IT is an interview of just less than 30 minutes in a meeting of more than three hours. Four words from Craig Houston sum up his dedication and commitment to the Sons of Struth Academy.
"Because I love it," Houston said when asked why he put in the time, money and effort, why he braved the weather, fielded the phone calls and added the achievement to a life that has been anything other than ordinary. It is his club and these are its children.
The time with the tape turned off was as interesting and enlightening as it always is when Houston is on the other side of the conversation. Tales of his exploits, shall we say, during the years that resulted in regime change at Ibrox make for remarkable listening as the Sons of Struth - in its original form - became the thorn in the side of successive Rangers villains and heroes to the support that rallied to their cause.
His focus now is on the youth academy that was born seven years ago and that thrives in the shadow of Ibrox. It is one of 14 teams and around 240 kids, a system that has sent aspiring players to clubs across the country, albeit not Rangers, ironically.
Houston has seen and done enough over the years to merit a movie about his life, never mind a second book. He is writing new chapters with his work at the grassroots levels of the game and the stories will inspire for generations to come.
"It is tough," Houston said. "Any volunteer will tell you, especially in kids football, there are a lot of negatives. People want to question you – your integrity, your ability – and there is a lot of negative things go with it.
"But then you walk onto the pitch and there is a six year old looking up at you smiling saying ‘hiya Craig’. You see the response when the kids get told we are going to Real Madrid and it is nuts. That's why I, and so many others, do it."
That trip to Madrid encapsulates the ambition and the aspirations of the SoS. Houston was told he was crazy when the lightbulb illuminated and he had the idea of chartering a plane to take 200 kids and coaches - plus Ibrox heroes Willie Henderson and Gordon Smith - to Benfica for a once-in-a-lifetime day trip two years ago.
He did it, and in some style. Now the Bernabeu awaits in September for his three oldest age groups and preparations for a foray to Catalunya the following month are well underway for another group of players.
"The Benfica trip, we had some great feedback from people at different clubs," Houston said. "There was a chance it could have put noses out of place and ‘who do they think they are doing that?’
"But the feedback from other grassroots clubs was incredible. I have now seen other clubs trying to arrange similar trips to give them the Benfica experience, which is great.
"We set the bar at that and thought ‘how do we top that?’ No disrespect to Benfica, but I think this does go a step above again. Then next year we will get the thinking cap on again and wonder how we are going to top that."
Few would bet against Houston going bigger and better once again. Ambitions for a structure that could mirror, or perhaps rival, the Performance Schools programme that is run by the Scottish FA are not a forlorn goal as the partnership with coaching institute Coerver continues to pay dividends for the Sons of Struth.
It was formed with a blank canvas but high standards. Houston takes soundings from those around him but the club is not run by committee and dreams become reality with decisive decisions and quick thinking as children of all ages and abilities earn opportunities and gain experiences.
No kid is given a trial. Each is allocated a level - be it community, development or academy - as those who are kicking a ball for the first time or who are destined for a move into a professional programme are given the time and space to develop as people and players.
The SoS has grown in size and stature but it remains a small piece of the Scottish football jigsaw and Houston recalls a conversation with John Collins at a Coerver event at Oriam as they watched 40 or so youngsters, aged up to 15 and the majority of whom were not signed to any club, in action. The takeaway was that there is talent in this country, but the concern is how much of it is allowed to flourish.
"What I do think is wrong with Scottish football is participation," Houston said. "Every time we fail to get to a World Cup or a Euros someone comes out with a new blueprint. They copy and paste bits of it and change others and it is all about the top end.
"The last one they decided to cut the number of kids in Pro Youth and that would suddenly make the whole thing better. One thing they never talk about is participation at grassroots.
"We feed into the Pro Youth. All the guys out there like myself or Charlie Miller or the Jimmy Johnstone Academy, all these people across the country, are out as volunteers in the wind and rain during the week and then games at the weekend making kids available for the Pro Youth.
