St Johnstone winning a domestic cup double three years ago this week certainly has to go down as one of the great underdog achievements in Scottish football.
So you would think. But Saints stalwart, Liam Gordon, reckons escaping the dreaded relegation play-off spot on the final day of the Premiership season may just triumph that success.
The Perth-based outfit began the 2023/24 campaign with a severely depleted squad, so much that it was made up of predominately under-18 players. Then Steven McLean was axed from the McDiarmid Park hot seat in October, leaving the club five points adrift at the foot of the table.
Alarm bells were ringing but it was St Johnstone's never say die attitude to find important goals when they needed it that helped them pip Ross County to safety, on goal difference, following a dramatic Sunday.
Gordon, 28, has been at St Johnstone for almost a decade and he was eager to credit his teammates for digging in and cementing their top-flight status.
He said: “This season has been challenging, the last few years have been tough. I would say staying up this season has been the best achievement as a St Johnstone player.
“The success we’ve had in the past, being in the top six and winning cups - you don’t learn anything from that. When success comes it’s easy, but when there’s so much thrown at you all the time you have to dig deep.
“It has been testing but to share that moment with the fans at the end made it worth it. It’s been a long, tough season. It’s been draining and we have had so many things to overcome.
“On the first day of pre-season we had 12 players training and half of those were under-18s. We had 10 boys out injured for the first couple of months of the season.
“It was difficult, we brought players in late and in the League Cup games we had a really depleted squad. So things were tough but credit to the boys, we got people back one by one and everyone stuck together. Nobody ever gave up.
“It’s been tough but the one thing we have is we never give up. People can say what they like about us but the one thing about St Johnstone is we always have a never-say-die attitude. It’s the culture of the club.”
