That is Jordan Lussey's high-level summary of the Academy Alumni project he heads up at Liverpool's Kirkby set-up.
Lussey, once a player himself in the Reds' youth system, has been in his role as Academy Alumni officer since April.
His aim is to take the programme, first launched in 2020 to offer wide-ranging support to former prospects, to the next level.
"I'm really proud and really proud of Liverpool," the 32-year-old tells Liverpoolfc.com. "I was here as a player for 15 years and it's the team I support.
"What's important, I feel, is that I've experienced everything from pre-Academy all the way through to U21s.
"I've trained with the first team, I've been away with the first team. I've had the injuries. I've had the good agents, I've had the bad agents.
"So, I've been there as a collective of what everything football can throw at you.
"I'm looking at players that have recently left that may be out of contract and still looking for a club at this time of the year. I'm able to offer them support and my advice because I've been there, I've done it.
"There are boys within the programme that may be out of work or stuck in what type of career to go down, and I can help them because I have been there myself as well.
"From my point of view, it's an honour to be leading it, a privilege and something that I'm really passionate about as well."
A team of three – Lussey, former Reds striker Neil Mellor and Marek Szmid, Academy player care manager – run the day-to-day Academy Alumni operations.
Those who have ever received a scholarship from the Academy are automatically enrolled into the programme.
At the time of this interview, they have 267 members on their database – and that will naturally grow year on year.
Their data shows 47 per cent of alumni are playing football at some level, with 20 per cent still involved in the game in some way. Nearly a third are in a different line of work entirely.
Whether you've played 100 games for the senior team or spent just a year as a scholar, the same level of help is there for all.
"Obviously being in the Academy for so long, we dedicate our whole lives to it and the sacrifices that we make," Lussey says.
"The education team does amazing things with the boys but we obviously miss out on college, we miss out on university. We dedicate our whole life to becoming a professional and hopefully one day play for Liverpool.
"The likelihood of everyone playing for Liverpool, it's just not going to happen. So when you do fall out of it, it is difficult to know what's next.
"I've been in the position before of looking at what else you can do. You come out of education and then you leave Liverpool and then your football career might not go down the path that you wanted to go down, and then it is quite a dark place to be.
"So we're just here to offer support and signpost and direct people to places that can help them."
The programme has four fundamental objectives: community, support system, opportunity and engagement.
As this conversation happens, a number of alumni are fittingly conducting a training session on the Kirkby pitches as part of the UEFA B Licence coaching course.
Lussey himself obtained that qualification with the help of the Academy, and the eighth cohort of alumni will begin their diploma next year.
Guidance is also offered to allow alumni to pursue opportunities in education, business and other non-football-related areas.
Lussey continues: "I went to semi-professional football quite quickly after leaving Liverpool.
"I struggled in terms of just adapting really to being at one of the biggest teams in the world to then dropping down leagues and playing semi-professionally and what that looks like, obviously needing to work and going into work. It's been great for me.
"What I am looking at doing in the near future is putting some events on to get us reconnected and brought back together, which I think will be really important.
"For me, community is a big thing because we've all been there, we've done it, we've all left the club.
"Leaving Liverpool Football Club is not easy. There's a big weight of the badge and when that badge has obviously been removed, definitely speaking from experience, it was a bit of lost identity when I left.
"I think to be in the alumni is obviously a very unique thing but we all share the same thing because we have gone through everything together."
Academy director Alex Inglethorpe has been at the forefront of the alumni programme since its inception.
His ultimate ambition has now been fulfilled in having a former member of Liverpool's youth system leading it.
"Alex was amazing with me because he made me realise that your academy career and your first-team career are two different things," Lussey finishes.
"So what we all have in the alumni collectively is we've played at the highest level that you can play at academy level, so we've hit the pinnacle. Your senior career is different for many different reasons.
"But I think that it's really important that we do realise how amazing our achievements that we achieved just by being at the Academy really was.
"I think it's really a big thing and the right thing that the club is doing."
