If Brian Graham wanted to forget that he lost the Scottish Cup final in May, he chose the wrong club to move to.
The on-loan Dundee United striker gets regular reminders from his new team-mates about who emerged victorious in the Tayside derby at Celtic Park.
So if the St Johnstone man can help the Perth side win another trophy, the mickey taking might be scaled down a bit.
“I’ve had a few digs here and there,” Graham reported.
“It wasn’t just the first day that I arrived..it’s still going on, to be honest!
“There’s always somebody who’ll have something to say.
“Dave Mackay’s the biggest pot stirrer you’ll ever meet. He carries a wooden spoon with him to training. He’s the captain though, so you can’t really say too much back to him.
“That’s changing rooms. They pick up on something and don’t let it go. It’s all a good laugh.”
The final may not have gone how Graham wanted, but there’s no doubt that the whole Scottish Cup experience has whetted his appetite for another run with Saints.
“It was hard to lose,” he said. “St Johnstone won the cup and we were all devastated.
“We had a great Scottish Cup run with Dundee United last season.
“Even though we didn’t win the final, it was still a fantastic experience.
“If I can be celebrating this season that would obviously be brilliant.”
Should both Saints and United progress to the last four there’s the possibility that Graham may have to sit out a semi-final against the Tangerines, and maybe even a final.
“I wouldn’t be able to play if that happened,” he confirmed.
“But I’ll cross that bridge if I come to it.
“This is a big, big game and I’m not thinking about what might happen from a personal point of view if we get through this round.
“Good luck to Dundee United, but I’m just hoping we progress at St Johnstone.”
Graham has more recent memories of beating Rangers than the rest of the Perth squad – a Scottish Cup semi-final at Ibrox last season.
“I was on the bench for that one,” he recalled. “It was a great day. The atmosphere was fantastic.
“There was a lot of off-field stuff but we took that in our stride and we got a great buzz when we saw the size of the crowd that day. In the end, United won it quite comfortably.”
Different “off-field stuff” is dominating the agenda just now at Rangers, but Graham insisted that boardroom sub-plots and all their ramifications at Ibrox won’t enter the Saints players’ minds.
He pointed out: “There’s talk of a crowd backlash, but we’re not interested in that.
“There’s no point in us even thinking about what’s going on at Rangers. It’s got nothing to do with us.
“We’re just going to try and win the match.”
And Saints’ chances of pulling off what the bookmakers believe will be a cup upset have been improved by the weekend point won at Firhill.
He said: “Obviously we went there thinking we could win the game but Partick have got a good home record and, with our run of defeats, we’d have probably taken a 0-0 to get us back on the rails.
“It will give the goalkeeper and the defenders a boost to get a clean sheet and that can only help the midfielders and the strikers as well.
Cup runs in the past
“The boys are buzzing today. That’s not normally the case on a Monday morning! But we’ve got Rangers tomorrow night and we’re all really looking forward to it.”
The former Raith and Morton man added: “I got my first goal in my first game at Motherwell and everything was great.
“After that, we’ve done OK but just not picked up the results.
“The spirit in the camp has never been affected though. Nobody’s heads have gone down. And it was a great point away at Partick Thistle. Hopefully that will help us kick-on.”
Striker-partner James McFadden is yet find the net for his new club, but Graham believes the big occasion will bring out the best in him.
“You see his quality in training every day with what he can do with a football,” Graham said. “Even at my age, I’m trying to learn off him.
“He’s a big game player, he’s done it in the past. You never know, he might get a wee 40-yarder again!”