Utility players have the ability to play in several positions naturally. However, the phrase is used most often by managers trying to excuse the signature of a sub-par player. The recent history of football has seen a number of decent utility players – men who fly in the face of convention and perform adequately in two different areas of a football pitch. The most common form of utility player is the defender-turned-striker. Dion Dublin was able to play a part in Cambridge United’s dour Route One success after he mutated from a brick shithouse of a defender into a brick shithouse of a striker.