"If we drive every kid onto a football park in Scotland, like we used to, we will still have the same talent pool that we had when Henderson, Johnstone and Cooper were playing. My fear is that when these guys were there everyone played football but not everyone is playing football now."
The game today is, Houston believes, not a working class sport anymore but the blame does not lie with those who give up their time for free. He cites clubs that take £70 per month from children as an example of the issue and adds the cost of boots, trips and holiday camps into the mix as the bills - "and God forbid you should have two weans playing," he says - for parents quickly accumulates.
The often-cited concerns over facilities are dismissed, too. Houston acknowledges that 'they are not perfect' but they are a 'damn sight better' than they were a decade or more ago and a lack of coaches cannot be used as an excuse either as our game continually searches for the silver bullet to cure the ills at domestic and international levels.
"My problem is that we are not putting enough in at the top of the funnel to find these nuggets," Houston said as he points to the increased participation in sports such as basketball and ice hockey. "My fear is that price is stopping the working class, which is always where our best footballers have come from, and they are not playing football. Football is becoming a middle class sport.
"Our country had these people born with that skill that played football and became legends. But these guys might not be playing football now because to play football at grassroots is expensive.
"When was the last time we had a world star? In the 70s, 80s, 90s, we had some quality players in our teams. Where are they now? With all respect to the national team, if you put the team that played in '98 at the World Cup and squad this week, there is no debate."
Right now, Houston can do little about the costs. He is paid in smiles by those he coaches and his greatest rewards are personal rather than financial as he sees kids - like one youngster who grudgingly accepted a move from midfield to defence only to then earn a deal with Kilmarnock as a centre-half - fulfill their potential in the primitive stages of their careers.
The influence the academy has had on others has been more profound. Football will be a career for the minority, but the structure, the friendship and the guidance the game provides can have far greater consequences.
"It is positive inputs and there are a lot of situations with kids where we don’t know what is going on behind closed doors," Houston said. "You can have as much, if not more, impact on kids that are never going to be footballers through the game.
"I couldn’t make the stories public obviously, but the ones we have got involved in are even more important than winning cups or getting kids into professional teams. It is very fulfilling, some of the stories.
"Parents will come and thank us because they think coaches have maybe saved a life, we have had that. Now that is just jaw dropping.
"People tell you what has been going on and that we have been a positive impact. That is why we do it and that is no different to thousands of volunteers across the country."
One of those volunteers is sadly no longer with Houston. He has been fortunate to have the help and support of a plethora of Rangers idols over the years but few have made as much of an impression as Andy Goram.
What was supposed to be a single session alongside Ian Durrant turned into a regular visit from The Goalie. Houston cherishes the memories but still questions why Goram, who tragically passed away last July, wasn't coaching at a higher level before his health deteriorated.
"With all due respect to all the goalie coaches out there, anyone could go on the internet and find drills and where to place cones and have a session of some description," Houston said.
Andy Goram. 1964-2022 💙 The Goalie pic.twitter.com/6HouAgSche
— Rangers Football Club (@RangersFC) July 2, 2022
"The amazing bit with Andy was when he would just stop and start talking to them about his experience. The body line, he would call it, how to dive forwards and not back, cutting the angles.
"The respect they had for him was quite something. To me it was Andy Goram the nine-in-a-row legend, to them he was their coach first and foremost.
"He loved it. It was amazing how good he was and I thought ‘why is Andy Goram at our club?’ He should have been at a far higher level."
One of Goram's former proteges is now on the books of St Mirren and trains and plays with an 'AG1' logo on his gloves. Another keeper, who recently started a trial at Kilmarnock, has the letters 'WWAD' embroidered into his kit.
"When he is in goals, that is what he questions," Houston said as he explained the acronym as 'What Would Andy Do?' and pays tribute to a hero that became a friend. "It was an incredible impact he had. The kids were heartbroken when he was ill and then passed away. Seeing them so emotional was so sad. What an influence he was on these kids."
