When the dust has settled following the conclusion of this season, Tim Sherwood's spending during his first transfer window at the helm of Aston Villa will almost certainly be labelled with one of two cliches.
If, as many expect, Villa continue progressing as they have done under Sherwood, many may hail him as a 'clever wheeler dealer, who knows how to get the best out of a mad transfer market'.
However, if the season turns out not quite as planned, the inevitable shouts of 'Sherwood made the rookie mistake of trying to blood too many players at once', will be made.
This might well ring true, with a grand total of 13 players having joined by the 6PM deadline on Tuesday evening. Failure would leave Sherwood and his staff with just one leg to stand on, that being net spend. But we'll get to that later.
An assertive start to the window
With former captain Ron Vlaar having left on a free transfer come the end of the season, a decision which was later proved to be the right one as the defender confirmed he would be out injured for four months, Villa had to step in quickly to buy a new frontline centre back.
Scott Sinclair had come in on a permanent move from Manchester City, which was expected after a successful loan move from the Citizens. That move was followed up with the Vlaar replacement, with Micah Richards arriving on a free transfer, from the same club as Sinclair.
A signing full of experience in both English and Italian football, capped at international level, what could go wrong? It seemed like a sensible signing, and Sherwood showed his confidence in the player by making him the new team captain weeks later.
One more arrival early on in the window was that of Mark Bunn, coming in on a free transfer to replace the outgoing Shay Given as Brad Guzan's backup. Lower wages and a higher sell on potential, a smart move.
Dipping into Ligue 1
France was calling for Tim Sherwood, keen to purchase the best possible talent for his Villa squad at the best price, and he went to Ligue 1 for the first real spending of his window.
With Aly Cissokho departing on loan to Porto after a disappointing first season at Villa Park, exciting young left-back Jordan Amavi came in for just short of £8million. He looked a shrewd move at the time and hasn't show anything so far to suggest otherwise, with an impressive start to life in English football.
Another player who arrived from France, and has started well in the Premier League, was Idrissa 'Gana' Gueye. Around £10million was paid to Lille for his services, and he looks like a significant upgrade on Tom Cleverley.
It was a strong start from Villa, but there were nagging doubts surrounding one or two key players, and those doubts were to be confirmed soon after.
One u-turn, two exits, forty million.
Despite a bright start filled with exciting incomings, Fabian Delph and Christian Benteke weren't feeling quite so chipper about life at Villa Park.
A shock £8million release clause in Delph's contract, which had been signed in January, was publicised. Days later, Manchester City had bid, and he appeared to be off.
However, Delph released a statement insiting that he had rejected the contract offer, and Tim Sherwood breathed a sigh of relief about keeping his captain. It was short lived, as Delph changed his mind and moved to City less than a week later.
Another release clause saw Benteke follow Delph out of the door in the following days, with Liverpool his suitors. For the whole Summer the Merseysiders were being linked with the exciting Belgian, and they eventually agreed to pay his £32.5million release clause.
This left Villa with a huge problem in terms of striking options, a problem that they were quick to try and solve.
New strikers roll in
Back to Ligue 1 went Sherwood, sealing a move for Lorient striker Jordan Ayew. This was an interesting one, paying over £10million for a player who hasn't got a hugely prolfic goalscoring record, but as a youngster he must be given time to develop in a more challenging division.
Following Ayew was Rudy Gestede, the prolific Championship scorer who had headed in everything in sight for Blackburn Rovers. The powerful Benin international gives Villa something different, and proved his use as an impact sub with a winner against Bournemouth on the opening day.
Juan Angel Crespo arrived as cover at right-back around this time too, and Jordan Veretout became the third Jordan and fourth Ligue 1 player to be signed, joining on the same day as Gestede.
He's a highly rated creative midfielder, and will hope to give Villa an extra dimension in midfield. The signing also enabled them to get one over some of their league rivals, as they beat the likes of Leicester City and Tottenham Hotspur to him.
Late business could turn out to be great business?
With the wheels in motion for the Premier League season, it had looked like Villa's business had come to a close, and they'd press ahead with the squad they had. These suspicions turned out to be wrong, as four more signings came in before the close of the window.
Adama Traore was the first of the final four, a deal done relatively early, with Villa paying around £7million to take the highly rated winger from Barcelona.
He's looked like a shrewd buy, forcing an own goal after an excellent dribble against Crystal Palace on debut, but the problems with this deal lie in the future. If Traore unlocks his world class potential, Barcelona have a fairly cheap buy-back clause which they can tempt him back to the Nou Camp with.
Three more acquisitons were made on Deadline Day, Tiago Ilori, Joleon Lescott and Matija Sarkic. The latter is a young goalkeeper, bought for the future, whilst Illori completed a season long loan deal to provide more cover at the back.
Lescott's was a transfer that had reportedly been in the pipeline for most of the summer, with West Brom's purchase of Jonny Evans finally allowing the transfer to be confirmed, with the former England centre back finally getting a shot at playing for his favourite team.
He helped take the number of signings to 13, with over £50million spent.
How has it set Villa up for the season?
You'd have to say it's something of a mixed bunch for Villa in terms of how well they're set up to cope with the season ahead.
Sherwood certainly has his own squad now, and you'd argue that the defence is set, with Amavi and Richards complimenting an already fairly solid backline.
The likes of Lescott and Illori will only add to that, giving Villa some cover that could prove useful if they go on a similar cup run to that of last season, when they reached the FA Cup final.
Moving into midfield, the centre is possibly the squad's most strong area. In Ashley Westwood, Idrissa Gueye, Carlos Sanchez and Jordan Veretout, they've got four very different, yet talented players. Doubts may arise if one or two of them fall injured though, with limited backup.
The wide areas are stocked with the talents of Jack Grealish, Scott Sinclair, Adama Traore and Carles Gil providing excitement to the fans, whilst Joe Cole and Charles N'Zogbia will play the role of experienced back-up options.
The striking area is where concerns may rise, with no obvious first choice striker to come in for Benteke. Gabriel Agbonlahor may fancy himself for the role, but hasn't had a good start to the season.
Ayew was one of the bigger names that came in, but will need time to adapt to English football, whilst Gestede is most probably too one-dimensional to play week in, week out.
Whether they click going forward or not will be a huge factor in terms of Villa's success this season, with Sherwood and co having no place to hide if all goes wrong.
Many have pointed to whether or not Villa have spent enough, with their net spend being amonst the lowest in the division at around £10million.
However, they'll point to the higher costing players not being available, and look to the lack of value in the window anyway.