Incomparable, the achievement.
And incomparable, the team.
Scottish domestic football has its most wonderful success story, while St Johnstone has its greatest ever side.
Both are beyond debate.
Two trophies clearly outweigh one as far as the latter is concerned.
And for the former?
Anybody who believes that Rangers, Celtic or Aberdeen in the Ferguson and post-Ferguson era, winning both knock-out competitions in one season trumps what Saints have done in 2020/21 has no grasp of the in-built economics and imbalances of the game in this country.
— St. Johnstone FC (@StJohnstone) May 22, 2021
In fact, let’s go a bit further.
As a one-off season on our shores, I can think of nothing better.
Put it this way, you’d have got longer odds (10,000 to one apparently) on Saints pulling off this sporting miracle than Brendan Rodgers winning an Invincible treble a few years ago, Fergie breaking the Old Firm stranglehold in 1980, Jim McLean following his lead three years later or anything else you care to mention.
Want to cross the border and broaden it out even further?
Leicester City were a mere 5,000 to one to win the English Premier League in 2016.
This is the sort of territory we’re in.
Seasoned observers are talking it up as the high-water achievement of the year in Europe.
There was one box unticked in the Betfred Cup run, as there was in 2014. One stick that was still used to beat St Johnstone with.
“Ah, but you didn’t beat Rangers or Celtic to win it.”
It’s a ridiculous argument for a cup competition but it was hanging in the air nonetheless.
Well, Callum Davidson’s men picked that stick up at Ibrox and snapped it over their collective knee by knocking out the team that couldn’t be beaten at home and couldn’t be beaten in the league.
They played a semi-final with several players sidelined on the back of a coronavirus outbreak.
And they played a final having barely trained together for a fortnight.
As against Livingston in the League Cup it was a narrow margin of victory but as against Livingston it was utterly merited and born out of tactical intelligence, in-game diligence, craft to carve out the one opportunity they needed, ruthlessness to take it and then stubbornness and solidity to repel what came their way.
It's that man again – Shaun Rooney nods @StJohnstone in front at Hampden.#ScottishCupFinalpic.twitter.com/Fz8MzIcdmO
— Scottish Cup (@ScottishCup) May 22, 2021
This Saints team was encapsulated in one goal.
A player, Callum Booth, whose career was on the drift less than two years ago threw himself into and won two tackles to start the move.
A player, David Wotherspoon, who has found his perfect role and is blossoming like never before came up with the skill to make his marker look foolish, get his head up and deliver a perfectly-judged cross.
And the player, Shaun Rooney, who has been the most significant part of a mid-season strategic change arrived at the back post where any left-back would struggle to contain him.
Determination, talent, composure, quick-thinking and elite coaching rolled into one defining goal and moment.
You have to say, it was pretty meek stuff from Hibs. It really was.
If reputations haven’t been broken as a result of their two Hampden performances against St Johnstone, they have certainly been chipped away at.
Martin Boyle is at the top of that list.
He was weak in that first 50-50 with Booth and incapable of breaking free of the straitjacket Saints have put him in on numerous occasions previously and did so once more.
And, with his footballing limitations being exposed, he dived to try and con the referee into awarding a late penalty.
An ignominious afternoon.
All those people who said the Perth players hadn’t got into the heads of the Hibs ones were left looking foolish.
Four wins in a row and no goals conceded over that period can’t be a coincidence.
Therein lies culpability for Jack Ross, whose responsibility it was to find a different way against St Johnstone.
That he didn’t will be a burden he has to carry until he secures silverware.
There is no burden on the shoulders of his opposite number.
Forget the ‘how do you follow that’ talk.
Davidson probably won’t be at McDiarmid Park long enough for that to take hold.
And if he remains the Saints manager for one or more full seasons, this team will continue to achieve success under him, of that I have no doubt.
Not two cups in a few months level of success, of course.
But top-six Premiership finishes, European action and cup runs won’t end here, or when Davidson departs for that matter.
The foundations of the club are too strong in whatever terms you want to judge that – finance, stewardship, squad talent, young players coming through the academy.
The gap between Saints and mid-size rivals will widen with the money banked from these cup wins, European qualification and future transfer income when star assets are sold on their terms.
And, if and when Davidson does get head-hunted, there’s a ready-made replacement in Steven MacLean and another manager-in-waiting after him, Liam Craig.
Not only has Scottish football never had a story like this it hasn’t had a similar ‘boot room’ succession culture for many a long year either.
Until someone can come up with a better adjective to describe St Johnstone, incomparable will have to do.
