Adam Livingstone is ready to fulfil his dream of becoming a Motherwell star after fighting his way back from the verge of the football scrapheap to the fringes of the Fir Park first-team.

The 19-year-old was devastated just a couple of seasons ago when he was offered a pay-off to leave the club he had supported his entire life.

Scottish Cup-winning hero of 1991 Chris McCart had been the man to sign him at the age of nine, and he had been living the dream since.

Suddenly, he was faced with a stark choice. He could give up, and look to make it elsewhere, or he could give everything he had to prove he could cut it alongside his heroes like Keith Lasley and Stevie Hammell.

He chose the latter option, and after knuckling down to earn a new deal at the club through to the end of this season, he is now in a hurry to make his impression on the starting eleven.

“I remember when I got my full-time contract,” Livingstone said.

“I sat down with Scott Leitch and my mum was greetin’, and my dad couldn’t take the smile off his face. I was just sitting there in shock.

“To be offered the chance of a pay-off was hard to take. I had been there for so long, it’s the club I support. I didn’t want to leave.

“The news came just before I went on holiday, and I didn’t want to do anything. I was just sleeping all day.

“Eventually, I decided to go on trial at Kilmarnock, and it felt like I was cheating on Motherwell just going there.

“I was thinking ‘I don’t really want to be doing this, I’d rather be back playing with Motherwell’.

“My mum and dad helped me to snap out of it, and I realised that I had to start training 100% and play out of my skin.

“I went back to Motherwell and felt so relieved just getting that kit back on again! It felt good. The penny dropped that this was it. I started training a lot harder and a lot more.

“After I got offered the pay-off it gave me a big kick up the backside, and that made me want to push on and give everything 100%.”

Livingstone is currently starring for Motherwell’s under-20s, offering a goal threat from left-back as coach Stephen Craigan’s side sit pretty in second place.

His ambition though is to follow his long-time friend Allan Campbell, the only other player still standing at the club from their original under-10 side, into Stephen Robinson’s plans.

“I’m desperate to earn the same sort of chance that Allan has made the most of,” he said.

“It’s only me and wee Allan from our age group that have come right through. All the other boys have been released.

“We always got six-month contracts, so every Christmas or summer you would be waiting to find out if you were being kept on. It was brutal. There were boys getting dropped left, right and centre.

“Obviously it looked as though I might not make it either, so that makes me doubly determined to get in there beside him.”

Livingstone has tasted top-team action, making his debut as Motherwell secured safety last season against Kilmarnock, ironically enough.

As a kid, Livingstone used to add a streak of red dye to his hair in homage to his hero, James McFadden, and as he stood nervously on the touchline waiting to go on, a familiar arm was draped around his shoulder.

“I was absolutely terrified,” he said. “They tried to put me on about five times but the ball wouldn’t go out.

“Faddy came up and put his arm round me and said ‘you only get your debut once, so go out there and enjoy it. Don’t be nervous, just play football the way you normally do’. That really helped me.

“I went on and just started running about like a madman, my adrenaline was all over the place.

“It was the last home game, so we got to do the lap of honour. I was thinking back to all the times I stood in the stands and watched my heroes doing that. I couldn’t take the smile off my face for days."