A TRIP back down memory lane came fairly easily to Robert Snodgrass as the Scotland forward took time out from his lengthy injury rehabilitation programme to visit his old primary school.

Directly opposite the entrance to St Anne's in Glasgow's east end there is a red blaes pitch, white lines all chalked out, that could not have changed significantly since Snodgrass was thundering around it for his school team around 15 years ago. In this age of 6G artificial turf and hybrid surfaces, it was quite the thing to see this relic from a bygone era, almost like a living museum to football as it used to be.

St Anne's is no more than a wind-assisted goal kick away from Parkhead and like most of his schoolmates Snodgrass grew up dreaming of one day emulating his hero Henrik Larsson by playing for Celtic. In truth, at 27 years old and an established Scotland internationalist, he probably still does.

There was a chance right at the outset of his career, when Celtic were one of several teams thought to be interesting in signing him. Snodgrass, though, listened to his head over his heart and went to Livingston instead. There was another opening of sorts last summer when it became apparent he would be leaving Norwich City following their relegation from the Barclays Premier League. Hull City, though, were prepared to offer in the region of £8m meaning any Celtic interest was always destined to quickly fizzle out. Snodgrass is philosophical about it all. He remains a Celtic fan - and will be part of a sell-out crowd at Thursday's Europa League tie against Internazionale - and was happy to reminisce about old times as he took a seat at familiar venue.

"Attending this school, Celtic was always in your head," he said. "But, and I'm being totally honest, it wasn't something I thought was going to happen. For me, it was just a case of seeing what stage I could actually get to. The first thing I remember was going up to Celtic Park to watch Celtic, feeling the full effect of the stadium. When you see the players on the park for the first time, you get sucked in and it's like a dream.

"When I started going to see Celtic, it was just before Henrik Larsson signed. We used to try and skip into the games. You would stand outside, waiting for someone who had a spare ticket and then give him the wee puppy eyes in the hope he'd give it to you. We didn't have the money to get in otherwise. I still love going back to Celtic Park now, whether it's for Celtic or Scotland games, and seeing the atmosphere which is still the same."

Snodgrass spent some time at Rangers as a teenage prospect and yet was never offered a deal. He has a fair idea why.

"I trained at Celtic when I was a kid and at Rangers as well. I wore my Celtic shorts underneath my Rangers shorts when I trained there! That's the truth. James McArthur posted a photo of me from those days on Twitter recently. I remember speaking to a Rangers coach a few years later, asking him if I wasn't good enough for them because they never offered me anything. He said the fact I was wearing Celtic shorts to training, they felt I was trying to wind them up. But they were the only training shorts I owned at the time."

Ronny Deila's recent assertion that the growing financial gulf means Celtic will probably never again sign a player from the English top division would seem to put paid to chances of Snodgrass ever playing for his boyhood heroes. Talk of a move home last summer, he revealed, was always fanciful.

"To be honest it wasn't close," he added. "There was some talk about it, a little bit of discussion but when I was a Championship player Norwich asked Hull for £8 million, so you think when I'm playing week in, week out at Norwich what they'd ask Celtic for. I think you can answer that. Are Celtic going to pay that type of money?

"That's how highly Norwich regarded me because they'd offered me a five-year contract at the time. There was some contact but when Celtic realised figures they distanced themselves. There's always that element in the back of my head thinking 'what if'. But if it's meant to be it's meant to be."

This has been a frustrating period for Snodgrass. Injured on his Hull debut in August, he has pencilled in the start of next season for his return. From there, a place in the Scotland set-up for the final few qualifying matches for Euro 2016 is in his sights.

"I just want to get myself back, fitter and stronger, for the rest of the campaign. Everyone involved with the squad is desperate to qualify, not just the players."