Tottenham had lost at home to Arsenal on a Sunday afternoon in mid-September when Ange Postecoglou clarified his preseason declarations about 'usually' winning trophies in his second season.
'I'll correct myself,' said Postecoglou in a flash Sky Sports interview straight after the game. 'I don't usually win things, I always win things in my second season. Nothing's changed. I've said it now. I don't say things unless I believe them.'
And so, the narrative was set. Some lauded his refreshing fearlessness. Others clamoured to dismiss him as deluded as the campaign went awry. Either way, his words will hang in the air as Spurs find out if they are good enough to overhaul a 1-0 deficit against AZ Alkmaar and reach the last eight of the Europa League.
'My view has always been when you're asked a question you answer it,' said Postecoglou, when asked on Wednesday if there were any regrets about that statement. 'I wasn't making anything up. I was asked a question. I answered that question. People have sort of used it for their own purposes in suggesting I was making a bold claim, but I wasn't. I was stating a fact.
'If that doesn't happen this year then I can't say that if I'm asked next year can I? What was I supposed to say? "I always win in the second year but, well I have in the past everywhere I've been, here it won't happen." Is that what people want to hear?
'Maybe we will defy the odds and I do win something. You know what people will say? "Isn't it great that he made such a bold claim."
'People just use it the way they want to, depending on the circumstances. I will always answer things the way I feel comfortable answering them. I'm really comfortable and proud of the fact that everywhere I have been I have won things. I wouldn't be sitting here if I didn't. Whether I win something in my second year here time will tell.'
At Tottenham, where they have become specialists in not winning in recent decades, there might be what could be considered degrees of not winning. Going out in the last 16 of the Europa League, a competition in which they set out as favourites, free from the competition of Europe's elite, will not go down well with the masses who have, in general, refused to turn on Postecoglou but will expect more.
AZ are capable and well balanced as they proved in Alkmaar, last week. They are well-coached with strong bonds and understanding from the players who have graduated through youth ranks together. They have some dangerous individual players, such as winger Ernest Poku.
Yet they are sixth in the Dutch Eredivisie. And, when they visited Tottenham in October, they were beaten by a team made up mostly of Postecoglou's fringe players on a night when teenager Mikey Moore sparkled, and James Maddison compared him to Neymar.
Spurs have been strong at home in the Europa League and there is no reason they cannot turn this tie round and move forward with ambition into the last eight to play Eintracht Frankfurt or Ajax.
Although it is a genuine test of their character. How damaged are they by what has gone on? Are they carrying psychological scars from home defeats against struggling Ipswich and Leicester or an FA Cup tie when they required extra-time to see off fifth-tier Tamworth or a couple of hidings by Liverpool, or jittery performances when the heat was on in intense noise at Galatasaray and Rangers.
Or by the simmering discontent among supporters, whose protests have focused on chairman Daniel Levy and the ENIC ownership, but it's fair to say the love-in with the Ange Ball project is not what it was.
On Sunday, they were loudly booed back to the dressing room following a timid first-half against Bournemouth before rescuing a draw.
Dejan Kulusevski, their best player for so long this season, is out with a foot injury, Rodrigo Bentancur is banned and Kevin Danso, signed in January is the latest out with a hamstring injury.
There will be a time to take stock of the medical problems and comments by Cristian Romero about the physio, but tonight(THU) Postecoglou does have most of his best players available.
And although he might prefer them to have more minutes in their legs, Danso's absence will tempt him to pair Romero and Micky van de Ven together in defence for the first time since they were both injured against Chelsea in December.
Spurs are invariably better with them both in the team. We are about to find out if that is enough to at least keep the season alive, to keep Postecoglou in the habit of always winning something in his second season. Perhaps to keep him in the job.