Players who have moved position with great success

[VTAFerguson]

On Saturday, Lewis Mayo was shifted into midfield and did really well. I wrote a piece about it and had the pleasure of speaking to Thistle legend Davie Irons about him. 

Davie was famously moved from midfield into defence by John Lambie so it was really interesting to hear his thoughts. 

Have a read, if you like. Feedback welcome: 

https://link.medium.com/KubcKnsJYob

Any other memorable changes of position from the world of Scottish football?

Another example from Firhill - Paul Paton was converted into a DM which totally changed his career. 

[TheScarf]

Graeme Shinnie played left back for us and won the Scottish Cup.  Aberdeen converted him to a centre mid and he got a move to Derby and also a Scotland call up.  Then Alex McLeish played him at left back away to Kazakhstan.....

[velo army]

Heid Caldwell was moved into DCM for the France game iirc. Going a bit further back Alex McLeish was often deployed in this role too.

Lahm moving into DCM makes me think that if KT plays into his thirties that he could do the same. 

[Thistle_do_nicely]

Santala got flung up front and scored goals for us, think nominally he was a centre half.

Scott Brown was initially a far more forward leaning midfielder before becoming more conservative with his runs/passing, kind of a shift from attacking mid to deep lying playmaker. I think he was even used out wide by hibs.

Josh Magennis, tv comms regularly brought up his switch from gk to outfield.

I think Chris Sutton started out in England as a centre half but doubt he played there much for celtic, might have filled in there once or twice due to injuries to other players, cant remember.

Edited April 7, 2022 by Thistle_do_nicely

[scottsdad]

Yogi Hughes started out as a centre forward before Jim Jeffries moved him to centre back.

[SuperSaints1877]

Frank McAvennie started out as a bin man, then a midfielder at St Mirren who became a forward at West Ham only because of an injury to Paul Goddard.

[oneteaminglasgow]

Paul Paton was a good one - he was a pish right back, but a more than passable holding midfielder. Don’t know how it had never occurred to anyone to try that.

I vividly remember Stuart Bannigan playing left back for us (at least) once. I think it was in our first season back in the Premiership against Motherwell and Lionel Ainsworth gave him an absolutely torrid time. Don’t think we tried it again.

More high profile, but mind when Gareth Bale was a left back and Tottenham never won for his first 30 odd appearances? 

[kingjoey]

Willie Miller came up to Aberdeen as a centre forward. He was loaned out to Peterhead in the Highland League, scored a barrowload of goals, might even have been the top scorer in the Highland League that season, and came back to Aberdeen to be converted to a centre half by Teddy Scott.

[VincentGuerin]

That's nothing.

Ross Stewart played in goal for Livingston and is now banging them in up-front for Sunderland. Fair play to him.

[velo army]

50 minutes ago, Thistle_do_nicely said:

Santala got flung up front and scored goals for us, think nominally he was a centre half.

Scott Brown was initially a far more forward leaning midfielder before becoming more conservative with his runs/passing, kind of a shift from attacking mid to deep lying playmaker. I think he was even used out wide by hibs.

Josh Magennis, tv comms regularly brought up his switch from gk to outfield.

I think Chris Sutton started out in England as a centre half but doubt he played there much for celtic, might have filled in there once or twice due to injuries to other players, cant remember.

I think it was yourself who labelled him as a "goalscoring oaf" which couldn't be more apposite . He was utter murder, but quite prolific.

I mind Craig Levein punting big Kevin McKenna up front as an agent of chaos with some success. Craigie Broon gave that a go with Matt Elliot with, iirc, no success.

[VincentGuerin]

17 minutes ago, velo army said:

I think it was yourself who labelled him as a "goalscoring oaf" which couldn't be more apposite . He was utter murder, but quite prolific.

I mind Craig Levein punting big Kevin McKenna up front as an agent of chaos with some success. Craigie Broon gave that a go with Matt Elliot with, iirc, no success.

Few who were present are unlikely to forget his left-wing cameo at East End Park. Fucking hell.

Did a good job up-front. A good player for Hearts.

[paranoid android]

1 hour ago, kingjoey said:

Willie Miller came up to Aberdeen as a centre forward. He was loaned out to Peterhead in the Highland League, scored a barrowload of goals, might even have been the top scorer in the Highland League that season, and came back to Aberdeen to be converted to a centre half by Teddy Scott.

I was going to say this - the other one was Paul Hegarty - I think he started as a centre-forward with Hamilton until Dundee Utd converted him to a centre-half. 

[accies1874]

John McGinn's change for Scotland has worked wonders.

[Highland Capital]

Phil Neville - Predominantly a left-back when he came through at Man United.  By the time he'd become captain of Everton he seemed to be more of a central midfielder. 

[Richey Edwards]

3 hours ago, Thistle_do_nicely said:

Santala got flung up front and scored goals for us, think nominally he was a centre half.

Scott Brown was initially a far more forward leaning midfielder before becoming more conservative with his runs/passing, kind of a shift from attacking mid to deep lying playmaker. I think he was even used out wide by hibs.

Josh Magennis, tv comms regularly brought up his switch from gk to outfield.

I think Chris Sutton started out in England as a centre half but doubt he played there much for celtic, might have filled in there once or twice due to injuries to other players, cant remember.

I'm sure he played out wide for Scotland a few times in his early appearances as well. 

[Crawford Bridge]

Almost every professional footballer was a forward at youth level.

[ICTChris]

Jim Calder was a striker for Inverness Thistle until he injured his knee, then he converted to goalkeeper aged 26.

He played outfield for Thistle against Celtic in 1986 and was man of the match in the cup tie in 2000 when we won at Parkhead.

[Steve_Wilkos]

Ian Durrant's pivot from midfielder to kebab knee was seamless.

[Brummie Clyde]

Kenny Swain and Colin Gibson were both Wingers converted to Fullbacks for the Villa team that won the League, European Cup and European Super Cup.

Think Dion Dublin was a decent Centre Back at times.

We had and Irish international called Con Martin that played in pretty much every position, including GK.

My Dad did mention Clyde being forced to play a Centre Back up front as an emergency measure (due to injuries). The player scored a hattrick and never played up front again. Can't remember the player, but probably would have been in the 60s.

[Satoshi]

Slightly different tact, but Pirlo started his career as a number 10 and gradually moved back into a deep lying player maker (where he defined the position for years).