Cardiff City has a different feel about it heading into this season with the club receiving the full backing of its supporters.
The Bluebirds made easy work of Championship favourites Aston Villa on Saturday in front of more than 23,000 supporters who created an electric atmosphere in the capital.
Owner Vincent Tan was even in attendance, watching on and revelling in the celebrations after the game in his blue Cardiff City shirt.
The unrivalled optimism before the game and the sense of pride after it, created a distinctly different feel at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday, an atmosphere we haven’t seen for a very long time.
Speaking before the Aston Villa game, Neil Warnock revealed it was his aim to create that pride around the club.
“I think fans know now that it’s not just a one-off and we’re not just talking a good game,” said the 68-year-old.
“Their going to get good value for money whatever the result and they can be proud of their own club.
“That’s what I’m delighted with really, putting the pride back into the club for the fans, and the more people who come into the turnstiles, the better for us.”
Vincent Tan, a once despised character who wasn’t welcome in South Wales was posing for pictures with fans after the game, struggling to reach his car as he stopped with more and more fans.
And it must feel good for him, to be idolised in the way he always wanted to be but never could be due to extremely mis-judged decisions.
After all, he was the man who saved Cardiff City from the jaws of debt and everything that goes with it, but he ruined any chances of having that hero status very quickly with the changes made to the club.
Many will never forgive him and will never see him as an idol or anything close, but time is a great healer, and there is also a large section of supporters who show a great deal of gratitude for his decision to reverse the damaging changes.
The Bluebirds’ owner is now benefiting massively from Neil Warnock and his footballing knowledge, he respects his manager and seemingly learns from his excellent decision-making on and off the field.
It’s a relationship which is helping Cardiff City return to its feet and the atmosphere for the win over Aston Villa was reflective of that.
In recent years, there has always been that sense of ‘what if things go wrong?’ - Cardiff felt like they were closer to the edge of failure than success.
But yesterday something was different, if the atmosphere could make a statement, it would be ‘we’re Cardiff City, and we are here to succeed’.
There is now a confidence in everything the club does, whether it is on the pitch, in the manager’s office or in Malaysia with Vincent Tan.
And with that confidence comes a vision to succeed set by the experienced Neil Warnock.
The Bluebirds’ boss isn’t getting carried away and even the supporters know that it takes a lot more than two league wins to succeed in this division, they’ve seen pretty much every scenario of missing out on promotion in the last 15 years - they should know.
3 years of red, embarrassment in the Prem, the football under OGS, RS and PT. Cardiff City, our Cardiff City are back. pic.twitter.com/uWg4wbSxbx
— Cardiff City Stats (@CCFCStats) August 12, 2017
But it’s that shift in attitude around the club which has set them up for success and set the tone amongst supporters who are now backing the club in their numbers.
The Cardiff City Stadium has seldom seen an atmosphere like that since the Premier League and the hope at the club is that fans will realise just how much they can achieve when they turn up in their thousands.
There are plenty of dark days on the pitch to negotiate between now and May, but you feel Cardiff City are now ready to handle that.
And more importantly, they now appear ready to handle success if they are good enough to achieve it.
A big season awaits the Bluebirds and whether it ends in glory or not, they may just have already won by becoming the united club that so many knew it to be before it quickly slipped away.