Blues forward Sone Aluko says there are few moments in a player's career like yesterday’s promotion celebration in Christchurch Park.
Aluko, in his second season with the club, joined his teammates on the stage to celebrate finishing second and returning to the Championship along with almost 11,000 fans.
"Incredible,” he said. "When you’ve been in football as long as I have, there are few moments where there are that many fans, that amount of love and support for the team, but we’ve had a fair old year, so it was a good day and one we all enjoyed.”
Like other members of the squad, Aluko always believed that the Blues could win an automatic promotion place even when some might have been doubting them.
"I’ve been confident the whole season, I’ve been saying it, I always thought this team would get promoted,” he said.
"There have been times when people might have lost a bit of faith, but even then we were so dominant. We only lost four games, we scored the most goals, had the most shots, fewest conceded.
"The stats speak for themselves, we’re the top team in the league, even though fair play to Plymouth, they’ve done well this year, but we have complete belief that we’ve been the best team.”
Aluko made nine starts and 10 sub appearances over the course of the season and captained the Blues in the Carabao Cup tie against Colchester.
However, a knee injury suffered in the 6-0 Papa Johns Trophy victory over Northampton in August seeing him miss three months of the season and the former Nigeria international admits he would like to have played more often.
"The injury didn’t help me, to be honest, having a bad injury, even though I came back relatively quickly,” he said.
"But there are a lot of players in this squad, a lot of players will feel the same that they could have contributed more on the pitch, but off the pitch, the coaching we have, the environment we have, the fans don’t see that side, but that’s why teams get promoted and other teams don’t.
"Everyone pulls in the same direction, that’s from the very top, the ownership to the staff at the training ground, at the stadium, I’ve met them all and the club’s in the right direction, it’s been great.”
Manager Kieran McKenna recently praised senior players Aluko and Richard Keogh, who may not have played many games but still had a significant role in the season’s success due to their influence and experience in the dressing room.
"He’s been very open to that,” Hounslow-born Aluko continued. "He’s helped me a lot. I’ve watched most of the games with the analysts team, I’ve been in and out of every office in the training ground.
"The support I can give from what I’ve done in my career, what I’ve seen - and this is my third promotion - you kind of feel what it takes to do it again.
"Just helping in that kind of thing, again which a lot of people don’t see, but I’m glad to hear he recognises that.”
Aluko, pictured above with Kane Vincent-Young, is out of contract in the summer and he says discussions regarding his future are set to take place.
"That’s being decided as we speak,” he said. "It was pretty much get through this week, enjoy the week, getting promoted with the team, and leave all that to the summer, so there’ll be discussions coming up soon, so we’ll see.”
At 34, his years as a player are numbered but he has no plans to hang up his boots quite yet.
"Naturally at this age it’s something [you think about], and maybe I’ve almost naturally rolled into it that we have a younger team, so they ask me advice about different things, whether that’s personally, whether that’s tactically,” he said.
"I’ve watched the games with the analysts just because you get a good view up there, to be honest.
"But then they’ll ask me what do I see of the game, so that’s not something I’ve really, really thought of officially, but obviously something I’ll have to start looking into as I get older.
"But right now, it’s just the playing side, that will be the focus for the next year at least.”