St Johnstone chairman Steve Brown says the memories of last season’s European adventure to Turkey will live with him forever.
Despite that, he is hoping Monday’s Europa League qualifier draw in Nyon, Switzerland, will prove to be a bit kinder towards Saints in terms of the amount of travelling involved.
Having made a loss chartering a flight to Turkey last season to face Eskisehirspor, Brown is keeping his fingers crossed that their next jaunt will be much closer to home.
He said: “The last two years have been great. To finish in the top six last season was unexpected and this season we just scraped into the top six but then took 10 points out of 15 which was almost unimaginable.
“To finish third and go into Europe…as a supporter myself, it is difficult to describe but it was extremely emotional.
“When I started watching St Johnstone, we were in the Second Division so to qualify for Europe two seasons on the trot is just incredible.”
He added: “Going to Turkey though was expensive for the club. The fee we got from the Europa League didn’t cover the cost of the plane but it was a fantastic trip for the fans and the directors.
“Money is money but the experience we had over there and the memories … I wouldn’t swap them for anything.
“We had a great affinity with Eskisehirspor and we still keep in close contact with them.
“We are hoping the draw, though, is a bit kinder to us this time travelling wise. We would hope that the furthest we would have to go would be Scandinavia.
“We have had a look at some of the clubs we could face and there are a few obscure names there but they are probably saying the same about us.”