When it comes to Cardiff City over the last two seasons, there has been no shortage of frustration and negativity. That much we can all agree on.
But there is one aspect of the club which has been an unmitigated success is the sheer quality, and impact, of Cardiff's loan signings over the past two seasons.
The most recent loan addition, Sory Kaba from Danish club FC Midtjylland, is just the latest to win over the supporters, who have begged him to stay on more than one occasion as they belted his name out from the terraces.
With eight goals in 13 games for the Bluebirds, Kaba has shown just what that extra bit of quality, experience and know-how brings. He might not be the most aesthetically-pleasing footballer, but he knows where the back of the net is. If Cardiff do manage to stay up this season, they will owe a great debt of gratitude to the Guinean striker.
The club recently announced their six-man shortlist for the player of the season. It was no shock to see Kaba and the club's two other loan stars, Cedric Kipre and Jaden Philogene, on the list.
Kipre has been an ever-present at the back. Great in the air, fantastic with the ball at his feet, quick enough and just generally a solid presence in the Bluebirds' back line. He has been a major reason why City's defence has been so relatively shrewd in this campaign. He has made the odd defensive blip - but show me a defender who never does?
And Philogene, well, how to describe him. A unique footballer who, as one club insider put it recently, "can be anything he wants to be, if he wants it enough".
Few would argue with that statement, especially on the evidence we have seen in the second half of the season. Philogene is the club's third top scorer, behind only Kaba and Callum Robinson this term, with five. But it's that x-factor he provides. The confidence with the ball at his feet. The creativity and ability to hit a pass no one else would think of, let alone be capable of.
He is a defender's nightmare. Journalists and reporters in away press boxes invariably find themselves asking this writer about one player during matches and that is Jaden Philogene. A potential star in the making, that's for sure, and it will be intriguing to see what the next step of his footballing trajectory looks like when he returns to Aston Villa this summer.
Of course, that's not the first time we've said that recently. Rewind 12 months and Cody Drameh was readying himself to pick up Cardiff's player of the season award after a half-season loan which saw him rip it up in south Wales. It seemed unthinkable he wouldn't break into Leeds United's team this season upon his return.
He, like Philogene, had blistering pace, was fantastic with the ball and could defend just as well as he could attack in that wing-back role. It was a crying shame he barely got a kick at Elland Road in the first half of the season before he was shipped out on loan to promotion-chasing Luton Town.
And it will come as no surprise to any of you that he is the highest-rated Luton player this season, according to WhoScored. If one player deserves their career to really kick off next season, it's him. And who is second on that list of Hatters' best players, I hear you ask, well, it's Alfie Doughty. Another Cardiff loanee from last season.
Doughty impressed when afforded the opportunity at Cardiff, but his stint was cut short due to injury. But, again, his performances for Cardiff, and now Luton, show City's recruitment team in the loan market know their onions.
Who can forget Tommy Doyle, too? What City would have given to have someone of his ilk in midfield this season. A player with a consistent ability to unlock defences, whip in a pinpoint cross - just as he did for Sheffield United against Cardiff last week - and find the back of the net.
Doyle adds a touch of class to any midfield and Sheffield United are reaping the rewards this season. The Manchester City loanee has provided six goals or assists to aid the Blades' promotion push.
Earlier in that season was Ryan Giles. A revelation at wing-back whose ability to cross a ball was simply sublime. It still is, too, as he is a crucial part of Middlesbrough's promotion push this season. He registered nine assists in 21 games from defence for Cardiff, a remarkable haul, but he has improved that with with Boro this year, registering 12 assists, albeit in 44 games. He is some talent and Cardiff did well again to spot him and get his signature over the line.
Cardiff fans were even extolling the virtues of Jordan Hugill and Uche Ikpeazu 12 months ago. Both loanees were crucial to helping City secure their Championship status last season, even if they haven't gone on to have as positive seasons as some of the others mentioned above.
The hit rate of the loan transfers has been significantly higher than permanent transfers. We've not even spoken about Harry Wilson, who ripped up trees the season before during his loan from Liverpool. The club are able to shop in a better-quality pool of players, attacking higher talent but signing them only for a finite amount of time.
