Adam Livingstone and David Turnbull swapped congratulatory phone calls on the morning both sorted out their next steps in football.
The pair came through the ranks together at Motherwell and on Thursday morning, both completed moves to new clubs, with Livingstone signing a two-year deal with Cove Rangers as Turnbull made a life-changing move to Celtic.
Both are Motherwell fans and have strong affinity for the club, even if their careers have gone in different directions.
Turnbull was close to joining Celtic last year before a long-term knee injury put his career on hold. Livingstone, meanwhile, felt the writing was on the wall with two separate loan spells during the 2019-20 away from Fir Park.
But it did not stop the two getting in touch regarding their respective fresh starts.
Livingstone said: “I text him to say congratulations and at the same time, he text me to say congratulations. We were both laughing about it – I gave him a call as well as it’s a life-changing move for him. He fully deserves it.
“David’s a year younger than me but always played a year above his age group, because he was always ridiculously good, right the way through. We both went full-time at the same time. He’s a great boy and a fantastic player.
“He broke in quite quickly. Motherwell seem to give young boys a chance; they gave me a chance and a lot of other boys that have moved on, like Jake Hastie. They seem to produce some good young lads and that’s good for all of us.
“It was difficult leaving Motherwell because I was there for 13 years. But I got loaned out twice in a season but I did see it coming, which made it easier and I could start processing it.”
Livingstone made his debut for ‘Well in May 2017 but the left-back only managed five league appearances for his boyhood club.
Loan spells at East Fife, Clyde and Morton did not yield a great amount of game-time and with his contract up in the summer, a move was on the cards.
His connection with former Motherwell youth coach Gordon Young – Cove’s assistant manager – provided him with a new destination and while some might see it as a surprising move, Livingstone has bought into the ambitious outfit.
He added: “I’ve only been there one day but the standard of training is incredible. The standards are very high and I don’t see why we can’t challenge for the league title this season.
“I was on the phone to Gordon – he had me through my youth days – and he asked me if I would like to join Cove. It seemed really interesting because I knew Broque Watson and he was telling me how good a club it was. It’s basically a full-time club, the way it was run.
“It was really attractive to me, especially on the back of another promotion, and they seem like they want to go places.
“I want to get a run of games here and show what I can do. I’d like to play my part in this club go even further and obviously it’ll benefit me having more game-time.
“Competition is always good, it brings the best out of people. I’m happy to have a bit of competition there – it’ll push me on and everyone else in the squad.”
The 22-year-old intends on travelling up to Aberdeen twice a week for training and on his off days will work with Kyle Wilkie, the ex-Hamilton, Morton and Livingston midfielder who is now at East Kilbride, to keep up a full-time level of fitness.
As well as Young, Livingstone is also old colleagues with Cove defender Tom Leighton, who was in the Fir Park youth system before he moved to Watford.
Livingstone said: “I knew Tom from when he was younger, before he moved down south. I’ve kept in touch with him and I’m glad he’s here. It made it easier for me