As a City fan who remembers the dark days of the nineties, and earlier, the arrival of Pep is, if not unexpected, still extra-ordinary. Pellegrini has conducted himself with consummate dignity and the club, if not exactly covering themselves in glory, let Pellegrini announce his departure as a planned event rather than the undermining of Mancini and Hughes that they indulged in last time round.

So bizzarely although we are still in 4 (realistically 3, we will go out to Barcelona in the quarters) competitions the rest of the season feels like a prologue to full-on Pepmania. Roll on the v-neck jumpers.