“You can’t put into words really, that’s the dream draw," says lifelong Liverpool fan Liam Coyle. "It’s the best outcome that could have happened, and I don’t think I’ll believe it until it happens."

Coyle joined the Reds academy aged 10 and grew up a stone's throw away from Melwood in West Derby - idolising Steven Gerrard, Jamie Carragher and Javier Mascherano, who all polished their craft behind the burley gates.

The midfielder would hop on his bike with his brothers and ride down to the training ground. They'd rest them against the concrete wall to peer over the fence to catch their favourite players in action. Or on transfer deadline day, congregate outside the training facilities in the hope to catch a new signing arriving to finalise a deal.

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A few years later, he’d walk to training in his Liverpool tracksuit, past on-lookers and report at Melwood with the first-team.

Coyle says: “It is strange. I remember that all the conversations with my family, they’d say, ‘you’d go down and stand outside on deadline day, now you’re training with them’.

“That’s what you hoped would happen at Liverpool, but how quickly it happened when I was young, I think, 'bloody hell, that's madness'.”

Coyle has been a regular at Anfield for over a decade as a fan, and in his playing career, he has gone from scoring two penalties at the Kop end in a school’s final to walking out as a Liverpool player for the under-21s.

As a boyhood supporter, he always had dreams of making first-team appearances at Anfield for the Reds.

But four years after his release, the 25-year-old will be walking out onto the hallowed turf fulfilling a lifelong dream - playing in front of a packed Kop and away end - as an Accrington Stanley player on Saturday in the FA Cup third round.

From training with Adam Lallana to career-stalling injuries

By the age of 18, Coyle had already lived a life that any Liverpool fan would be envious of. From beating Everton and Manchester United to European adventures against the likes of Real Madrid, Anderlecht and AC Milan.

From joining as a 10-year-old, the midfielder rose through the age groups, earning the captaincy from under-15s to U18s - becoming Steven Gerrard’s skipper during his stint as a manager in the youth ranks.

The highly-rated, combative midfielder also earned the opportunity to train alongside the likes of Adam Lallana, Joel Matip and Daniel Sturridge with the session overseen by Jurgen Klopp aged just 17.

“It’s mad to look back and think that was the normal life but you realise now,” the 25-year-old reflects. "It was nerve-wracking but exciting, you’re going into an environment with all these top players, they’re all men and you’re still a kid.

"You were dreaming and hoping to play with them and be on that side of the fence all the time as well.

"You look at some players on the TV and think, ‘he’s alright’, but then you'll train with them and they’re all top, top players. It's just mind-blowing."

Issues would emerge transitioning into the under-21s, with the increase in intensity and training load. As a result, spate of injury problems began affecting his involvement. In what was a pivotal year for not only his development but his future at Liverpool, the drive to succeed was replaced by a fight for fitness.

“I always tried to work my hardest but as I was still growing or adjusting, playing up sometimes it takes its toll," Coyle says. "I had a lot of stress-related injuries which kept me out for longer periods so I couldn’t get a run of games in the 21s system.

“The injuries held me back then when I felt I was back to full fitness, I was always striving to get there.”

After one injury, Coyle arranged to meet academy director Alex Inglethorpe to discuss where his future lay. However, the meeting involved words that no aspiring professional footballer ever wishes to hear, that they would not be retained.

“I half knew the answer that was coming but it was very hard to deal with and listen to,” he reflects. “I remember him saying, ‘I don’t think your future is going to be here, you’re not going to be getting a contract. You’re going to have to look elsewhere.’

“I didn’t like what I heard but I respected the honesty.”

With the pandemic ongoing, Coyle faced uncertainty over what was ahead with clubs making cost-cutting measures and some releasing players without a plan for the future.

However, Liverpool offered the midfielder a one-year extension to allow him to build up to competitive fitness and catch the eye of Football League clubs.

Within that period, while featuring for the under-21s, Coyle went in search of first-team football and landed upon Accrington Stanley. "I hadn’t done much in the men’s game - on loan or anything [due to injury] - it can be hard to find a club. I was quite lucky that I got into Accrington. It was tough to deal with but because I knew for so long, it was easy to process."

'We just froze then went mad'

Coyle has already been involved in glamour ties with Stanley before, suffering defeat at home to Leeds United in the fourth round in 2023.

But as he was sat on the couch with his girlfriend waiting to see who Mark Hughes and Dion Dublin would draw out of the hat, he was dreaming about a chance against Arne Slot's side.

“We froze for a second, we couldn’t believe that it had happened,” says the 25-year-old. “It was a dream then we went mad for a few hours.”

Stanley have to put their dream tie to one side after facing several crucial League Two fixtures before the glamour tie on Merseyside. Two wins in two have sparked life back into the squad, after a difficult run over the festive period dragged them towards the two relegation places.

On Saturday, Coyle is set to come up against some of his former Liverpool academy teammates after sharing a dressing room with Curtis Jones and Caoimhin Kelleher.

It has been a month in waiting but now the tickets can be spread across the family and his brothers swapping their standard home seats for tickets in the 4,800-strong visiting supporters from Lancashire. The day he's been waiting for his whole life, albeit in different circumstances, has almost arrived.

“I wish it came around quicker, we’ve had seven league games since that [draw],” the midfielder says. “It’s nice that it’s come around now.

“To be playing in front of, what would be a full house, at Anfield would be something special. We don’t know what team Liverpool are going to put out, whatever team they do it’ll be difficult to beat but doing it at Anfield would be special.”