Twelve months ago to the day, Graeme Mathie arrived at Ayr United pledging to put the club back on Scottish football's map.
Staring at a Championship relegation fight and with fans calling for instant changes in the dugout, his was an in-tray not without its problems.
But now, one year on, those who dared to laugh at Mathie's level of ambition look like they may have rushed to judge.
Within days of bouncing through the Somerset Park entrance, the former Hibs sporting director had been forced to make the call and part ways with first team boss Jim Duffy.
Mathie, for his part, insists that was never the original plan and backing Duffy to dig Ayr out of a January hole was his first task at hand.
But a bleak 3-0 loss at Queen of the South on the eve of last Christmas left Mathie and his new board colleagues with nowhere to go on a weekend which now seems like a lifetime ago.
For it set in motion a whirlwind year that has seen United, driven by Mathie's endless enthusiasm, transformed from top to bottom.
On the park, new head coach Lee Bullen has overseen a meticulous rebuild that has taken Ayr all the way to the league's summit and has fans dreaming of a top flight return for the first time in 45 years.
Mathie, who tongue in cheek spoke of his pre-season vision to deliver an open top bus parade on the Low Green, has suddenly realised he may need to thumb his contacts book for a coach firm.
But for all United's progress may be slightly ahead of timetable, he insists the club is ready and willing to take whatever step is required on its journey.
Mathie told the Ayrshire Post: "When I came in 12 months ago and talked about ambition, it wasn't a soundbyte. I meant it then and I mean it now.
"Living locally, I always saw the potential of this club. When I came in, I knew it could be better, I just had to pitch a vision of that to the staff and supporters and work out what we all wanted it to be.
"I genuinely believe Ayr United can become something bigger and better than they've been before and I have a passion and energy to help make that happen along with the people already here."
The recruitment of Bullen from Sheffield Wednesday's Academy setup, allied to a string of key football support staff such as recruitment guru Keith Glendinning and analyst Shane Power, has seen Ayr start to think and act in a way befitting of a club looking up.
Results have followed with last season's survival backed up by only three league defeats so far this term.
Mathie said: "There's no doubt that when your team wins games on the field, you get extra time to build what you want off the pitch.
"Clearly, Keith finding a striker in Dipo Akinyemi who's scored 14 goals in 17 games has helped to win us games and get us to the top of the league.
"But there was also a consistency to the group in the second half of last season that gave Lee that confidence to build on what he already had."
Ayr's rise to the top of the Championship has attracted predictable attention in not only the likes of star man Akinyemi, but the image of the club as a whole.
The swashbuckling days of Lawrence Shankland and co gave United fans a product over which to salivate, but Mathie wants to build far more than that with Bullen's new generation.
He said: "The club is now being spoken about by a lot of people and gaining attention because of where we are. But we've never shown any arrogance or got carried away.
"The one big thing I wanted to find here was an ambition from within to be sitting where we are just now.
"I don't detect soaring expectation levels around the club or amongst the fanbase, which on one hand is good.
"Sometimes when people start to expect what they haven't had in a while, it can have a negative effect.
"But I'd also love to be here long enough to build those expectation levels to a point where people are expecting us to be going and competing, either at the top end of the Championship or in the Premier League."
Away from the on field progress, Mathie insists his desire to reconnect United with the local community remains an ongoing passion.
Matchday crowds are on the increase, with buy-in from youngsters noticably soaring, while the hashtag #WeAreUnited has become more than just a catchphrase.
He said: "I get a sense that people are a lot more interested in Ayr United these days. I see far more replica jerseys in and around the town, for example.
"The data tells us there are more people coming to watch the team on matchdays, but more than that there is a feeling of pride now connected with the club.
"Whether people sponsor the club, support it, work for it, play for it or coach for it, there is now a feeling of real togetherness.
"There's definitely a feeling of investment from the town that perhaps wasn't there before."
Mathie added: "People now see the football club as a go-to place. Only today we had kids in from Newton Primary singing to members of various community clubs of ours who meet each week in the Hub at their Christmas lunch.
"The look on the kids' faces just to come in and perform like that and be involved was fantastic.
"In tandem with results on the pitch, that was a big passion of mine to make Ayr United a club that touches people's lives."
With Somerset's infrastructure now unrecognisable, Mathie confesses his continuous demands for improvement can often lead to wry smiles.
He laughed: "I tend to come up with a million mad ideas that drive the staff up the wall as it causes already busy people even more work, but they are buying into it and delivering what we all think is right for the club.
"Jeanne and George from our club shop have been down at Ayr Central in the freezing cold this week, probably cursing me more than once, but they do it for the love of their club.
"They text us through every night telling us how much money the pop-up shop has made because they are proud of it.
"That's just one example of many around here - we have fantastic people all over the place determined to make this club better. It is far from a one man show. It's not even a two or a three man show.
"It is a genuine team effort and we are all pulling in the same direction to make this club the best it can be."
He added: "Ayr United has genuinely been everything I expected and more. And that is rare when you go into a job and find that.
"I just want this to be a club where everybody belongs. It doesn't matter what your gender is, your race, your age or where you're from - you belong here.
"I think that's a powerful way to move forward and there's probably far more areas of this community we can touch and reach out to if we keep moving forward with that mindset."
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