Every Cardiff City fan will try to banish the FA Cup mauling by Leeds United from their memory.
This season is not about the FA Cup and never was. This is all about the league now and trying to avoid an unthinkable drop to League One and the subsequent financial knockout that comes with it.
What cannot be shaken, though, is the stark appearance of self-confidence appearing to have drained from these Cardiff players. They were pummelled into submission against Leeds and the two goals in the final minutes flattered them. They should have lost by a clear five goals if not more.
The performance smacked of a rudderless club which has been chronically mismanaged for too long. A season which started off relatively positively, with signs of a plan and an apparent implementation of a long-term strategy is crumbling before everyone's very eyes.
But, as interim boss Dean Whitehead said, it's all eyes on Saturday now. The last thing this squad needed was a kicking at Elland Road, they needed a confidence-booster if anything to go into the Millwall encounter with some verve and vigour. That performance suggested the confidence reserves are empty.
Well, let's at least look at one positive. Whitehead, after the match, confirmed that the FIFA technicality which was stopping the transfer embargo from being lifted is no longer an issue and, consequently, Mark McGuinness has been officially been recalled from Sheffield Wednesday.
Now there is one man who is brimming with confidence. (A penny for his thoughts being hauled back into this mess, mind you.) He was the Owls' Player of the Month for November and December and was part of a successful, winning team, chasing promotion in League One.
His return offers a morsel, a mere sliver, of positivity and it is hoped he will come straight into the mix. With the defenders against Leeds hardly having covered themselves in glory, you can see for yourself in our player ratings here, McGuinness has a clean run at starting against Millwall.
"The FIFA embargo has been lifted so we can now sign free transfers and loans," Whitehead said after the game. "So, Mark McGuinness is back and he's available to play on Saturday."
Not only will the 22-year-old add defensive rigidity, but he is comfortable on the ball and, finally, adds another set-piece threat in both boxes. A welcome return.
The other important part of this is that the transfer ban being lifted actually makes the Cardiff job a slightly more attractive prospect for potential managers. It is understood that Cardiff are sorting through applications as we speak - and there have been a number of them both from the UK and abroad.
But while Cardiff aren't in an ideal position in the table, just one spot and three points above the relegation zone, slapping a transfer ban on top of that would have been even less appetising.
Cardiff are hardly shopping the top end of the market. They aren't going to poach Sevilla or Borussia Monchengladbach's managers off them. But most Cardiff fans realise that and have set their expectations accordingly.
The managers the Bluebirds will be looking at will have likely been sacked from their last job, but City's board will have to look past that and, once again, align with whatever vision they see fit for the club. Quite what the plan is regarding a longer-term strategy remains to be seen, however that is a long-standing issue.
The odds list for the next manager is a who's who of the English Football League. There are old-school, pragmatic, been-there-done-that coaches on the list and there are tiki-taka academy bosses on there, too. That sort of illustrates the problem. There is no pattern to the type of manager which is being linked - as clear an indication as any that this club lacks identity.
The backbone of Cardiff's successful years under Malky Mackay and Neil Warnock was the investment in the squad from above, managed by experienced football people. That investment has now dried up, plus Cardiff aren't allowed to spend in a transfer window until next summer unless that decision is overturned, so it makes the managerial appointment all the more important.
Valerien Ismael's name features near the top of the odds list. A manager who was a big hit at Barnsley and worked on a shoestring budget, but was pilloried by West Brom fans for his style of football, despite still featuring near the top of the table. One of Turkey's biggest clubs, Besiktas, with a ridiculous fan base, saw it fit to appoint him then. It didn't quite work out for him there.
He is someone Whitehead knows well, though, and when asked by WalesOnline if he had spoken to the Frenchman regarding the vacant post, he replied: "No. I'm sure there's hundreds of others that have been linked as well."
Things have to get moving at Cardiff, though, because they don't have forever. Being knocked out of the Cup is actually a bit of a blessing in disguise. After Millwall, they don't play again until February 4. That's a crucial fortnight in which they have to get a new manager in early, allow him to work with the players and, crucially, get some new players in before the end of the window.
It's not an understatement to say that the next two weeks will go a very long way to determining in which division City fans will be following their club next season. The board cannot get this appointment wrong again - and they know it.
READ NEXT:
Dean Whitehead expects to be Cardiff City boss against Millwall as he reveals board talks
Shocking Cardiff City vs Leeds United player ratings as defenders ripped to shreds on dark night
Leeds United 5-2 Cardiff City: Managerless Bluebirds battered in embarrassing FA Cup defeat
