Finding a general consensus among Birmingham City's fans for this season's aspirations would have been a difficult task at the start of the season.
Some may have felt that a playoff push was possible while others may have been uninspired by the summer transfer activity and expected another mid-table finish like last season.
At the halfway stage, opinions will still be split.
The 2013 segment of this season has been hot and cold for the Blues but they go into the New Year on their most consistent run of form so far, looking to break into the top half of the table.
Below, Sports Mole remembers the first five months of the season for Lee Clark's side.
August
The first game of the season was a home one and although the sun shone down on St Andrew's, it wasn't a bright performance from the Blues as they fell 1-0 to Watford.
Three points were soon collected though as Championship new boys Yeovil were edged out, but winning ways were shortlived as two one-goal losses to Brighton & Hove Albion and Leicester City followed.
In the league, the opening month ended with a 1-1 draw at home to Ipswich as Birmingham progressed to round three of the League Cup by scraping past Plymouth Argyle and Yeovil.
September
The ninth month looked like a nasty one on paper with three tough away fixtures at Queens Park Rangers, Burnley and Reading. Birmingham lost all three of those games but did win the one home match against struggling Sheffield Wednesday.
Jesse Lingard, below, had been brought in on loan from Manchester United and produced a truly astonishing debut by scoring four goals inside the first hour as the Owls were brushed aside.
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Four days later the Blues continued their run in the League Cup by knocking out defending champions Swansea City with a 3-1 victory at St Andrew's.
October
Birmingham scored four goals at home for the second league game in succession to begin October as Millwall provided little opposition on the first day of the month.
From then on it was a disappointing month for Clark as just one more point was picked up in the league with a draw against Derby. The two other losses were disheartening as Leeds walloped them 4-0 while Bolton ended their winless start to the season against the Blues.
In the Cup, Stoke City were the next Premier League side to visit St Andrew's and Clark's men came agonisingly close to a place in the quarter-finals as they played over 75 minutes with 10 men before losing on penalties.
November
November began with a glum home defeat to Charlton Athletic but that is where the losing would stop for a long time.
The Blues never went on a winning 'streak' as such but wouldn't lose again in 2013.
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In the seven games up until Christmas, three wins and four draws were registered. The pattern of those matches was odd in the sense that all three maximums came on the road while victories at home were a struggle.
Two of the last three games in November were wins, with Yorkshire sides Huddersfield Town and Barnsley on the end of Blue defeats.
December
Kyle Barley scored a 94th-minute equaliser to maintain the Blues' unbeaten run at the start of December before an away victory came at Bournemouth.
Next was a pair of goalless draws against Nottingham Forest and Wigan Athletic before a victory to finish the season, on the road of course, at Blackburn Rovers.
Clark's side scored three goals in the first half but only just hung on for three points as Blackburn, inspired by Jordan Rhodes, roared back in the second 45.
That meant Birmingham finished 2013 with a run of nine games unbeaten. However, they are still down in 17th and if another 'nothing' season is to be avoided there are two key things that the Blues need to address quickly.
They have to be more consistent at home having picked up just a third of the points on offer at St Andrew's this season.
The other necessity is goals. Say Lingard only scored two on his debut, then the Blues' top scorer would be defender Bartley! Nikola Zigic is a useful focal point but must add more goals to his game, especially with some of the excellent service he is getting from Chris Burke in particular.
Bold summer signing Matt Green was unfortunately sidelined for the remainder of the campaign and a new frontman could well be Clark's number one priority in the upcoming transfer window.
Pascal Lemesre
