Twenty years ago, John Swinney was ousted from leadership of the SNP after a disastrous four years in charge.
Humiliation for the Nationalists in successive elections during the Swinney era saw him written off as a failure.
But that hasn't stopped SNP members from rallying behind Swinney in the hope he can save their party from electoral oblivion.
The 60-year-old MSP for Perthshire North was the only candidate when nominations to succeed Humza Yousaf as party leader closed at midday yesterday and he will do so. will now be nominated as a candidate for the SNP to become Scotland's seventh First Minister since the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood in Edinburgh opened 25 years ago.
Mr Swinney will inherit a party mired in scandal, divided over both its independence strategy and controversial sex ideology and is plummeting in the polls.
John Swinney with party supporters and fellow MSPs in Edinburgh, where he confirmed he will now become Scotland's seventh First Minister
Humza Yousaf, First Minister of Scotland, in Edinburgh, May 2, 2024
It says little about the SNP as a cradle of new talent that in this time of deep crisis it has dragged back to the front line a man who, only a year ago, was adamant he had served his time.
An SNP 'lifer' – he joined the party at the age of 15 – Mr Swinney was a management consultant and executive in the life insurance industry before becoming MP for Tayside North in 1997.
Two years later he was among the first cohort of MSPs at Holyrood.
An early reputation for competence was shattered when Mr Swinney succeeded Alex Salmond as party leader in 2000.
For four years he was undermined by rivals within the SNP and, unable to stamp his authority on the party, Mr Swinney suffered a series of embarrassing election results.
When the SNP fared poorly in the 2004 European elections, a visit from the men in gray kilts put an end to his leadership.
John Swinney speaks as he launches his SNP leadership bid in Edinburgh on May 2, 2024
Fearing that the ensuing leadership battle could be won by someone from the SNP's radical wing, Mr Salmond returned as leader and became Scotland's first nationalist first minister in 2007.
Mr Swinney's authority within the party grew during the SNP's time in power.
He was a member of the small clique – including Mr Salmond and his deputy, Nicola Sturgeon – that governed the SNP with an iron fist.
Announcing his candidacy to replace Mr Yousaf, who resigned ahead of a confidence vote he did not have the right numbers to win, Mr Swinney said he had come forward because of the need for change.
His party had to change and if that didn't happen, tougher times would lie ahead.
Scottish voters may be skeptical about Mr Swinney's ability to change the direction his party is moving.
When Ms Sturgeon succeeded Mr Salmond as first minister following the nationalists' defeat in the 2014 independence referendum, she appointed Mr Swinney as her deputy.
For the next nine years the two were politically inseparable, as the SNP pursued a series of policies that were not in line with voters' priorities.
Mr Swinney stood by Ms Sturgeon as she stoked deeper division with endless promises of a second referendum that she failed to deliver.
And he was one of the key architects of the Bute House Agreement that brought the Scottish Greens to power and saw them pressure SNP ministers to push ahead with a law giving transgender people the right to identify themselves.
When it came into conflict with the British Equality Act, Scottish Minister Alister Jack was forced to block it, a move that turned out to be the beginning of the end for Ms Sturgeon.
Mr Swinney stepped down as deputy First Minister when Ms Sturgeon resigned last year.
SNP members now see John Swinney as their savior, but the harsh reality is that he was right behind every government misstep that brought his party to its knees.
He is the definition of 'yesterday's man'.