It was only a few months back that Cardiff City fans felt the nadir was reached as their team was smashed 4-0 at home by West Brom, a side that contained five centre-halves, a midfield of Marlon Pack, Leo Bacuna and Will Vaulks and James Collins up top.
The lone creativity and pace came from Ryan Giles. He couldn't do it on his own. The football was utterly dire.
Dark days indeed.
Only it wasn't the lowest of the low. That came two matches on when Mick McCarthy, spectacularly failing to learn from his errors, picked five centre-backs again and almost an identical XI against Swansea.
The Bluebirds were smashed again, 3-0. Any support McCarthy may have retained disappeared that day.
A further two matches on he was out of a job following remarkable post-match Middlesbrough scenes when the visitors' boss Neil Warnock received a standing ovation and Cardiff's manager was booed by his own fans.
Enter Steve Morison and a mixed bag of results as the Bluebirds began the hunt for a new full-time manager.
Then came what appeared to be another nadir in this most horrible of seasons as Morison's team lost at Bristol City and for the first time Cardiff fans began to genuinely fear relegation into League One.
My own inboxes - email, text, Twitter DMs - were inundated that weekend from concerned Bluebirds everywhere.
Yet in the space of just 19 days Morison has overseen a remarkable transformation. The mood is entirely different, there are smiles back on the faces of Cardiff fans.
Here are the reasons why.
Relegation woes eased
From hovering ominously over the trap door, Cardiff suddenly have won three Championship matches on the trot to move 12 points clear of the drop zone.
We knew these under-achieving players were way too good to be relegated, of course, but while there is work still to be done Cardiff can rightly be eyeing spots further up the table rather than looking below them any more.
The wins were entirely different in nature.
Cardiff showed terrific character to overcome a bang in-form Nottingham Forest side who have since further proved their class by smashing Leicester in the FA Cup.
Barnsley away was just a battle. Cardiff were very poor, if truth be known, but they secured the three points and Morison's fist pump of joy at the final whistle underlined what that meant. Sometimes you just have to grind it out.
After a gallant display at Liverpool, confidence boosted by the two previous league results, the Bluebirds really turned on the style in smashing Peterborough 4-0.
Some fans were even claiming it was the best football produced since the Dave Jones days more than a decade ago.
Turning on that style
Let's be honest, Cardiff haven't exactly been easy on the eye in recent years, have they?
Even the success achieved under Malky Mackay and Neil Warnock was down to pragmatic, rather than exhilarating football.
Then there was the rubbish produced under McCarthy, Russell Slade and to a lesser degree Neil Harris at times.
This team suddenly looks very different, full of vibrancy, pace, athleticism, energy and youthful endeavour.
Cardiff are still prepared to go route one, and they should never lose their set-piece threat, but there is also genuine panache, flair on the ball and passing ability.
This is led by Tommy Doyle, Isaak Davies and Cody Drameh, three youngsters who have played huge roles in helping to revive Cardiff's fortunes.
The defensive blend of Aden Flint, Mark McGuinness and Perry Ng looks better and more equipped to play in this manner, rather than just aimlessly lump the ball away.
Same with the new midfield trio of Doyle, Ryan Wintle and Joe Ralls. Far greater grace in possession and ability to actually control games from the engine room, rather than chase the whole time.
Cardiff fans have been crying out for some football like this for many years.
Everything must be qualified by saying Peterborough and Barnsley are decidedly poor sides, there are much sterner tests to come, but a benchmark has been set and it has given Cardiff supporters hope again.
READ MORE: Cardiff City fans deliver verdict on Kieffer Moore's transfer and name best signing
Young guns so exciting
It was always Vincent Tan's dream to see his Cardiff team filled with exciting Academy products, many of whom would also go on to play for Wales at Cardiff City Stadium.
Tan's business empire took a pounding during the pandemic, it meant inevitable cutbacks for the Bluebirds.
But a huge part of that has been the emergence of the very teens and early TwentySomethings Tan has always wanted to see and that might help re-energise the owner and persuade him to give it another real go in the summer transfer window by releasing the purse strings.
The home-grown jewels, of course, are Rubin Colwill and Davies. They possess huge ability, differing strengths, directly influence matches and are too good not to be in the team. It's a dilemma for Morison, how to fit them in without losing the balance he has tried to create.
