For Harry Kewell, a decorated playing career is now in the past and coaching is his new obsession.
And his ultimate dream is to take charge of Liverpool, one of the biggest clubs in the world, a place where he endured both massive personal disappointment and enjoyed the elation of the greatest individual success a player can have.
Kewell won a Champions League medal with Liverpool, but his triumph was tinged with sadness as he limped out of that astonishing final against AC Milan – when the Reds came from 3-0 down to win on penalties – with a serious groin injury. He also suffered a series of injuries while at Anfield that he thought might end his career.
"I'm a big dreamer, so you might as well go to the top. I would love, my ultimate goal, obviously Liverpool, you look at AC Milan, the clubs I admired as I was growing up. If you want to dream big, you dream big, he said in an interview conducted in Australia where he has travelled to pick up the Tobin Award bestowed by the players' union, the PFA.
"A lot of kids dream and are afraid to express what they dream about ... I tell my kids to dream big. What's the worst thing that happens, you just fail. what's the next step under that ... fantastic."
Kewell works for English Premier League club Watford, coaching their under 21 team, and hopes to build a career in management, almost certainly in England, where he and his family have lived for almost 20 years.
While he is a huge supporter of the idea of expanding the A-League, it is unlikely he will develop his career in the land of his birth, although he is prepared to judge all opportunities on their merits.
"You have to wait until an opportunity comes. If it happens it happens, if it doesn't I am at a great club and I am learning off one of the best", he says of his current boss at Watford, Walter Mazzari.
His Alex Tobin award is recognition of his career in England, with Leeds United and Liverpool, and Turkish side Galatasaray as well as the Socceroos.
Kewell said he was delighted to have been chosen by the current generation of players to join Craig Johnston, a former Australian star at Anfield, the antipodean pathfinder Joe Marston and the legendary Johnny Warren as a Tobin medallist.
"Marston, [Mark] Schwarzer, [Frank] Farina and the other Tobin medallists are legends of our game and to join them is truly an honour," Kewell said.
"These players did so much for Australian football. They inspired me and countless other players. I would also like to congratulate the other major award winners – all were truly deserving after brilliant seasons."
Kewell believes that expansion of the A-League will be a great move to further develop the game, but warns that the FFA cannot afford to make mistakes, the chief of which would be to create sub-standard teams without quality players for the sake of a TV deal.
"This expansion, I think it's fantastic ... as long as you have got players. There's no point in having teams just to fill numbers and it's not the right people there," he said.
"At the moment you have got a good league happening. It's interesting now, people are watching it, I will watch it every weekend, that's what you want. You don't want to create an extra two or three teams and they become weak links because they are just filling numbers to be able to pass an extra round. As long as we can make these teams as strong as what we have got, fantastic.''
He confesses to enjoying rivalry that is developing between A-League coaches, citing the war of words between John van 't Schip and John Aloisi, and revealed that he had also had a meeting with Melbourne Storm coach Craig Bellamy to gain insights into coaching at the highest level.
"You are creating some good coaches as well [in Australia]. I saw the friction on the weekend, it's nice, it goes to show there's passion in the game now.
"Fans like to see it. There is big talk now at the moment about how Klopp [Liverpoool boss Jurgen Klopp] reacts, also Conte [Chelsea manager Antonio Conte] ... as a fan you are seeing passion. You are seeing a manager that actually cares. I love it and the fact that people now are showing that commitment and driving passion that they want to win.
"As much as people turn around and say that it's all about developing ... it is, but everyone loves winning."
