Lawrence Shankland's boyhood Rangers dream came true this summer.
The forward knew the chance to join the club he supported as a child was one he had earned, not been gifted.
To the outside world, and even some of his family, it seemed that the opportunity to play for Rangers had passed.
But a clause in the 30-year-old's contract allowed the club to sign him for free this summer.
Shankland, who had joined Hearts on a three-year deal last summer, said: "I was obviously delighted to get signed up [at Hearts] last season as well.
"Every deal you sign in your career is really important to you.
"Of course, every player has ambition; you want to push yourself on.
"Rangers is somewhere I’ve always wanted to be and I knew I’d have to go and have a good season again, impress, and try to get here.
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"Every player wants to go bigger and better."
Shankland, who was part of the Hearts squad under Derek McInnes, left alongside McInnes, with Cammy Devlin joining them over the weekend.
The clause in his contract, which was known to only a select few, gave him the opportunity to move to Rangers.
He said: "I can’t go into the clause too deeply because it’s between me and Hearts at the time, so I’m not going to expand on that too much if I’m honest, but there was a clause in my contract.
"It wasn’t just Rangers as a club [who could activate it], but if a potential move came then it was something both myself and the club could work towards to make it happen.
"Once I let them know I wanted to come here, then it was pretty smooth sailing from then on and it was all pretty clear."
Despite facing Rangers as an opponent in recent years, Shankland's name was never far from the club.
A move during Steven Gerrard’s tenure was considered, and Shankland confessed that even his family thought he may never get the chance to join Rangers.
He said: "I think the last time it was properly close was probably when I was at Ayr United.
"There have been rumours every transfer window since then, but I think that was probably as close as it got because I’d just left Aberdeen to go there and I was still pretty young.
"Listen, even people in my family thought it might have been a missed opportunity and it would never happen.
"But I always had that belief I could make it happen and thankfully for me it has."
