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It was a running joke on social media. Every time he took another interstellar step on the road to Kiev.

“Just five years ago, Andy Robertson was playing Berwick Rangers, Montrose, Peterhead, Annan – now he’s beating Porto, Man City, Roma. He’s in the Champions League Final.”

Incredible. The meme that just kept on giving. The ultimate journey, they said.

Except it isn’t. It’s barely even half the journey.

And the thing is, the player himself is humble enough to know where it really began.

Not with the crushing disappointment of rejection from Celtic, not the vaunted five years ago in the echoing emptiness of Hampden with Queen’s Park as he found his feet and his purpose.

But 15 years earlier at the Eastwood Park, home of Giffnock Soccer Centre, hand held by dad Brian and coach Gerry O’Kane.

A little four-year-old tentatively trying to follow in his brother Stephen’s footsteps.

The classic example of every journey, even one that takes you into the rarefied European and global heights the 24-year-old now calls his football home in Liverpool’s radiant red, starting with the same single step for every kid, everywhere.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

It’s why he was back in Glasgow’s south side this week before going returning to Merseyside for pre-season training starting tomorrow. It’s why he’s fostering an innovative academy partnership with them and their thousand kids, giving back to his roots already. It’s also why they’re talking about naming a new pitch after their most famous son, to inspire their next generation.

And why, alongside Scotland team-mate Kieran Tierney, he’s throwing his weight behind the 15th year of the Grassroots Awards programme with the Sunday Mail, the Scottish FA and McDonald’s.

Because he gets it.

He understands that without the volunteers who have created one of Scotland’s best community clubs from scratch in less than 25 years, there would have been no football for him to play.

Without the coaches, without the committee fighting for facilities and funding, without the parents giving up their time, not just for their own kids but everybody’s, the road to Kiev and facing Real Madrid in the world’s ultimate showdown doesn’t even exist.

“I know how proud they are of what I’ve done so far,” said Robertson, “but they also know how much I value what they did for me as well.

“I visited them on Tuesday night actually, I had a constructive meeting with the chairman and a coach of mine who’s still there today, a guy called Bernie Airlie. He’s still heavily involved, and he’s put in so many years of hard work and commitment to that club.

“So we’ve just started an academy over on the south side and have linked up with Giffnock Soccer Centre. Simon Donnelly is involved as well and we’re trying to give them some help.

“The parents and volunteers there are brilliant, I know that from my own experience, but we’re trying to give them a wee bit extra on the coaching front as well.

“Simon is going int the help them out and the kids will maybe get a wee bit better quality coaching but the emphasis is still on the enjoying it, first and foremost.

“That was the key for me back then - it was about loving the game, not taking it too seriously, and that still has to be the message.

“But I hope this shows how much it meant to me. Without the parents, without the coaches and all the people behind the scenes at clubs like Giffnock, they don’t exist.

(Image: Daily Record)

“Not everyone can give the time but when they turn up with their kids they see a well-run club that does everything for their kids - that doesn’t just happen by accident. The time so many give to make that happen is unbelievable.

“And I know that happens all over Scotland. It’s great to be able to say that and have people take it on board and hopefully recognise the unsung heroes in their communities.”

There’s a signed ‘Robertson 3’ jersey hanging on the wall in Giffnock already.

The request for a ‘Robertson 26’ in red to hand beside it is already in.

And the 22-cap full-back laughed: “It won’t be a problem - it’s always good to give back to the clubs you played for.

“I wasn’t there for long because Celtic came calling when I was about nine, but I made a lot of friends there who are still friends to this day and that’s the environment these community clubs create.

“I was lucky - my dad ended up taking my team.

(Image: SUNDAY MAIL)

“I always used to go and watch my brother Stephen play when I was too young to join a team - he still thinks he’s a fox in the box, but there was always too much running involved in football for him!

“But I finally joined Giffnock when I was four, playing four a sides.

“My mum and dad used to have to switch coming to watch us, one would come with me one week, and the next week they’d swap over for Stephen.

“But eventually my dad bit the bullet and ended up coaching - he took the team with Gerry O’Kane, who I still keep in touch with now.

“My dad was probably harsher on me rather than showing me any favouritism, right enough!”

Robertson’s profession path is well documented. On the books at Celtic from a young age but ultimately rejected in his mid-teens for his frailty and lack of physicality, he has proven to everyone that the size of your heart and your desire counts for more.

But it didn’t stop him appreciating the influence of those youth coaches who recruited him in the first place.

