“Aye,” replied Fred. “But it were wasted on thee.”

Jack Grealish’s goal on Saturday, villa’s third, was like that. Picking up a throw thirty yards out Grealish went past three defenders, rounded the keeper and knocked the ball home from a tight angle. It was fit for a bigger occasion than the final stages of a game against a demoralised and thoroughly beaten Rotherham side who played the part of gallant losers that Villa supporters have got used to seeing over the past five years.

I really don’t want to look down on the sort of opposition we played on Saturday. They deserve to be in the Championship just as Villa do, albeit for different reasons, but the fact is that give the comparative resources of both clubs we should be brushing them aside, well, as easily as we did. That’s why I want to enjoy our time in this divison and why I’ll also hate every minute of it.

All traces of that midweek embarassment at Luton were forgotten well before kick-off with Tony Xia running on to the pitch, bowing and waving – shades of Tommy Docherty almost half a century ago – to the acclaim of a sizable crowd. The first twenty minutes were even, with Villa understandably hesitant during the opening stages but once Aaron Tshibola had seized on a loose ball in midfield to begin a move that was finished off by Rudy Gestede the team was never in danger.

Gestede scored a second on the stroke of half-time and although Villa dropped down a gear after the break they could still have got a few more before Grealish rounded off the first memorable afternoon at Villa Park for far too long.

The goalscorers naturally gained all the headlines, but there were good words to say about every Villa player. Tshiobola added steel in midfield, the new defensive partnership of James Chester and Tommy Elphick are already the most reliable pairing we’ve had for what seems an age, Jordan Ayew and Adama Traore are a class above anything else in the division. Even the much-maligned Messrs Cissokho, Bacuna and Westwood looked perfectly adequate for the tasks that lie ahead.

The first of these is on Tuesday evening (they come thick and fast in this league) against yet another team from Yorkshire, this time one that have won their first two games. By then we should have wrapped up another signing or two and be looking something like the finished article – at least until the next transfer window.