"Stay at home."
That was the message from Leeds United managing director Angus Kinnear in the hours leading up to the final match of the Championship campaign.
A simple, three-word statement which - at first glance - seemed as though there was no ambiguity whatsoever.
It was a sensible plea to prevent to a repeat of scenes from the weekend, when thousands gathered outside Elland Road on Friday evening, then again in Millennium Square on Sunday, despite the very real threat of a global pandemic still lurking.
As Leeds swept aside Charlton in a dominant 4-0 victory, supporters started to gather outside the stadium.
There were only a handful at first, but the numbers soon swelled and before long a few thousand fans had packed onto Lowfields Road with friends and family to celebrate the club's 16-year wait for top-flight football.
It was an inevitable outpouring of emotion, with fans unable to resist the urge of flocking to their cathedral in Beeston.
What happened next though, was a coordinated and planned exercise from the club which flew in the face of everything they had said in the days building up to the match.
As the squad began to emerge on an open-top bus outside the stadium, a huge roar went up from the masses. Then Marcelo Bielsa appeared and the noise was deafening.
But for the vast majority of fans who had stayed at home and followed the club's own advice, it was a kick in the teeth. They were missing out on something that they rightly thought would not happen. They should have been offered the same vantage point as everyone else, watching Bielsa and his disciples celebrate inside the stadium. But they ended up feeling left out.
If the bus celebrations weren't contradictory enough, the club's statement attempting to justify the actions was just bizarre.
It said: "The safety group believed that a brief appearance from the players with the Championship trophy would help to signal an end to proceedings, encouraging fans to head home safely."
Dispersing celebrating football fans with an open-top bus celebration is like trying to clear a room full of drunks with free booze.
It wasn't a deterrent, but instead an ill-advised reward to those who ignored the advice of health officials to gather en masse. The bus parade - however brief - made a mockery of the desperate attempts to contain the deadly virus.
For all the scenes of jubilation last night, a further 79 Covid-19 deaths were announced in the UK yesterday. The total death toll for the country has now risen above 45,000.
We may be past the initial peak of the virus, but under no circumstances are large gatherings safe.
The club have got so many things right in recent years, both on and off the pitch.
Buying back the stadium, investing in the local community and announcing ambitions to bring the training base back into the heart of the city were all masterstrokes. The biggest strides of all have come on the pitch and the appointment of Bielsa is among the best decisions the club has ever made.
Last night, they got it terribly wrong though.
The endearing image of the celebrations should be the one below. Bielsa smiling sheepishly as his devoted group of players give him the moment he deserves, at the centre of the jubilant proceedings on the hallowed turf inside Elland Road.
Instead, the club has cast a shadow on a simply remarkable night with their foolish parade.
Yes, it has been 16 long years without Premier League football. 16 years in which fans have endured years of heartache and mediocre football away from the dazzling lights of the top flight.
There will come a time when this group of players should be paraded along every single street in Leeds for their magnificent achievements. They deserve the freedom of the city, huge pay rises and every accolade that comes their way.
But the time to celebrate as a collective is not in the middle of a global pandemic.
