CARDIFF City playing in blue again, a reason to rejoice or a huge cautionary tale where there have been no winners and only losers? Surely the latter?

I’m firmly in the camp that says the whole thing has been an embarrassing and unmitigated fiasco with compromise of principles and embarrassing U-turns on all sides with an outcome that is nothing more than satisfactory.

Because first off, Cardiff City have ALWAYS been blue, and have ALWAYS been the Bluebirds. The re-branded red shirts and Dragons identity was the closest thing we’ve seen to a club being “franchised,” since the MK Dons. City of the last couple of years are a club no-one really identified with.

They reached the Promised Land of the Premier League but simultaneously sucked almost all the enjoyment out of it for their loyal fanbase and it’s an absurd situation that even now, people connected with Cardiff must walk on egg shells.

When Cardiff called the press to announce their huge U-turn – remember on Christmas Day Vincent Tan made clear red was staying and you could like it or lump it – they made abundantly clear they have no interest in justifying anything.

When a local reporter asked about the U-turn, he was treated with incredible hostility by Cardiff chairman Mehmet Dalman, shot down in flames for daring to try and do his job properly.

“Who are you? There are no U-turns here. Why would you say that? We are bridging the gap here. If you can’t see that, you are in the wrong job. Next question.”

The message is clear. Move on and be grateful. Just one big happy family eh?

We are supposed to believe that this is a momentous time for Cardiff, a joyous victory that they are once again being given the right to play in their proper colours and be called their proper names.

It’s a farcical situation.

By means of comparison, this is akin to your loved one cheating on you and deciding to run off with a handsome red head who your partner proudly tells you is far luckier than you and superior in every sense. They are also going to be richer, much richer. Everyone on a whole continent will buy merchandise with their red head on it. They’ll be bigger than Mick Hucknall and Julia Roberts.

Two years later, when no-one has really taken to the red head, they’ve actually proved quite unlucky in life actually, less Julia Roberts and more Max Branning or Bianca off Eastenders, your partner calls you up on Christmas Day to re-iterate their commitment to them.

So that’s your Christmas ruined, even though your ex recently hosted a dinner party and hardly anyone came and those who did shouted and were clearly miserable and vowed not to come next year.

So two weeks later, your former beloved calls you again and says maybe it’s time to end things with the red head, because their mum advised them as such by paraphrasing JFK and they’ve decided that they want to take you back, promising they won’t dump you, “this season or next.”

And not only do you do fall back into their arms, without question and with total gratitude, but you also get all your friends and family to throw them a massive party and ensure anyone who questions “what if they do that again?” is shouted down and told they are stupid and don’t understand that your love is special.

Cardiff’s disastrous switch from blue to red and back again is no victory for anyone. It’s a cautionary tale to add to other cautionary tales about ownership of football clubs.

Blinded by gratitude for Tan bailing them out of a financial abyss created by poor management by previous owners, many Cardiff City fans were suckered into silence by the big lights of the Premier League and sat on their hands and didn’t enjoy things as much, but still kept going to games.

Many, but not all. There have been Cardiff fans who simply stopped going during the red experiment, or who kept going out of habit or family obligation, but who mentally checked out months ago and no longer could muster the same passion for a club they didn’t recognise and have campaigned tirelessly against the change. And for them, this is not a period of rejoicing. It’s merely a feeling of relief at having their club back. I have enormous sympathy for that group. For all proper Cardiff fans.

To paint this as a win for fan power or as a cause for mass celebration is inaccurate and it’s insulting to those who have suffered hugely at having their pleasure in life – going to watch their football team – destroyed by a branding disaster that flew in the face of popular opinion.

Vincent Tan promised not to change to red after consultation and then did so anyway and many, many fans got on board, because what’s heritage compared to promotion and a stab at the Premier League?

If this U-turn – and that’s precisely what this is – had occurred with Cardiff in the Premier League, if the boycott had meant a crowd of 5,000 when they played Manchester City or United, that would’ve represented a statement of fan power.

As it was, the proper fan movement at Cardiff only happened out of reaching the point of utter despair, and only then because of poor results and being back to where they started – outside the Championship play-off position - only with the wrong colour jersey.

It wasn’t heritage, history or broken promises that finally prompted the Cardiff City fan revolution we are hearing about, it was failure that finally bred the requisite level of contempt.

It’s how we reach the situation whereby thousands of voices were ignored by a 65-year old man who only granted them their right as fans of the club not because of their strong feelings, but because his mother said he should.

Or that’s his version. A more cynical person may also look at diminishing season ticket estimates for next season and a chance to flog a second home kit of the campaign, but as has been made abundantly clear, there is no reason for cynicism here, or criticism, or even valid questions at press conferences.

Cardiff can finally move forward and it’s good news for sure, but far from a cause for celebration and an episode that should act as a warning to supporters everywhere.