But what a nice problem to have.
Cardiff's future can be built around gifted young guns like Colwill and Davies. But they're not the only ones.
Joel Bagan seems to have come back stronger from his spell out of the side and is looking a decent left-back, judging by his Anfield and Peterborough showings. Mark Harris has a role to play and troubled the Liverpool defence, Tom Sang and Sam Bowen possess midfield qualities.
And behind them, there are huge hopes for young Cian Ashford, a 17-year-old No10-cum-striker who some shrewd judges reckon will be the best of the lot.
Cardiff obviously need experience in the hurly-burly of the Championship, but when you look at the age profile of the side, including McGuiness (21), Wintle (24) , Doyle (20), Drameh (20) and the above-mentioned Academy products, this is clearly a team that offers rich promise.
Cardiff fans are getting excited, and that buzz will increase if whoever is manager can persuade Doyle and Drameh to come back next season.
The summer rebuild
Some appear to be horrified 10 senior players are out of contract this summer, reckoning it demonstrates poor management from the club.
Others reckon it is a massive opportunity to shuffle the pack by offloading players on big wages who haven't exactly set the world on fire in Cardiff colours and bring in four or five newcomers who can help take the team to new levels.
Cardiff are likely to retain Ralls, big calls need to be made on Flint and Sean Morrison, while in an ideal world Alex Smithies remains in goal.
But one way or the other a rebuild will take place. The key will be retaining the players who can best help guide the younger ones next season and bringing in newcomers who will improve the starting XI.
It's a big ask, Cardiff could really do with a permanent manager to see through the process, but if he keeps achieving good results Morison's prospects of being that man will clearly rise.
Cardiff City Stadium fortress
Cardiff's success during the Tan era has largely been built upon their home form, their fanatical fans acting as the so-called 12th man.
Cardiff City Stadium was the Bluebirds' fortress.
This year it has been the opposite, with defeat after defeat at home.
Yet you just sense Wednesday night was something of a watershed moment, a reconnect between the fans and their team because of the manner of performance and victory.
Fear of failure will change to expected victories when the likes of Coventry, Blackpool, Derby and Preston come to town in the coming weeks. Even Fulham and Stoke can be given right old games.
Then, on April 2, it will be the return fixture with Swansea.
By that point, expect Cardiff City Stadium to have returned to something like the fortress it so often used to be under Mackay and Warnock.
Coping with loss of Kieffer
Kieffer Moore's departure was a devastating one. How on earth do you replace a talismanic figure who banged in 20 goals last season, but who also offered so, so much more than that?
The answer is you don't. Not really.
But new strikers Jordan Hugill and Uche Ikpeazu have certainly begun their Cardiff City careers on fire, with goals, full-on commitment and bringing Kieffer-like qualities to the front line.
It would have been fabulous, of course, to see Kieffer given the kind of support and service Hugill received against Posh, which would have been far more akin to what happens when he plays centre-forward with Wales.
But the King has gone, or the Prince of Wales more like, and the focus does need to be on the newcomers moving forward.
Hugill and Ikpeazu are each on loan, clearly Cardiff need a full-time striker next season and that is going to cost Tan money.
But it's a must if this team is to achieve anything and make the most of the rich young talent in it.
Time to look up
Cardiff fans have had enough rubbish thrown at them this season. It is time to start looking up, not down, and eyeing what is a realistic finish in the Championship this term.
What that proves to be is anyone's guess, but having started to sort the defensive woes, midfield issues and lack of creativity, there is no reason why Cardiff can't be looking to haul in a number of the teams above them.
It would be silly to take the eye of the ball just yet and definitively state relegation isn't a worry.
But it isn't, in reality, and never should have been with this squad of players.
There will come a point in the not too distant future when Cardiff, mathematically secure, need to begin planning for next season. That will mean giving the young players even more game-time to experience Championship football and not picking those who are moving on during the summer.
If Cardiff lose a few games as a result, so be it. The gains for next season will be more important.
In probability 2022-23 will be something of a transition campaign again, but there is genuine hope again.
The only thing worse than a losing team is an old losing team playing an awful brand of football.
Cardiff have totally changed that dynamic. There is reason for the fans to smile once more.
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