Forget fate... boss won trophy with his mind games!

Wisdom after the event would have you believe St Johnstone were transformed from a club with the most overpowering Scottish Cup curse in the country to one who were suddenly destined to win it.

All because their semi-final matchwinner’s name and shirt number happened to be the date of the final.

“I never bought into the stars aligning stuff,” said captain Dave Mackay.

“Don’t get me wrong, it was a hell of a coincidence that the player who was scoring all our goals had May 17 on his back.

“It was a great wee story and would have been even bigger these days with all the social media – or if Stevie had scored in the final like he should have rather than punching it in!

“There were far more important things in our favour.

“They had the bigger name players – some of whom went on to have amazing careers – and most people expected them to win.

“But Dundee United were the opposite of Aberdeen for us – we had a history of beating them.

“And Tommy (Wright) had got into Jackie Mcnamara’s head.

“He got everything right that week.

“I don’t know if he knew the team Jackie was going to pick. But whether he did or whether he didn’t, just saying it worked a treat.

“He got it spot-on that Ryan Gauld and John Souttar would be on the bench.

“Jackie would constantly talk about the way we played and how physical we were.

“We were made out to be the polar opposite of them.

“He’d say things like: ‘It’s harder to create than it is to defend’.

“That’s fine but it wasn’t as if we’d been nicking 1-0 wins against them. We were scoring twos and threes.

“Yes, we’re not conceding many against you but we’re scoring plenty. We had the balance right.

“We absolutely got into his head. I’m sure of it.

“Jackie was a wee bit naive and let it get the better of him.

“I think Tommy and him get on fine now but there was a bit of dislike between the two of them back then as well.

“The whole thing played into our hands.

“As a rivalry, we always saw it as our biggest game.

“I know St Johnstone fans would say Dundee but, as players at that time, we saw United as our main rivals and there was a real edge to it.”

Mackay during 2011 semi-final with Motherwell.