It's all part of Cardiff's relatively newly-implemented policy of transfer austerity, a policy which so far has coincided with their slide down the table. The one player they did fork out a significant sum of money for was Callum Robinson, for whom they paid £1.5m to West Brom, and his Championship, Premier League and international pedigree shone through as he netted seven goals and provided six assists in his 23 games before getting injured.
It's understandable that owner Vincent Tan feels he was burnt one too many times in the past. He often brings up the overpriced acquisitions of Andreas Cornelius and Josh Murphy. But this sense of once bitten, twice shy could prove to be detrimental in the long term.
The current recruitment team, headed up by Kevin Beadell, has proved just what they can do if they are afforded the opportunity to flex their muscles a bit. Shopping in the bargain bucket of free transfers can only get you a low ceiling of quality. Some will surprise you and be very good players; the likes of Callum O'Dowda, Mahlon Romeo and Jamilu Collins, for example.
But Cardiff must now learn these lessons and build. The likes of O'Dowda, Romeo and Collins, combined with Perry Ng, Mark McGuinness, Robinson and perhaps a couple of others, should now be the base level. That is now the standard and players only better than that standard should be targeted to come in and improve the squad for next season.
Cardiff will only be able to obtain a certain level of player without significant investment. Tan will point to the £200m-plus he has already invested, but the Championship, if they do stay in the division, is unrelenting. Every summer it comes back around and you mustn't be caught sleeping at the wheel. Other teams' points deductions have come to Cardiff's rescue for two seasons running, they cannot ride their luck anymore.
And it doesn't have to be huge money, either, look at the quality Robinson brought in for just £1.5m. Cardiff can also make their money work for them, speculate to accumulate. Swansea City are a good example, they brought in Flynn Downes for a similar fee and sold him to West Ham for £12m. Joel Piroe cost around £1m and could be worth 15 times that now. Nathan Wood is being looked at by top Premier League clubs after being signed for relative peanuts, by all accounts, but they are showing what a good recruitment team and positive investment can bring the club.
Tan harbours ambitions of Premier League football again. But, let's be frank, the teams who spend the most get promoted. Others might sneak into the play-offs, but it's a bit of a lottery at that stage. At the moment, the current levels of spend appear to be more akin to keeping the wolf from the door, so to speak, rather than setting eyes on promotion.
Just last week, Sabri Lamouchi vowed the club had learned from the mistakes of this season and would put them right next term. "I trust my owners, the people in the club, the chairman, they love the club," he said.
"It is absolutely tough for them as well. They don't want to live another year like this one. Don't be worried at all about that. They don't want to pay for nothing. They don't want to put money away for that, it's a lot of stress for them, a lot of pressure.
"They understand and I understand the fans. But the players, the management, the staff, all fans, we all want absolutely the same. But this is part of the job. This is part of football. I can't talk about the future, I can't talk about the past. It's not in my hands. It's not my club and it's not my money.
"Don't worry about that. Vincent Tan, Mehmet (Dalman), Ken Choo, they are all absolutely focused and worried about the situation. We will go out on this situation and they will do absolutely everything for the right things for the club, like we are trying to do all the time."
At the moment, of course, Cardiff are in the process of trying to overturn a partial EFL transfer embargo which prohibits them from spending any money on transfers.
So it might mean Cardiff have to top up talent again with loans, hopefully filling the full quota of five. Although the new FIFA transfer rule which classifies a loan to Cardiff as an overseas transfer did bite Cardiff at least once last summer. The number of loan players English clubs are permitted to send out to 'foreign' associations comes down from eight to seven next season, too, so that could prove problematic.
The Emiliano Sala situation continues in the background and the financial drain that has will likely impact proceedings. Until that is sorted, it seems unlikely proper investment will come. Perhaps that's understandable to a certain extent.
But Cardiff fans are right to have utmost confidence in the club's ability to shop in higher-quality loan market. The recruitment team has hopefully done enough, too, to earn Tan's trust back and be given the funds to properly equip this team to compete at the other end of the table, if the owner sees fit to do so.
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