The daughter says: ‘Da’. Darby Armstrong, all of two years old, is not calling out for her father, Danny.‘She is saying “Yes” in Romanian. She can count to ten in Romanian,’ says her proud father. She may have to learn to count higher, and quickly, to chart her father’s figures in the Superliga with Dinamo Bucharest.Armstrong sits in an upmarket restaurant in the beautiful suburbs of Bucharest with a park stretching towards a lake. He sips ginger tea with honey and engages with waiters, diners and children who approach him for a chat and a photograph.‘Darby is a bit bemused by it,’ he says. ‘We were in the mall there and a guy wanted a pic. I could see her looking up to see what all the fuss was about.’Armstrong could be forgiven for being ever so slightly bemused himself. At 29, he has taken a few dunts and not just from enthusiastic full-backs. Success has hardly been overnight.‘I nearly gave up once,’ he says quietly. ‘Another time I thought it was all over and I was looking at one-to-one coaching or being a personal trainer.’ Danny Armstrong is hailed after his match-winning heroics in a crucial win over UTA AradHe survived, though. He is a hero at Dinamo. There is a clamour on matchday when he comes out of the tunnel. The ultras, high behind a goal, chant his name with a fervour that suddenly breaks out in red flares and manic jumping.It is a long way from Ayr. Armstrong knows he did not walk it alone. His saviours include John McGlynn, who brought him to Raith Rovers, George Cairns, who convinced him to stay at Hamilton, and Scott Sellars, the youth coach who advised him to leave Wolverhampton Wanderers for first team football.He also took inspiration from many team-mates, including Kieran Tierney who was once his room-mate in a Scotland under-age team,‘I was meant to be rooming with another left-back but he pulled out and this young player from Celtic came in,’ recalls Armstrong. ‘He wasn’t even in the squad initially and now he is Scotland’s best left-back alongside Robbo.‘I used to play against KT so many times and I have great respect for him, playing so many games for Celtic, getting that move to Arsenal and coming back to Scotland to win trophies. The setbacks he has had… he’s an inspiration.‘He has resilience. He has motivation. He took the half opportunity that was offered to him and ran with it.’Armstrong has done the same in Bucharest. He has been bolstered by his past. ‘It builds you,’ he says of his experience. ‘There have been tough spells but you can look back and make sense of them and see how they have helped you. Football takes a lot of work.’ Armstrong has thrived in Romania since making the leftfield switch to Dinamo BucharestIt takes a lot of belief too. That can be a capricious quality, seemingly dependent on the winds of fortune.Armstrong can point to two hat-tricks that gave him faith in a time of need. ‘I scored a hat-trick for Hamilton in a youth game at Auchenhowie against Rangers,’ he says. ‘That came after I had been convinced to stick at it.’He also scored three last season in the derby against Steaua. ‘That was crazy,’ he says. ‘I don’t think I have realised even yet how big it was. People tell me it was the greatest day in their lives. We hadn’t beaten them in five or six years. We were also in a bad spot with poor form. And then I score three. It gives me goosebumps even now.’He adds: ‘There is a real football culture here. It means so much to people and I love that. It actually wasn’t too hard to come here because I had looked at it a year earlier but stayed on at Kilmarnock. When Dinamo came in and showed me videos and talked about the history, I was on board.’There was one decisive factor. ‘I knew it was time to try to make a name for myself somewhere else. I wanted to test myself, keep myself open to other opportunities, try to get to the highest level I can get.’He is professionally coy about the prospect of international football, having again missed out on Sebastien Pocognoli’s latest Scotland squad. He maintains the line of concentrating on his club form, having a dream to play for his country, and hoping to be noticed. Armstrong was a big hit at Kilmarnock and has long been mooted for a Scotland call-upHis performances in Romania, though, have been so outstanding that there may be the odd glance from the Pocognoli camp at just what is happening at Dinamo. They may have to be quick as Armstrong qualifies for Ireland too.He plays in a wide right role, with the freedom to cut inside and become a playmaker. His manager, Nuno Campos, has faith in him. He is the latest in a line of characters who have led him from doubt to conviction.There is no hesitation. ‘It was McGlynn who saved me,’ says Armstrong. But there were previous tribulations that required the intervention of football folk and Armstrong is immensely grateful.‘I had been going up to Hamilton from Ayr every night as a kid, playing at the weekend, and by the time I was about 15 I think I was drained. I felt I was missing out on other things in life. It was tough on my parents, too, who did everything for me. The family always sacrificed themselves for me.’His parents told George Cairns, Hamilton coach, that their son did not want to continue. The reply was instant: ‘Get him up here and I will have a chat with him.’The crisis passed after this talk and that hat-trick against Rangers. But further tribulations were to come. Armstrong’s relentless drive and enthusiasm have made him a standout player in RomaniaArmstrong headed to Wolverhampton Wanderers, spurning an offer by Rangers under Mark Warburton and Davie Weir. ‘That was a mistake,’ he says. He was never near first team football at Wolves though the club wanted to retain him. After a chat with Scott Sellars, he took the chance to leave and start again.‘That was very, very difficult,’ he says. ‘I did not play from May to November. I was sitting by the phone, urging it to ring with an offer. I had thoughts about packing it all in and going into coaching or being a personal trainer.’Then an unlikely Superman came to the rescue in the shape of McGlynn, then Raith manager. ‘That changed everything, everything,’ says Armstrong.A bounce game was organised to assess the player but Armstrong admits the team’s performance was awful. ‘I was very much part of that,’ he says. He did much better in another friendly but budget considerations meant McGlynn could offer only a nine-game contract. ‘It was a couple of hundred quid a week but it meant everything to me.’ Five goals in nine games led to an extended contract.‘He is a genius,’ says Armstrong. ‘He is so big on detail, detail, detail. He is a fantastic football coach. It’s an obsession for him.‘I have never met a man like him. He saved my football career and made me believe I could make it.’ John McGlynn helped save Armstrong’s career by taking him under his wing at Raith RoversAfter a spell at Ross County, Armstrong flourished under Derek McInnes at Kilmarnock and the move to Romania offered further scope for growth.‘It was a bit difficult at first settling in but now my partner, Lauren, and Darby love it. We have made friends,’ he says.At this a couple of waiters approach the table with grins and cheery banter. Armstrong responds with a warm handshake and that half-embrace that signals another acquiescence to yet another picture.‘The big difference this season is the coach,’ says Armstrong. ‘He has come in and completely changed the environment and the atmosphere. He has brought fun back and he makes you want to come into training.’Dinamo are now sitting joint-top of the league. ‘The first goal has to be European football, getting this club back to where it belongs,’ he says. Armstrong has his sights set on an historic Romanian title and is not ruling out a longer stayThe Dinamo fans, who have not witnessed a league title in 20 years, sense Superliga glory. ‘We are a good side and we play nice stuff,’ says Armstrong. ‘But let’s take it game by game.’He has the same laid-back attitude to his contract. ‘It expires at the end of the season and there is an option there but we leave all that to after Christmas.’He is happy in Bucharest but knows the fate of a footballer is never predictable. ‘It is a wonderful place. The fans are great and the manager has faith in me.’He points out that Campos wants him to be a ‘monster’. This is an instruction to be powerful and innovative in the final third.The next night Armstrong swivels just outside the box and hits a wonderful shot to open the scoring against UTA Arad.He then sprints towards the stand where Lauren and Darby are celebrating. He has just been a monster. But he is still a dad, in whatever language.