In the event, it has been proved that signings such as Gyepes, Bothroyd, McCormack and Kennedy were very shrewd ones indeed, but this doesn't take away from the fact that they were all, for different reasons, gambles in their own way and still gave the impression that we were shopping in the bargain basement.
Up until November I don't believe City fans had any reason to believe that player recruitment policy would be any different to what we had seen under Ridsdale and co in the past - if any one did come in during January, then it would be on the back of the sale of Ledley, Johnson, McCormack etc.
However, the loan signings of Chopra and Routledge offered a clue that things may be different this time around - there was still the suspicion that they would end up being paid for by the sale of one of our better players, but the way City reacted to injuries to vital players was impressive.
All of which brings us on to the January transfer window. Now, for a start, I would say that the fact that we got through it without selling any of our best players is a huge statement of intent on the part of the club that they want Premiership football next season. However, when you also add on the three players we have brought in then all in the hierarchy at Ninian Park really do deserve the thanks of supporters.
To be honest, I would have accepted a transfer window that saw us sell no one important. Adding any one of our signings to that would have represented a successful months trading in the transfer market to me, but, to get all three represents a marvellous outcome for City. With two of the newcomers of course it still too early to judge them, but Chris Burke's early performances have certainly been promising and, if you had asked me last week (before any news of him coming here had broke) who the best opposing player had been at Ninian Park this season, I might well have answered Quincy of Birmingham.
As for Michael Chopra, I see some have said he did not do the business for us during his earlier loan spell, but I would ask them if they really expected Michael Chopra to be back with us (apparently to sign permanently in the summer) again within a year and a half of us selling him? If you think Chopra wasn't outstanding in his first loan spell (I thought he didn't do badly at all), then maybe it's because he didn't stand out as much as he used to because he was surrounded by better players? Whatever, the addition of Chopra only means that we have yet another player who most clubs in this division would love to have on their books.
After the game on Saturday I wrote saying what great times these are to be a Cardiff City fan, well what we did in the transfer window only increases that feeling. Ridsdale and co have had plenty of stick from the likes of me since taking over, but what they have done since November has shown that they are serious about getting us into the top flight.
It is hard not to draw parallels with the 1970/71 seasons when we were better placed in the league than we are now and still sold John Toshack and then spent too long dithering about whether we could afford the fee that Sheffield Wednesday wanted for Alan Warboys - the contrast between the attitude of the club then and now could not be more marked.
Of course, nothing that has happened in the last couple of months guarantees promotion but, by their actions, Dave Jones and Peter Ridsdale have given us us good a chance as we could have hoped for given all that has goine on at the club in the last five years or so. You would like to think that the people of this area would respond to the sort of ambition we showed yesterday and that the three or four thousand non season ticket holders required to make all of our remaining games home sell outs could be found somehwere - I know times are hard at the moment, but the people in charge at City deserve the support of the local community for the statment of intent they have come out with in the last few months!