TWENTY games and counting to see if City’s season of promise really will live up to the hope.

What started almost as a journey into the unknown has transformed into one of genuine excitement about its destination.

There is no guarantee of a happy ending – remember Gillingham and Coventry were similarly riding high this time last year before their campaigns collapsed.

But while a few more goals would not go amiss, there is a solidity about this squad that should breed confidence among the fans that City can stay the pace.

Who would be your man of the season so far – Josh Cullen, Nicky Law, Romain Vincelot, James Meredith, Mark Marshall?

Or how about a shout for one of those responsible for helping to put this team together?

Greg Abbott’s return to Valley Parade in the summer was widely hailed on nostalgic grounds; another of the heroes of the 1980s coming back to the club he regards as a spiritual home.

But his appointment as chief scout was much more than a case of doing a mate a favour for Stuart McCall.

Terry Yorath once described Abbott as City’s best player “when they didn’t have the ball”.

He was not trying to be clever but making the point about someone who would never give up.

In Abbott’s eyes, there was no such thing as a lost cause on the pitch. Nobody worked harder to win back possession.

That ‘dog with a bone’ tendency is still apparent in the way he has tackled City’s recruitment drive since the wholesale changes of last summer.

The exact size of the squad McCall inherited has almost become an urban myth. But whatever the numbers, City were playing catch-up big time with recruitment.

McCall needed someone for such a key role that he could trust implicitly. He also needed someone who knew the market like the back of his hand.

Abbott’s appointment ticked those boxes, also winning the populist vote because of his proud history in claret and amber.

The all-action performer who never left anything out on the field took to his new role with the same tigerish determination as City assembled an impressive group, given the time constraints.

It was a performance against the clock that Chris Froome would have been proud of.

For this window, there has been the luxury of a decent period of preparation.

Abbott, McCall, Edin Rahic and James Mason have held regular strategy meetings discussing options and different targets. They have been building from a position of strength with the squad that is already in place.

Abbott joked with me on the phone the other day that City’s early January work warranted a “seven out of ten”.

Securing Cullen until the very end is arguably the best business of the lot.

Young Birmingham striker Alex Jones followed for an undisclosed sum – which certainly does not sound a risk – and then winger Alex Gilliead arrived on Thursday.

City needed numbers in quickly after losing three the other way. Nathan Clarke and the underwhelming Haris Vuckic were no surprise departures but Marc McNulty’s recall by Sheffield United did catch them on the hop.

Yet Jones and Gilliead are no knee-jerk reaction signings. They were targets that Abbott had identified in the first window and been monitoring since.

Their age and potential fit with the remit that Rahic and Stefan Rupp want to introduce into the club.

Abbott is very anti the window system within the lower leagues. An “absolute minefield” that will be a “disaster” for some of the smaller clubs is his view of the format that has been forced upon everyone this season.

But that is the battlefield in which he throws himself long into the night and will keep doing so until the deadline passes in just over a fortnight.

Contract decisions are also looming, with a number of established names due up in the summer.

The T&A understands that Abbott is among them. His initial deal was only for the year.

Whatever the pros and cons when judging the players, securing the chief scout’s future has surely got to be near the top of the list.