Liam Gordon couldn’t bear the thought of Geoff Brown selling St Johnstone as a second-tier club.
And making sure Adam Webb is going to take over a Premiership outfit was a huge motivation for the Perth captain on a dramatic survival Sunday.
Local boy Gordon knows that generations of Saints players and supporters owe a huge debt of gratitude to arguably the most successful owner of a Scottish football club in modern history.
And, with the buyout by US lawyer Webb set to be completed in time for next season, the captain takes great pride and satisfaction in making sure the baton will be passed with the McDiarmid Park side gearing up for a 16th top-flight campaign.
“I’m delighted for Geoff because I can imagine he was going through every emotion,” said Gordon.
“It has been tough for us as players and fans, but it must have been 10 times worse for him the last few weeks.
“I’m sure he’ll have had plenty of restless nights this season.
“He’s been an incredible owner, an incredible leader of this club and a great man for Perth.
“It would have been horrendous if we’d gone down on his watch.
“Maybe not too many of us have that relationship with Geoff because he was away for a while but a lot of the older players from the past had that.
“We wanted to do it for us as players and the fans, but also for the club and the people who run it.
“For Geoff, for Stan (Harris) and Roddy (Grant) – it’s a nice feeling. I’m delighted for everyone associated with the club.”
New ownership excitement at McDiarmid Park
Gordon added: “Staying up this season was absolutely massive.
“The club is about to undergo a major change with the ownership and I look forward to seeing what that entails for everyone.
“It’s a change that has needed to happen for a while now because it’s been in the background.
“It’s something that everyone should be excited about.
“For us to stay in the Premiership when that’s happening will allow the new owners to come into a better situation.
“I don’t know their plans – whether they’ll invest in the playing group or what they’re going to do.
“But it’s going to be much easier for them doing it in the Premiership.
“For the fans too, you don’t want to be missing out on the big teams coming to Perth.”
‘Best achievement as a St Johnstone player’
Gordon has been part of a double-winning, history-making team but in terms of coping with adversity, finishing 10th in the Premiership table tops the 2021 glory.
“I would say staying up this season has been the best achievement as a St Johnstone player,” he said.
“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 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.
“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.
“There were times we got ourselves out of it and wanted to kick on but it didn’t happen.
“I feel we had a lot of bad fortune over the season, with injuries and decisions, but we got big players back at an important time.
“To get Drey Wright back when we did was massive, he’s come in and made a huge difference.
“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.”
Contract talks begin in Perth
Gordon is one of many Saints players out of contract.
Talks between skipper and club can now begin.
“The manager touched on it after the game,” he said
“His hands have been tied with regard to contracts because we didn’t know what league we’d be in.
“The new owners are coming in so you don’t know what their ideas are going to be either.
“It’s all been put on hold but those discussions will happen now and hopefully we’ll get boys sorted.
“It’s above me. I don’t know what the plans for next season will be. But staying up gets everyone the opportunity to get something sorted.”
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