When Vitor Matos watched on from the stands as his new side were dismantled 3-0 by Bristol City at Ashton Gate in November, the 37-year-old could have been forgiven for wanting to take the first flight back to Portugal.
But less than three months on from that horror show on the other side of the River Severn, the picture is looking brighter, significantly so, in fact, for Swansea City.
The Swans maintained their stunning home run with a dominant 4-0 victory over beleaguered basement boys Sheffield Wednesday last weekend, thanks to goals from Goncalo Franco, Malick Yalcouye and a brace from the league's top scorer Zan Vipotnik.
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The win - their biggest since beating Huddersfield Town by the same scoreline in April 2024 - means Swansea have collected 19 of the last 21 points on offer at the Swansea.com Stadium.
And, in truth, the numbers make for very encouraging reading as far as Matos is concerned at present.
The former Liverpool coach has overseen an impressive eight wins from his 15 Championship matches in charge so far and has seen his side gain an average of 1.66 points per game, a huge improvement on the 1.13 points per game Swansea gained under Alan Sheehan in the Irishman's 15 league games at the helm this season.
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Taking only the former Maritimo head coach's time in charge in his current job into account, Swansea would sit seventh in the table, just a point adrift of the top six.
The real time table has Swansea sitting 15th, although the win against Sheffield Wednesday moved them to within five points of Wrexham - who currently occupy the sixth and final play-off spot.
Naturally, the post-match talk after Sunday's impressive result and performance - admittedly against a side who are on the brink of having their relegation to League One officially sealed - turned to a play-off push.
But it was clear that, while privately there may well be Swansea eyes on the league table, publicly, there was no desire to entertain the prospect of the club being involved in the top six mix.
"In the Championship this season, you win one game, you think you are close to the play-offs, you lose one game, you think you are close to the relegation places," said Matos, in a statement that said a good deal about his ability to remain measured, whether winning or losing.
"So being emotionally stable, I think that's quite important and I think that's what mindset we need to have."
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Captain Ben Cabango was similarly diplomatic.
When asked if the play-offs were a target, the defender told Sky Sports: "To be fair, from the first day the gaffer came in, he said treat every game as it comes.
"We're only five points away from it now so we're just going to concentrate on each game as it comes and see where it takes us."
Swansea's next three opponents - Derby County, Bristol City and Preston North End - are all currently in between Matos' men and the top six, meaning, with a positive run, Swansea's league position could change dramatically over the coming weeks.
So, with 15 league games left to play this season, is a play-off push genuinely on the cards?
History shows that, since the EFL was rebranded in 2004, teams finishing sixth end the regular season with an average of 73 points.
Swansea are currently on 42 points with 45 left to play for, so they would still need something like 10 wins, or nine wins and a handful of draws, to get close to that tally.
Whether or not they do manage to upset the odds and emulate Steve Cooper's crop of 2019-20 in making it to the play-offs at the last minute, the Jack Army will be immensely pleased with the direction of the team.
Vipotnik remains lethal in front of goal while the likes of Josh Tymon and Ethan Galbraith are continuing to shine this season.
The 18-pass move for Franco's opener against Wednesday also typified everything good about the side right now.
Swansea's progress will not be defined by making the top six this season, although such is their improvement under Matos, it's an achievement that can no longer be deemed beyond the realms of possibility.
