John Toshack started his current tenure as Wales manager with a morale-boosting 2-0 win in a friendly over Hungary. However, two defeats in back-to-back World Cup qualifiers against Austria have resulted from Toshack's first competitive matches.
Fans are entitled to ask if anything has changed from the sad tail-spin that marked the end of Mark Hughes' reign.
Former Hughes assistant Mark Bowen has even said that Toshack has wasted all the good work the previous regime did.
Then there has been more sideline sniping from the likes of Robbie Savage, who claimed that the "training methods were embarrassing - I think he's [Toshack] totally lost touch with the times".
Savage appears to be reconsidering his hasty decision to retire from international football, but despite the now proffered olive branch his outspoken criticism has made things difficult for all concerned.
Whether Savage could provide the midfield defensive screen that the two Carls, Robinson and Fletcher, have tried to provide is open to debate.
What is certain is that the Wales players now know they have a strong man in charge of them, and it appears Toshack's 27 years of experience managing the likes of Real Madrid is also beginning to earn respect.
Ryan Giggs is playing the good captain's role both on and off the pitch and is suitably supportive of his manager.
But other stories emanating from the Wales camp suggest Toshack has the ear of his players, even if he may never command the love that Hughes enjoyed during his time.
One version has a notoriously volatile and competitive striker reacting unhappily to a tactical player change.
After the final whistle, Toshack is said to have taken the player to one side and explained, in depth, the reasons behind the change.
End of flashpoint, with the player appreciating the insight offered by his manager and the way it was delivered.
Toshack is showing he is as tactically aware of matters on the pitch as he is in the dressing room.
On one hand there is some alarm that a team of Austria's limited talent was able to carve Wales open so easily at times.
Yet on the other, there is the plethora of chances - and certainly some attractive football played - that Wales fashioned over the two matches.
Toshack cannot be blamed for his frontline strikers - the experienced and cutting edge of his team - to fluff so many clear-cut chances, or for Austria keeper Helge Payer to be in such fine form.
Whether playing 4-4-1-1 in Cardiff or 5-3-2 in Vienna, for significant periods Wales looked a far better team than might be expected from a squad that has lost seven players to retirement.
Former Wales and Everton defender Kevin Ratcliffe has rightly pointed out that much of the squad lacks even Premiership experience, let alone international.
But before the first loss in Cardiff, Ratcliffe believed that Toshack had got things right: "I admit I wasn't worried beforehand, the shape looked good and everything, but you've got to be going out there and doing it."
There is also a positive response from ex-Wales striker Malcolm Allen: "Toshack's tactical knowledge, how he's implemented his new ideas, is a massive step in the right direction for the future of Welsh football.
"I saw some real, real exciting performances from some of the Wales players in Vienna."
With qualification gone, the remaining World Cup group games will now be used as preparation for the Euro 2008 campaign.
It remains certain that only a win will prove that real progress is being made - and quieten Toshack's doubters for at least a while.
But the next competitive match is September's home tie with England and it is almost a grace game for Toshack.
No one will expect Wales to win; anything better than the strangely anaemic performance in last October's 2-0 loss at Old Trafford will be viewed as a positive step; victory might even see Toshack deified.
MMIX
E-mail this to a friend 
Printable version 
[Toshack] is a massive step in the right direction for Welsh football
