Manuel Pellegrini is delighted with the way he has won over Manchester City fans as he prepares to mark the first anniversary of the day they protested against his probable appointment by winning the Premier League title.
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City only need to a draw against West Ham on Sunday, whereas on May 11, 2013, they lost the FA Cup final to Wigan.
And supporters, complaining about the sacking of Roberto Mancini, which happened 48 hours later, chanted against the potential arrival of Pellegrini.
But as City have won the Capital One Cup this season and scored 154 goals, including 100 in the Premier League, the same fans now praise the Chilean in chants of: "Sheikh Mansour went to Spain in a Lamborghini, brought us back a manager, Manuel Pellegrini."
And Pellegrini said in a news conference: "I was so happy the fans changed the songs. Someone told me about the songs. I know now what the songs said. Now I prefer these songs."
The City supporters also unveiled a banner in Wednesday's 4-0 win over Aston Villa with a picture of Pellegrini and the words "This Charming Man," a reference to a song by the Mancunian band The Smiths.
"I didn't see it in that moment," Pellegrini said. "Someone told me after the game."
The former Real Madrid manager is known for his calm demeanour on the touchline but said he does suffer from nerves.
"I know how to control [them]," he said. "It is different. It is very important to control your emotions because when you have to take decisions under emotion normally you do it the wrong way."
Pellegrini said he decided to stay as calm as possible when he retired as a player and took up coaching.
"I think when I started this career I had absolutely a different character," he explained. "As a player I was a different character to the one I am today but to prepare to be a manager I think you must change a lot of things. One of things I was absolutely sure I must change was my character. You have to understand you are not a player and have another attitude with the players."
City's 28-goal top scorer Sergio Aguero has missed 15 of their league games and Pellegrini said that will increase their achievement if they win the league because he does not feel their rivals have suffered to such an extent with injuries.
He added: "Maybe some other teams, if you take Luis Suarez out of 15 games for Liverpool, Eden Hazard from Chelsea or Santi Cazorla from Arsenal [they may not have coped]."