Quality football, quality players, move to a new stadium, three trips to Wembley including an FA Cup final for goodness sake are all pointers to the best times Cardiff City fans have witnessed in decades.
We've come closer to winning major silverware than we have since 1927 and we've almost ended a 50 year wait for top flight football.
For that I commend and thank Dave Jones. His teams have produced stunning displays, won crucial games and ended runs at historical graveyards.
Even this season, An England international in our side in Jay Bothroyd and Craig Bellamy, in his prime playing for us. Unimagineable.
So why is there a clamour for Jones' head?
Season upon season we've become the nearly men. 2008 nearly won the FA Cup. Just getting there should have been enough for Jones to dine out in Cardiff for free for life, but it was followed by a capitulation at the end of 2009 that saw a massive points and goals lead disappear before missing out on the play offs. Included in that was an embarrassing 3 nil home defeat in the last ever game at Ninian Park.
in 2010 we were back at Wembley only to fail in the final to unfancied Blackpool.
And in 2011 we were challenging for automatic promotion until the penultimate game. Then another disastrous 3 nil home defeat to Middlesbrough. Not just an 'odd' game. A total shambles. So it was to be the play offs but still an outside chance of automatic if QPR were penalised. As it was QPR had no points deducted but City blew the chance to finish 3rd and allowed the Jacks to have that honour. Imagine if QPR had had been docked points. Doesn't bear thinking about.
So into the play offs. Hard work done at Reading. Bring a level scoreline back to Cardiff and proceed to choke again with another 3 nil defeat.
That may be a bit harsh after creating good chances early on then seeing a diabolical goal conceded through a keeper error followed by a soft penalty (this after Cardiff had two good appeals turned down). The third goal hammered the final nail in City's season.
A season where Jones and his team of fancy players have again been labelled as 'bottlers'. When it comes to the real big important games they blow it.
Jones' surly character and at times apparant distain for the fans who've 'never played the game' and his ridiculous beef with the media has made him a less than popular figure despite the highs he's brought to the club.
I think we need to change, not just the manager but a real sweep out to install a new management structure and players to hopefully follow the QPR, Norwich or dare i say it Swansea model. Based on a team ethic and a united front.
We might end up a mid table side and our best chances of ever getting up may have gone. On the other hand we might uneath a new 'Paul Lambert' and make a move towards promotion with the club, fans and media pulling in the same direction. This season despite getting to within minutes of automatic promotion and one game from Wembley has seen so much apathy from supporters because they just knew it would all fall apart at the end. The crowd were superb in creating an atmosphere last night and they were kicked in the teeth again. You can only take it for so long, no matter what other highs we get, the ultimate failure hurts the most.
Call me mad but at the moment I can see parallels with Arsene Wenger. Lovely football (most of the time) but a stubborness to change and as a result a failure to deliver actual success. Arsenal have so nearly won something for the last 6 years but have an empty mantelpiece.
Managers and players will come and go. Maybe it's time to see what someone else can do.