Going under the knife for serious hip surgery might not seem like the best way to mark the first anniversary of St Johnstone’s historic Scottish Cup win.
But a successful operation at the weekend will be cause for celebration for the man who raised the trophy aloft at Celtic Park 12 months ago.
Dave Mackay hopes that an enforced three to four month lay-off, will prolong his career and give him a chance of adding more chapters to his McDiarmid Park success story.
“I must admit I hadn’t realised it was almost a year to the day that we won the Scottish Cup,” he said. “That’s what can happen in football, I suppose.
“There are worst times to get it done.
“There’s a chance I might miss a couple of games at the start of next season, but hopefully that’s the worst case scenario.
“I want to get it sorted out for the long-term, not just as a footballer. You don’t want to be struggling to get about playing with kids and grandkids.
“I’ve had a clear-up of the knee before, and a double hernia, but this will be the biggest operation.
“I don’t know, possibly it could have been a career-ender in the past, or I would have just had to keep taking injections with the potential damage that can do.
“It’s the type of surgery that has only taken place in the last few years, and this surgeon was one of the first to do it.”
Mackay knows he will be in safe hands.
“Ideally we could have got it done earlier, but the surgeon is one of the top guys in Europe and is obviously an extremely busy guy,” he explained. “I think he’s been in America recently.
“The operation is basically to re-shape the hip.
“I’ve known about the problem for a while. When I got a hernia operation years ago I was told I’d probably have problems towards the end of my career.
“Over this season I’ve been in a lot of pain. I’ve had four steroid injections.
“I missed quite a bit of pre-season due to the pain and it was agony during the European games, trying to get going after half-time.
“I managed to get through them and then got an injection a couple of games into the season.
“But the injections paper over the cracks.
“They make you pain free for a short spell but it wears off, and you can’t keep doing that.”
Mackay added: “Hopefully this will extend my career.
“It’s been tough getting through games and training sessions.
“One of the injections didn’t work, so I was playing through pain for a couple of months.
“Just now I’m actually pain-free. It’s ironic because it’s probably the best I’ve felt all year.
“But I know that’s just temporary.”
Mackay, who will have to watch Friday night’s crucial clash with Celtic on television down in Coventry, finds it easy to rank last year’s cup triumph on his list of football achievements.
“It’s easily the best moment of my career,” he explained. “It’s the only medal I’ve won as a professional.
“There have been other great days, a lot of them at this club. Beating Rosenborg and the Old Firm are the ones that spring to mind.
“But actually winning a trophy is on another level.
“Being the first captain to lift it for this club isn’t something I think about, though. I’m no different to the rest of the players. It was a team success.”