AFTER much prompting, Ross Wilson dredges up a story to illustrate his past life with John Hughes.

The tale dates back a decade, back to the days when Hughes was cutting his managerial teeth at Falkirk and Wilson, now a high-flying head of recruitment and scouting at Barclays Premier League side Southampton, was a fresh-faced 22-year-old straight out of university. Originally a lowly player liaison officer, he soon found himself tasked with raising the standards of excellence in every area of the club's development. But on this particular occasion, he simply found himself squirming with embarrassment and being grilled at Schiphol Airport en route to a pre-season tour to Holland.

"He [Hughes] would absolutely nail me all the time," Wilson told Herald Sport. "He would say 'When I was at Celtic, everything was done tip-top on European trips, the Celtic standard is what you have got to aim for. So you get all the passports together, you look after everything, and when the players get to the other side, you keep them'. He was obsessed with this. Hotel rooms, flights, everything. So we land in Amsterdam and I have all the passports. I am getting them sorted for the boys and then I notice that my own passport isn't there. I couldn't quite believe it - I am getting put into a wee room with customs officers and panicking, thinking I am going to get sent back. He lets the prank go so far then just when I am about to get deported who should appear in the room but Yogi."

The baptism of fire does not appear to have done Wilson much harm. By the age of 32, from Falkirk via Watford then Huddersfield, he has quietly assumed one of the most coveted backroom seats in the British game, fronting up a formidable scouting and recruitment arm at the South Coast club which has harvested incredible results for Ronald Koeman's first team this season. Moreover, the club's academy - which has previously produced talents such as Theo Walcott, Gareth Bale and now James Ward-Prowse - shows little sign of slowing down. Only last month, a late goal from one-time Scotland youth cap Sam Gallagher saw them lift the Under-21 Premier League Cup.

It is an enviable tool kit to have at your disposal, but Wilson's first love will always be Falkirk. And that is why - regardless of the respect and affection he has for Hughes - he will have no divided loyalties when he catches a flight back from a quick end-of-season break to take in the Scottish Cup final at Hampden next Saturday. For the likes of Craig Sibbald, whom he helped recruit at the age of nine, these really are his Bairns.

"For a manager with such enthusiasm and work rate to give me the opportunity that he [Hughes] gave me as a 21-year-old was quite unbelievable really," said Wilson. "But I've definitely not got divided loyalties. I am delighted to see Yogi in the final. I am delighted that he is manager of the year. But I was born and brought up in Falkirk and I am a Falkirk supporter so there is only one team I am going to be supporting. There is only one team I want to win, no doubt about that. I am in Majorca with the girlfriend but we fly back on the Saturday. She will have to fly back into Manchester while I fly into Glasgow and get myself straight to Hampden. I couldn't miss it.

"I keep in touch with all the Falkirk lads, which is lovely," added Wilson, who also saw academy products such as Scott Arfield, Murray Wallace and Conor McGrandles earn decent money for the club. "I don't know the kid Botti Bia Bi or the young lad Kevin O'Hara but the rest of them are all players who were there with me. Young Sibs [Sibbald] came in the place at nine years of age which is unbelievable really, he will be due a testimonial soon. [Kieran] Duffy and [Blair] Alston are young men I know really well now. I dropped them a message after the semi final, just to say I am very proud of everything - the way they have turned out as young men, their discipline and their morals and everything like that. Sometimes you can read papers and young players in the industry are doing things they shouldn't be doing. I am not suggesting the Falkirk players are all angels but they know the difference between right and wrong and they have all represented themselves, their families and the Falkirk academy really well."

Despite his sudden rise, Wilson is humble enough to accept that his has been a charmed career, expedited by meeting some extraordinary people along the way. Hughes, George Craig, Campbell Christie and Alex Smith get special mention at Falkirk, while one of the first men to offer him a welcoming hand at Watford was Graham Taylor, a friend and contact to this day. Huddersfield owner Dean Hoyle brought more understanding of the business side, while the vastly experienced director of football Les Reed has already taken him under his wing at Southampton since he was recruited to fill the void left by Paul Mitchell's departure for Tottenham.

"A lot of young men wouldn't have got the chance that I got when I was 21 and if they had, they certainly wouldn't have been surrounded by the experience that I was," admits Wilson. "I am grateful for that. It is something I think about and talk about a lot."

The South coast club have previously had good success from the Scottish market - witness Victor Wanyama and Fraser Forster joining from Celtic - and could go down that route again this summer but then Southampton have 40 to 50 scouts scouring most nations in the world for football talent. "Southampton have shopped in that country [Scotland] before and it certainly forms part of the network of countries that we look at," said Wilson. "But we have a worldwide strategy which looks in a number of markets and identifies hundreds of different players."

Wilson will return to his spreadsheets and scouting reports soon enough. But this Saturday he will simply turn up at Hampden Park hoping fervently that his kids from the Falkirk academy can help him get one over on his old mentor for a change.