Profile: Phil O'Donnell December 30 2007
Phil O'Donnell, who has died aged 35, was born just a few miles along the road from Motherwell's Fir Park.
The stadium is where he excited one generation as a teenage sensation and delighted the next after being rescued by Terry Butcher from the brink of the soccer scrapheap.
Many supporters were privileged to see him in the spring and the winter of his career, and many club scarves, shirts and floral tributes were arriving at the club soon after the announcement of his death last night.
The boy from Bellshill made his first-team debut as a 17-year-old and by 19 had scored in the 1991 Scottish Cup final as Motherwell beat Dundee United 4-3 to win what remains their most recent major trophy.
By the time of his death, which occurred shortly after he collapsed on Motherwell duty against the same opponents 16 years on, O'Donnell had established himself as an important figure in the club's history.
He had been club captain for the past 18 months and gained the nickname 'Uncle Phil' - striker David Clarkson was his nephew.
Between his two spells at Motherwell, O'Donnell experienced the goldfish bowl existence of playing for one of the Old Firm - his beloved Celtic - and tasted, albeit briefly, the glamour of England's Premier League.
O'Donnell had made his Scotland debut against Switzerland in 1993, and when Celtic waved £1.75million in front of Motherwell early in the 1994-95 season it was money the Dossers could not afford to turn down.
To this day, that remains Motherwell's record transfer fee for an outgoing player.
The youngster was proven quality in midfield and Celtic, being put in the shadow by Walter Smith's Rangers side, desired such a player.
The box-to-box midfielder had matured since his teenage years and was apparently shaping up to become a central figure in the Scottish game.
In the wake of his death, former Scotland manager Craig Brown compared O'Donnell's style of play in his prime to that of Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard and suggested at the time there were few, if any, players of such high quality in Britain.
What should have been a dream move to Celtic, and the signal for O'Donnell's international career to lift off, became a struggle to stay fit.
And in his five seasons at Parkhead, O'Donnell made only fitful contributions, rarely played to his potential as a result of his injury problems, and the long-anticipated second Scotland cap never arrived.
Sheffield Wednesday brought O'Donnell to Hillsborough in 1999, but once again injuries scuppered his chances of making the impact he would have been capable of, if fit.
He made one Premier League appearance, playing for the second half in a home defeat to Everton, and appeared in a smattering of games in the English second tier after Wednesday's relegation.
When the Owls offloaded O'Donnell in 2003, the 1992 Scottish PFA young player of the year had become the yesterday's man nobody wanted.
Yet former England and Rangers defender Butcher, who was managing Motherwell, saw no harm in inviting O'Donnell to train with his former club.
Butcher, who possessed similar character traits in his own playing days, soon became convinced O'Donnell could contribute.
He did so positively for the next two and a half seasons and it
was a cruel blow when, shortly after being appointed captain by incoming boss Maurice Malpas for the 2006-07 campaign, he suffered a season-ending Achilles injury after just three games.
Motherwell trusted O'Donnell would be back, though, and rather than accept semi-retirement after taking on a role as player-coach in May, he began this season in new manager Mark McGhee's starting XI and produced the impressive displays which bought him selection week after week, helping Well reach their current third place in the Scottish Premier League.
Speaking just last month, O'Donnell told The Times: "I will be 36 in March and I am just trying to play as long as I can and enjoy it.
"Honestly, each game is special to me. I have missed too many games in the middle of my career to stop playing at the age of 35, so I will play as long as I can.
"I can definitely play another two, three, or even four years."
His tragic collapse and subsequent death, which was pronounced at 5.18pm yesterday after O'Donnell was taken to Wishaw General Hospital, meant that the dream of playing on into his late thirties would never be fulfilled.
It was at Motherwell more than any club that O'Donnell won the hearts of supporters, and in football it will be at Fir Park where his death will be most felt.
The former boy wonder who returned to the club that gave him his break in the game, and passed away after enhancing his legend in North Lanarkshire, leaves a wife, Eileen, and four children.