Versatile Scot is the centre of attention

KAL NAISMITH

PLAYER PROFILE

By Chris Dunlavy

LUTON TOWN DEFENDER

COMMITTED: Kal Naismith has become a key man for the Hatters

PICTURE: Alamy

KAL Naismith has enjoyed – and endured – several transformative moments during an eventful decade in the game.

Rejection by Rangers. Starting over at Accrington Stanley. The death of his long-term girlfriend, Ashley, at 22 from an epilectic seizure. Life, he said, was never the same again.

Later, as a player at Portsmouth under father figure Paul Cook, the Glaswegian would be sent on loan to Hartlepool and exiled to the Under-23 squad before flourishing as a key member of the side promoted to League One in 2017.

Perhaps the most decisive, though, came at Wigan. On the eve of a Championship clash against West Brom in December 2019, an injury crisis left Cook with just one fit centrehalf.

Naismith was already renowned as a utility player par excellence. Having started out as a striker at Ibrox, he excelled as a No.10 for Pompey, regularly featured on both flanks and had even filled in at full-back on occasion. But a centre-half ? Against the best team in the league?

You bet. Naismith more than held his own against the likes of Charlie Austin and Matt Phillips, and his increasingly assured displays in subsequent weeks prompted Latics supporters to dub the Scot ‘Kaldini’ -a tongue-in-cheek reference to Italian legend Paolo Maldini.

Now, 12 months after joining Luton, the 29-year-old is statistically one of the best defenders in the entire EFL.

“It’s a huge quality in Naisy’s game to be able to play in a number of different positions,” said Cedric Kipre, his partner at the back for Wigan.

“I would never expect a forward player to be able to play centre-back. Left-back maybe, but not centre-back. What he’s doing now -I think it shows you just how good a footballer he is.” Nobody ever doubted that.

As a youngster at Rangers, for whom he scored three goals in 24 appearances, Naismith was noted for his touch, technique and setpiece expertise. By his own admission, however, he lacked the mentality to thrive at such an elite institution.

Attitude

“When I was at Rangers, I was young, stupid and naive,” said Naismith. “I thought I knew best and that everything would just work for me. You need to show the right attitude or you won’t get anywhere.”

Accrington offered Naismith the chance to rebuild away from the spotlight, but Ashley’s death had a profound impact. “I was training at the Crown Ground when I heard the news,” he recalled in 2015. “Going back there every morning was hard -I just couldn’t lift myself.”

At Portsmouth, Naismith again found his application in question.

“Kal had everything,” said Robbie Blake, a coach under Cook at Fratton Park. “Height, pace, physicality, a great left foot, he could finish, cross, brilliant on dead balls. The problem was, he couldn’t put it all together.

“Cookie was trying everything. Leaving him out, bringing him in, making him train with the kids. It took a long time for the penny to drop.”

When it did, Naismith scored seven goals in ten games to power Pompey to promotion. Cook defected to Wigan, took Naismith with him and so the stage was set for his transformation into a ball-playing defensive colossus.

In eight games at centre-back after joining the Hatters last January, Naismith made more successful tackles per game than any other central defender in the Championship.

He was also the most fouled, and ranked tenth for key passes.

This term, it is his attacking statistics that stand out; top for successful dribbles with 1.3 per game, significantly ahead of more overtly adventurous defenders like Rob Dickie and Chris Basham. Second for key passes, with 0.9 per game. Naismith has also bagged three assists, the most of any centre-back alongside Swansea’s versatile Ryan Manning.

And as for those old worries about attitude, it is telling that when club captain Sonny Bradley was injured at the start of the season, Naismith took the armband.

“Where I am now, I feel really settled,” he said earlier this season. “I’m playing well at centre-back and I feel that I can impact the team from that position.

“When I visualise my career going forward, that’s where I see myself.”