Danny Swanson used to curse James Maddison when the two men were at Coventry City.
And the St Johnstone midfielder is hoping it will be the other way round at Pittodrie tonight.
The on-loan Aberdeen playmaker took Swanson’s place in the Coventry side before his big money move to Norwich City.
So Swanson knows better than most the danger he will pose to Saints’ hopes of getting to another semi-final.
But the former Dundee United favourite has warned Maddison to expect a tough evening against the Perth men.
“I was with the wee boy James Maddison at Coventry,” Swanson said. “He’s a proper top player.
“I was very surprised he came up here. Very surprised. McInnes has done wonders to get him on loan.
“I think he’ll be disappointed he’s not playing in Norwich’s first team. He signed for a lot of money. I think it rises to £6 million. He was being linked with the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool.
“It’s because of him that I ended up here. He became the number 10 at Coventry.
“He came and stole my strip, my number, everything. I wasn’t happy with him!
“At the time I was thinking ‘who are you like?’ But I could see pretty quickly that he was a really talented player. And he’s a nice boy as well.
“He won the battle down there for sure. He was the golden boy. We’ll have to keep an eye on him.
“When I first saw him he was so slight. He was just a little kid. There were little glimpses. But then he came on a lot that season.
“The plan is to get my own back tomorrow night though.”
Swanson added: “I don’t think he’ll enjoy playing against St Johnstone. We’ll try and keep him quiet.
“There won’t be any special plans for one player. We’ll do what we always do.
“There’s no fear. We’ve had good results against them in the past. Celtic are the only team you would say are miles ahead and that you need to be wary of. All the others are really similar.
“It will be a good game and hopefully we’ll get the win.”
Swanson has recovered from injury and illness to make himself available for tonight’s quarter-final.
“The injury happened at Partick Thistle,” he said. “Anyway, I didn’t feel well on the Thursday so I wouldn’t have been playing against Hearts. It worked out well in the end.
“The gaffer told me to stay away but there was no way I was staying in the house. I sneaked in and made sure he didn’t see me! He saw me after the game but he was in a good mood so it was OK.
“I’d stayed away from the boys though so there was no danger of me passing anything on.”
The 1-0 win over Hearts was the type of digging deep display that has become Saints’ trademark, and will probably be needed again this evening.
“When I came to the club I soon realised that was the sort of performance that’s expected,” Swanson said.
“When you’re getting over-run you just find a way to stay in the game.
“Aberdeen looked better than Dundee, I thought but our boys don’t treat any of the teams different.”
Chris Millar should return but Richard Foster is cup-tied.
Manager Tommy Wright said: “This is the game of the round with all the potential to be a cracking cup tie. These are two teams who know each other quite well. It will be a difficult game for both sides.”
