There was a time a couple of months ago when the season looked dead. Done and dusted – nothing to see here.

City were marooned in 16th place, the League Two equivalent of no man’s land. Not going up, nor down.

Making the long trek south to face Bournemouth this weekend, their position has not altered.

Progress, in terms of league position, remains getting above pesky Crewe and the ‘promised land’ of 15th.

But the remainder of this campaign is far from a write-off. There is plenty going on, if not actually on the pitch.

The playing surface itself is ready to be dug up and not a moment too soon.

This is no pop whatsoever at groundsman Mick Doyle, who has been fighting a losing cause against the elements during a winter from weather hell.

But it’s hard to play football on a pitch that resembles the Somme. Just ask Rotherham about the dreaded Don Valley.

Resurfacing will not cure all ills; the long-term drainage issues will always be there. But it will be a step in the right direction for next season.

That was the second item of big news in a significant week for City fans. The main one was the revelation that new training facilities are finally being tracked down.

Again, it’s something long overdue. When football ground to a halt over Christmas, Stuart McCall reflected about the huge opportunity missed when City were in the Premiership.

The grand plans were in place for state-of-the-art training facilities alongside the M606. They never got off the architect’s paper.

Instead, money was ploughed on luxury Italians, moody Romanians and a record-signing Scot who promptly got injured. Hindsight, of course, but where would that top-flight windfall have been better spent?

Jim Jefferies saw the need to quit Apperley Bridge and took his team temporarily to Adel. He wanted a permanent move to Ilkley but that too was poo-pooed by Geoffrey Richmond.

So we fast-forward nine years to City’s determined attempts to keep Peter Taylor. Key to that is not his own wages but providing better facilities all-round – giving the man the right tools for the job.

I don’t doubt for a second that McCall would love to have had the same thing. But the board can say they backed him heavily with added investment on the player front during that fateful last season.

The noises coming out of Valley Parade again are encouraging. Taylor’s cajoling has nudged the club into genuine action on the infrastructure.

They want to hang on to a gaffer who knows this division inside out and has proved an expert at getting out of it.

Taylor, himself, sounds just as keen to stay and take on a challenge that has clearly got his managerial juices flowing. So what’s stopping the two getting together?

Taylor and Mark Lawn tramped the as-yet unnamed new training target last week. Lawn’s designer brogues got splattered in mud; Taylor, as prepared as ever, turned up in his walking boots. A little example of the meticulous planning and preparation that supporters hope can transform the team into a genuine promotion outfit.

City are now haggling an acceptable rental price with the owners; negotiations that could prove an important building block for the future.

Season tickets will be relaunched on Monday as the fans are urged once again to do their bit. Lawn has already hinted that the powers-that-be are prepared to dip a bit deeper into their own pockets once more.

A glance at the league table would suggest that all at City is calm. But beneath the surface, there is frantic activity.

Taylor will want a strong finish over the last eight games. His mantra from day one has focused on seeing gradual improvement in terms of points and performances.

But results over the next few weeks are not the be-all and end-all. The real progress will be measured by what can be achieved off the field.