(Image: Rob Casey/SNS Group)

He said: “It was Martin Millar who looked after me when I signed at the age of 10 - I noticed KT mentioned him last week as well - and Greg Robertson, who both took me up to under-12s.

“Martin was great with the kids, again enjoyment was at the top of his list of priorities and Tommy Burns was overseeing it all at that point too.

“He's from my area so I saw a lot of him, my brother and Tommy’s son were about the same age, so we saw each other at the various parks around the south side as well.”

His eventual rejection at Celtic did have a silver lining to the clouds that gathered over him, though - and led to another grassroots experience he’ll treasure forever.

“I didn’t get to play schools football until I went to Queen’s Park,” he sighed. “It wasn’t allowed at Celtic at the time.

“Obviously you would sacrifice it all to get the chance to play for Celtic but it was a shame because I didn’t really get the chance to enjoy playing just with my pals until I was in fifth year.

“I still wouldn’t change what I did for the world but I did really enjoy the last couple of years of school and getting the chance to play for St Ninian’s High.

(Image: Gary Hutchison/SNS Group)

“I played with my mates and we had a good Scottish Cup run - but as well as being a decent team, we had a great laugh which is the reason I loved it so much.

“It was a PE teacher called Mr Fuchs who took the team, and I still get texts from him now. He keeps in touch and asks for the odd good luck message for the teams who are there just now - they had a team who made the Scottish Cup Final and won it this year and I sent them a good luck message for him to pass on to them.

“It might seem like a wee thing but it’s important to the kids and it’s also important to the teachers, they take pride in what they do and they should because that’s time they give that’s their own as well, all the extra curricular stuff. They don’t have to take the lads at the end of a day’s work so I’m happy to give him some support as well.”

It’s a recurring theme of the conversation.

Robertson may have scaled new heights since his multi-million pound move to Anfield, he may have been exceptional for Jurgen Klopp, but his feet are firmly on the ground.

And it feels like no amount of success will ever change the fundamental decency of his character - another reason he’s the perfect patron for these awards.

Because he knows, with 10-month-old son Rocco now the centre of his own universe, that it won’t be long before he’s the guy giving up his time.

He said: “You dont’ appreciate it as much at the time but it’s only later on that you realise just how much time people sacrifice for you to be able to play sport. You take it for granted as a kid but when you become a parent yourself you realise that you’re giving up time.

“And it’s not just the games. I watched my dad take time to make sure training was organised, everything was set up, all the kids were going to be there, all the coaches and mums and dads pile it in.

“And I know that’ll be me in a few years time as well, whatever sport the wee man takes up. It’s a continuous cycle and maybe in 20 years’ time he’ll appreciate me doing it!”

Robertson’s grounded humility was never better shown than when he hit the headlines with one of the best stories of last season.

(Image: Liverpool Echo)

Bowled over by seven-year-old fan Alfie Radford donating all his pocket money to a local foodbank, he took time to write to him and enclose a shirt as a reward for his human decency.

Self-deprecating to the last though, it was Roberto Firmino match shirt, signed by the Brazilian icon - “because let’s be honest, Alfie, no-one wants the left-back’s shirt…”

It’s exactly why you WOULD want the left-back’s shirt, that lack of vanity.

But Robertson shrugged: “Footballers are thinking about things a lot more these days. If someone’s asking you to stop in the street for a photo or spare half a minute to chat, you have to realise how much that can make someone’s day - it’s not a lot to ask, is it ?

“They’re spending hard earned cash to come and watch you so it’s a small thing.

(Image: Getty)

“When I was younger I went to a wee summer camp and I remember Stan Petrov coming down to see us and do a question and answer session. I was like ‘Wow’. He was fantastic, and if I’m in that position now, and I can give something back, then I take pride in that.

“Football’s nothing without fans, or without kids, or without the community side of these clubs who keep things going.”

Robertson’s new joint venture with Giffnock will make sure he never loses sight of that - and while he’d love to produce the next kid from the club to grace a Champions League final, he’ll not forget his priorities.

“I’m a firm believer the kids need to enjoy it the way I did,” he insisted. “We won’t be filling their heads with tactics and all that nonsense when they’re so young, I want to see them with a smile on their face.

“But I’d much rather Simon Donnelly took a passing drill than my dad - no disrespect to him, obviously!

“It’s all about trying to get the next generation coming through and hopefully find someone to follow in our footsteps and help make Scottish football better.”