Gianni Infantino certainly seemed to enjoy his weekend taste of Scottish club football.
The Fifa president, in the country for an IFAB annual general meeting at Loch Lomond, picked a good game to take in during his recent visit, with St Mirren’s clash against Aberdeen turning out to be an incident-packed thriller from the first minute to the last.
For St Johnstone supporters, it brought back memories of the day their club welcomed one of the sport’s most powerful figures to McDIarmid Park.
Back in 2008, Michel Platini was looking for a game to watch.
Just like Infantino a few days ago, the then president of Uefa was in Scotland for an International FA Board meeting (at Gleneagles Hotel), as was his Fifa counterpart, Sepp Blatter.
Blatter found something else to do with his free Saturday afternoon.
But Platini was treated to some Perth hospitality, with Saints’ owner Geoff Brown explaining to Courier Sport how their Scottish Cup quarter-final against St Mirren was chosen as the VIP fixture.
“Anyone who was on the league management committee with the league tended to get on with the SFA,” Brown recalled.
“Yule Craig was the president at the time and he asked me to stand for treasurer with the SFA.
“I said: ‘No way, I’ve got one club and that will do me!’
“But I told him that he did have an accountant who was with the League, George Peat.
“He was put forward and became SFA treasurer, vice-president and then president.
“We were quite friendly so when Platini was over here, Peat chose to come to our game.
“From what I can remember, Platini didn’t say a lot.
“He was pretty buddy-buddy with Peat.
“I don’t think I had five minutes with the man.
“But we’ve still got the picture from the day, which is in the boardroom.”
Irony upon irony
Unlike Infantino on Saturday, Platini left 20 minutes before the end of the game.
So he missed Andy Dorman cancelling out Liam Craig’s first half penalty.
Looking back to that day and that era, there’s an irony overload.
One of the hot topics at the IFAB conference was the introduction of video technology in football.
Platini was a strong opponent.
It would be “useless” and would “ruin the game”, said the former world class midfielder.
And who was the St Mirren defender at the heart of the most controversial incident in the match?
None other than current SFA chief executive, Ian Maxwell.
As reported in The Independent: “St Johnstone should have been awarded a penalty when Andy Jackson’s shot struck Ian Maxwell on the hand and then the striker was denied by David van Zanten’s vigilance, clearing Jackson’s header off the line.”
There were no dignitaries in Paisley two Tuesdays later for the quarter-final replay when the Perth side, operating a division below their opponents, beat St Mirren, managed by current Saints head of football operations Gus MacPherson.
Derek McInnes’ team would lose the semi-final against Rangers on penalties but the upward momentum for St Johnstone was starting to build.
For Platini, later to be banned from football for eight years, holding back the tide of video technology would end up being the least of his worries.
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