Cardiff City v Sheffield Wednesday IT was Oscar Wilde who famously said: ‘Be yourself, everyone else is taken.’

Sheffield Wednesday’s Callum Paterson most definitely is. It helps to explain why the blue side of the Steel City and South Wales footballing divide love him.

A low-maintenance footballer and person who is respected for giving his all on the field and doesn’t treat himself too seriously off it and is generous in spirit.

He certainly is not a ‘brand’ and is about as far removed from the plethora of bland, image-conscious modern-day footballers as it gets.

Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl and Callum Paterson console each other at the final whistle of the recent Steel City derby.

placeholder image — Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl and Callum Paterson console each other at the final whistle of the recent Steel City derby.

Patto is, well, Patto. ‘Not a full shilling’ as his former Cardiff boss Neil Warnock once remarked with a great deal of affection.

Not many footballers would list fishing as a form of recreation. Paterson does.

Few would be comfortable regularly referencing their partner in a pre-match press conference for fear of some potentially mickey-taking banter back in the dressing room.

Paterson isn’t bothered.

Sheffield Wednesday's Callum Paterson shields the ball from Sheffield United's Sydie Peck in the recent Steel City derby.

At Cardiff, he celebrated with the best of them after promotion to the Premier League in 2018, and was pictured famously swigging from a bottle of blue alcopops amid the post-match scenes.

His goal celebrations - whether it be performing moves from the Fortnite video game or doing ‘The Floss’ dance - are also fondly recalled by Bluebirds followers.

As with Cardiff, Sheffield Wednesday is a part of Paterson’s life and not just his career.

His contract is up in the summer and remains to be seen if he stays.

He’d like to, but if he doesn’t, he will pop up elsewhere and show not just adaptability as a footballer, but immerse himself totally in that club and community. It won’t just be a place of work, but a life experience.

‘When I sign for a club, I sign for a club’ as he tellingly said ahead of his return to Cardiff today.

He continued: "I have had some amazing memories and promotions with both clubs (Sheffield Wednesday and Cardiff) and scoring goals and things like that. I have really enjoyed my time.

"Everyone is really friendly in South Wales and up here. It’s nice to be in the community, especially the fishing community and I know what they are like and I have met some nice people.

"I have got some really good friends who I will love to catch up with. I will see if my mates are around in Cardiff for a coffee when we get there."

On the pitch, Paterson is not quite so easy going.

In the recent derby against Sheffield United, the burly, moustachioed Scot was the one leading the fight and winding up opponents and getting in their faces.

"I am not what people see on the football pitch, I am actually quite a nice guy on the outside,” he added.

"It’s just the way I have been brought up in treating everyone in the way you would want to be treated and then hopefully, it will all work out in the end. That’s just how I am."

After the pre-match pleasantries, points will be the business for Paterson in the Principality come 3pm.

If Wednesday are to retain their outside hopes of gatecrashing the play-offs come early May, it’s a fixture that they need to win in all honesty, with head coach Danny Rohl having not given up the ghost just yet.

A successful run-in is invariably about togetherness and a strong dressing room as much as ability.

The Owls showed that in spades 12 months ago to secure their safety in a memorable ‘Great Escape’. The mission this time around is different.

In the Championship, inspired and unexpected things sometimes happen. Paterson was part of another at Cardiff when a bunch of ‘misfits’ in the words of Warnock were promoted to the Premier League.

Paterson said: "It’s something we can use from last year. Anyone could have gone down and it was a weird situation to be in, but we came through it as a squad and have to use that experience from last year to show we can actually do it this year on the other side of it and hopefully we can stick together and achieve it.

"You can have all the talent in the world. Individually, it won’t make a difference if you are not part of a team.

"The Cardiff team we had was a phenomenal team, but were still all really good mates and everyone in that squad still meets today. That’s a massive part of it, the camaraderie and togetherness helped us achieve what we did that year and the manager.

"It was just a bunch of random guys. But we had a team of really good people who gelled together really well and the manager made that happen for us and we achieved what we wanted to.”