It started at Celtic and Andy Robertson would love it to end at Celtic if and when Liverpool decide he’s no longer needed at Anfield.
And therein lies the dilemma for the Scotland captain who has never hidden his love for the club that cut him loose as a 15-year-old before going on to become one of the world’s best left-backs.
He’s desperate to pull on the green and white shirt for real... but not if he’s past it as a pro. Will the day he leaves Liverpool mean he’s past it, though? The 28-year-old doesn’t know the answer to that. But when that day comes, as it must at some point, he knows where he’d want his next destination to be if he’s still young enough to give it his best. Robertson is completely honest about his love for Liverpool. If he could see out a career on Merseyside that has carried him to Champions League and Premier League glory, he would be thrilled.
But if that preferred option doesn’t come to pass? "Every time I watch Celtic, I consider it,” he admits.
“When you watch them and see a packed Celtic Park... as a fan you always have that dream. Ideally I want to finish my career here at Liverpool. If I can stay at the top of my game, at the top of the tree my whole career, that’s the route I want to go down.
“But also, when I look at Celtic and when I was growing up, I was thinking I wanted to give them my best years. When I was at Queen’s Park I had a dream of still playing with Celtic and always dreamed of giving my best years to Celtic.
“And now I don’t want to go as a 34 or 35-year-old old guy that my uncles start hating on me because I can’t move any more! Time will tell. I’m very much a person who lives in the moment.
“I don’t look too far ahead and I don’t often look back. There will be a time for that.”
Robertson, who is missing out on this week’s Scotland triple-header through injury, has spent some time looking back with Darrell Currie on BT Sport’s Currie Club podcast. And he admits being told as a teenager he wouldn’t make it at Celtic sent him on a journey that has taken him beyond his wildest dreams.
He says: “Height was a part of it, also the physicality – I wasn’t exactly muscle-bound. I got released at a time of quite a lot of change at Celtic. Quite a lot of players at all age groups got released.
“It’s not quite make or break but at the time there were two options – go full-time football or get released. There’s nowhere else to turn. When I was 15 and getting let go from the biggest club in Scotland, certainly one of the two, Queen’s Park was local to me and I was still at school, so it was fairly easy to go there.
“I worked at the concerts and the big football matches. And when I was 18 it was decision time. School was finished and did I want to go to college or university and further my education?
“I was very fortunate that my mum and dad allowed me to have a year out. My auntie Vera was instrumental in that. She managed to convince my mum and dad because she was always convinced I was going to make it.
“I don’t know why because at times it didn’t seem that way. My only regret is that when I was at Dundee United, she sadly passed away too quickly and didn’t quite get to see the journey I went on.
“She saw me play first-team football, which was incredible. She went to every Dundee United game. There are many reasons why I love playing for Scotland but that’s certainly one of them that drives me forward through the good and the bad.”
Before Dundee United there was, of course, Queen’s Park. And Robertson’s time at the then-amateur club coincided with Rangers joining them in the Third Division, creating an interest and exposure the teenager was determined to use to his advantage.
He says: “That season I tried to build myself up a little, get a bit stronger and worked on my weaknesses. I did that for six months.
“I was on £18 a week to cover my petrol and that’s not enough, so in the last six months at Queen’s Park I worked in the kit room for the Scotland team for work experience. One of the kitmen who was my boss now works here at Liverpool, which is a bit strange, and I’m always speaking to him.
“These things all shaped me and I knew if the year at Queen’s Park didn’t work out, then I’d need to step back from it and do more educational stuff. I couldn’t waste any more time.
“We knew there would be a lot more exposure in the Third Division. We knew games were going to be on telly.
“We knew scouts were going to be watching, so I thought, ‘This is my chance. I’m not going to get a better chance because I’ll be getting watched’.
“Queen’s Park gets watched anyway because there are always young players in it but with Rangers in the division, I aimed to really establish myself.
“I really tried to improve, to take tips on board from the experienced lads. I still look at them today and thank them any time I come across them.
“It’s weird because some of them are like, ‘Why is he thanking me when he’s at Liverpool?’. But I don’t see it like that. I was a young boy and they helped me massively. I’ll never forget it.”
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