Craig Bryson admits he can't believe St Johnstone go into the Scottish Cup final against Hibs today chasing a domestic trophy double... because they were bottom of the Premiership when he joined.
The Perth club finished fifth in the Premiership to secure European football for next season, and a win over Jack Ross's side this afternoon means their adventure could be longer.
With the Betfred Cup already in the McDiarmid Park trophy cabinet, Bryson says that's an incredible turnaround and admits he feared a relegation battle when he joined from Aberdeen.
But Saints beat Hamilton 5-3 on October 17 to move off the foot of the table, and never looked back.
"It has been a good time to be at St Johnstone," said Bryson.
"It's weird, though; when I signed for St Johnstone we were bottom of the table so in that situation I'm guessing you're looking at just staying up, trying to get as many points as you can to stay in the league.
"But when I got to the club and saw the way the lads were playing... we were just unfortunate in games. We'd be playing well, get a couple of good chances, wouldn't take them and then concede a sloppy goal, so that was the way it was going.
"But none of the players or the management panicked. We just thought if we continued to play the way we were playing, stick to our values, then results would come.
"I don't think anybody at that stage ever thought we'd get to two cup finals and qualify for Europe, but we basically just never gave up and stuck to our values."
Bryson says it's incredible that he and his teammates are at Hampden today looking to create more history for the club in what has been a remarkable season, but says it comes from taking both cup competitions extremely seriously.
He said: "Can I believe we're in the Scottish Cup final? Honestly? No.
"I think everybody in Scotland just expects Celtic and Rangers to be there, or maybe the so-called bigger teams, but we've taken both cup competitions very seriously. We've played our strongest possible team, though we have made changes.
"We have a really small squad, we feel that everybody in that squad plays their part, so when the gaffer does make changes, we don't feel the team is any stronger or any weaker, because we have a really good core of players.
"It's been good, we've obviously enjoyed a cup run and no matter what happens on Saturday, whether we win or lose, I think we deserve to celebrate what we've achieved this season either way.
"The Scottish Cup is the one you want to win when you're a young lad, growing up watching football.
"It was always the showpiece fixture in the calendar, it usually ends the season, and most people are used to the Old Firm being there, but as a young lad you do dream of being involved in it, and when you are, you want to go on and win it or it will be a not-great day to look back on, really.
"I'm not one that just likes to take part, to be honest, I'd rather be knocked out in the first round if we're not going to win it - in a sense. Obviously I wouldn't, but it's all or nothing.
"That's the way we'll be on Saturday, hopefully we can come out on top.
"It's going to be a really tough game, Hibs are a really good side, and they've had a really good season as well.
"Obviously they lost out in the semi-finals of the Betfred Cup to ourselves, they finished third in the league and got to the Scottish Cup final, so it's fair play to Jack Ross and the job that he's doing at Hibs as well.
"They want to win the Scottish Cup as much as we want to win it, and on the day we'll see what happens and hopefully it comes out with a St Johnstone win, but it's going to be a tough game."
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