In early November, Cardiff City lost 3-0 to Charlton Athletic at The Valley and slipped to twentieth in the Coca-Cola Championship. Dave Jones, the manager, received further hate mail and Peter Ridsdale, the chairman, hardly inspired confidence by suggesting that he had “two more games” to save his job.

Cardiff defeated Ipswich Town at home and then drew away to Leicester City and Hull City. Jones survived. Four months on, his team not only lie twelfth in the Championship, five points off a play-offs place, but are also contemplating an FA Cup semi-final against Barnsley at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.

Jones can grin weakly about it now. He is not one for wide smiles anyway - never has been - and it may still be uncomfortable for him to recall how, in those dark days, he was sent a text message by a disgruntled fan challenging him to a fight. He does, though, do a nice line in defiance.

“As I've always said, empty drums make the most noise,” Jones said. “You can't please everybody. I've been at football clubs where I've won things and people still moan that I'm not doing it right. Unfortunately for the moaners, I'm the one in the hot seat, so tough s***.

“It's me who's there, so I'll make the decisions that are right for me. If you listened to every moan and groan that was going on, you'd go mad. I get letters sent to me saying what I should do. Just say they've picked it [the team] and it goes wrong, they never write back and say, ‘Sorry, I got that wrong.'

“If I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it by my principles and that's the way I've always done it. I just try my best and that's all I can do. Hopefully, it will please the majority. And the minority? So what.”

Cardiff drew 0-0 with West Bromwich Albion at Ninian Park on Tuesday evening, keeping alive their play-offs hopes. Yet whereas promotion is a realistic ambition, many in the Welsh capital are pinching themselves that they face a first visit to Wembley since 1927, when they beat Arsenal 1-0 to win the Cup.

That it is a semi-final and not the final, Jones believes, does not dilute the grandeur or excitement of the occasion. “If you're Arsenal, Chelsea or Manchester United and going to Wembley year in, year out, then things aren't the same,” he said. “But for clubs like us and the fans, they want to go. Certainly, the Welsh people want to go across the border and make a lot of noise. That's the sort of patriotism they all have.

“To hold the semi-finals at Wembley is great. Anyone who doesn't want to play in the semi-finals of the FA Cup should get out of the game because you shouldn't be in it.”

Ishmael Miller, the West Brom striker, almost broke the deadlock on Tuesday, shuddering the joint of the Cardiff bar and post in the second half. When he plays in the first semi-final, against Portsmouth on Saturday, he is hoping to experience better fortune, especially because David James and Sylvain Distin, his former Manchester City team-mates, will be opposing him.

The mind games between James, the Portsmouth goalkeeper, Distin, the central defender, and Miller have started. “I know David, I've spoken to Sylvain a few times and I've been texting him,” Miller said. “There are going to be some fun and games before the game and after.

“David is unbeatable at the moment and is one of the best goalkeepers I have ever worked with or seen, one of the best in the world. I wouldn't tell him that he is an old man - even for me, he is too strong - but hopefully I will be able to beat him and then have a few little taunts after the game.”