VTAFerguson Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 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. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheScarf Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 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..... 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velo army Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 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. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thistle_do_nicely Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 (edited) 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 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottsdad Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 Yogi Hughes started out as a centre forward before Jim Jeffries moved him to centre back. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SuperSaints1877 Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 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. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oneteaminglasgow Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 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? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingjoey Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VincentGuerin Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 That's nothing. Ross Stewart played in goal for Livingston and is now banging them in up-front for Sunderland. Fair play to him. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
velo army Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VincentGuerin Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 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. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paranoid android Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 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. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accies1874 Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 John McGinn's change for Scotland has worked wonders. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Highland Capital Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 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. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richey Edwards Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 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. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crawford Bridge Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 Almost every professional footballer was a forward at youth level. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ICTChris Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 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. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve_Wilkos Posted April 7, 2022 Share Posted April 7, 2022 Ian Durrant's pivot from midfielder to kebab knee was seamless. -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brummie Clyde Posted April 9, 2022 Share Posted April 9, 2022 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. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satoshi Posted April 9, 2022 Share Posted April 9, 2022 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). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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