccentric personality.
Aside from his heroics in aiding the Bluebirds promotion and subsequent survival bid, there’s been plenty to enjoy off the pitch.
Swigging from a bottle of MD 20/20 after promotion, replicating dances from popular video game Fortnite, dressing up as a policeman for the Cardiff City Christmas party, sliding bizarrely into the net after Junior Hoilett’s goal against Wolves... the list of Paterson antics is long.