Twelve months ago this week, West Ham fans had dared to believe a corner had been turned.
David Moyes' Hammers went into a game against neighbours Tottenham Hotspur in the rare position of not just hoping they could win, but expecting to do so.
There had been plenty of false dawns before, where the bubbles only nearly reached the sky, but this felt different. Moyes' men arrived as equals if not superiors, and turned that mindset into a victory which rarely looked under threat.
That victory sent the Hammers fourth, and it was only in mid-April - thanks to back-to-back defeats against Newcastle United and Chelsea - when the dream began to fade away.
Now, as the London side prepare for another meeting with the Magpies, it is beginning to look like they have failed to avoid last season's mistakes with another crack at Champions League football on the line.
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The pivotal moment against Spurs at the London Stadium came early in the second period, when Jesse Lingard burst through to double the hosts' lead and leave their opponents playing catch-up.
It was the England international's third goal in four games after arriving on loan from Manchester United, and his arrival had helped breathe new life into a team which hadn't won a game by more than one goal since early October.
While it was impossible to tell at the time whether Moyes' team could have achieved the same without Lingard, the Hammers' form over the last few weeks hints at what that alternate reality might have looked like.
West Ham have won just one of their last four league games - a drab 1-0 against a Watford team winless since November handed to them by a deflected goal - and needed extra-time to knock non-league Kidderminster Harriers out of the FA Cup.
Against Leicester City on Sunday, the limitations of Moyes' side were laid bare when he looked to his bench in the face of a 2-1 deficit and took off his right-back for a slightly more attacking right-back.
The former Everton manager hasn't always been one to rely on substitutes for an impact, at least not during his time in east London, but there is a growing fear that there isn't much in reserve when the starting XI don't deliver.
What's more, there's a case that the starting XI are less dangerous now than they were at the start of the season, with a return to European competition in March only likely to make things worse.
With that in mind, the failure to add senior reinforcements in January looks like a serious misstep, even if Moyes admitted there was a logic behind the approach..
"Sometimes, getting things you actually want, you have to wait a little bit longer," he told the media after the transfer window shut without any new players arriving.
"We were not able to get it this January window. But I think it was quite obvious to most clubs, as I said I think it was nine clubs who didn't do any business in January, so it should be no surprise to a lot of people that we were one but we did try very hard I have to say.
"[The board] have supported us greatly and made funds available and we tried to use the money as best we could but we just could not get a couple of players I really liked so I would rather save the money than waste it."
Still, while there is plenty to be said for such an approach, there's no guarantee of West Ham being within reach of the top four in 12 months' time.
One would expect teams around them to strengthen, and the prospect of 66 or 67 points being enough for a top four finish may soon become unrealistic once more.
Within that context, an extra two or three points this season could be worth more than a five or six point improvement next term.
There's not a lot West Ham can do to change any of that now, though, and the focus must turn to what they can do on the pitch.
On another day, the games against Watford and Leicester could both have ended in defeat, while Kidderminster would have been good value for a cup shock if they had held on a few minutes longer.
West Ham have picked up points when not at their best, but one gets the feeling that can only continue for so long.
The truth is they haven't really been at their best at all in 2022.
On Saturday, they have a chance to show they still have a top-four push in them. It might be their last.
