When two of his old clubs – Cove Rangers and Queen of the South – meet tonight, Steve Tosh sees sides going in the opposite direction.
Cove are flying high at the top of League One and are favourites to seal promotion to the Championship.
Queens, by contrast, have a fight on their hands to remain in the second tier after a season of struggles. They sacked manager Allan Johnston last month and are in need of a spark to save their season.
“You can look at it and say it’s two teams going in the opposite direction,” said Tosh, ahead of tonight’s SPFL Trust Trophy semi-final.
“I probably had fonder memories of my time at Queens, reaching the Scottish Cup final, but I have a lot of good friends within the organisation and an ex-team-mate is manager.
“I know the chairman at Queens and (vice-chairman) Craig Paterson won’t take these decisions lightly (to change manager). I’ll be brutal; the standard in that division isn’t great, so to be languishing at the bottom didn’t bode well for Allan and Sandy (Clark).
“It’s never nice to see anyone lose their job in any walk of life, but it’s a results-based business. It’s a great football club and there’s still a lot of great guys there.”
Tosh, who also turned out for Aberdeen, Raith, St Johnstone and Livingston, came to Cove at the end of his playing career and, by his own admission, things did not work out the way he hoped.
The demands of starting a 9-5 job, after leaving full-time football at Queens in 2010, and wanting to spend more time with his family in Fife, held him back from featuring more often at Cove.
“I came up having had a serious injury and I really struggled having to work full-time and play,” he said. “My body just couldn’t take it.
“But as a club they were fantastic. They gave me great support. The standard of my performances weren’t great.
“I’ve got so much respect for the guys in charge, but it just didn’t fit where I was in my life.”
Cove have already toppled the Championship strugglers this season – after a 2-2 draw at the Balmoral Stadium in the Scottish Cup third round, Cove won emphatically in Dumfries 3-0 to set up a tie against Hibernian.
While both clubs have priorities in their league business, when the last-four of a competition arrives the chance of silverware becomes a reality.
“For a lot of teams it would be a competition to utilise for fringe players to get games,” added Tosh. “But once you get to a semi-final, you’ve got this far and you’re as well as trying to win it.
“Cove’s first thought will be for promotion, but if they can combine that with a cup win, all the better.
“I can’t figure out for the life of me why Paul Hartley hasn’t been mentioned for the St Mirren job, when I see some of the names linked to it.
“Paul is laid-back and it will be water off a duck’s back to him. He’s done fantastic at Cove and improved them no end. It’s a success story done in the right manner.”