Just over three years ago, I walked into an office at Harrods for a meeting with Mohamed al-Fayed and Kevin Keegan, who told me: 'People may laugh at us but Fulham will be in the Premiership within five years.'
That was in September 1997, when Fulham had just won promotion from the Third Division. Today, as leaders of the First Division with a 100 per cent League record, I have no doubt that they will be a Premiership club next season.
Today Fulham are playing Blackburn - interesting because Fayed is aiming to emulate the rapid rise Rovers enjoyed from the lower half of the old Second Division to Premiership champions in the space of five years.
Using Jack Walker's millions, Kenny Dalglish - like Keegan, a former Liverpool legend - had assembled a top-class side who became champions and were regulars in Europe when Fulham were floundering in the Third Division.
I was at that meeting in Knightsbridge because I'd been recommended to them as the man to set up and run the youth academy at Fulham, and, coincidentally, I'd once turned down the chance to do a similar thing at Ewood Park.
But what sold me on Fulham, quite apart from the fact that I grew up supporting them and have always had a soft spot for the club, was the absolute clarity of Fayed's vision.
He had a five-year plan, along with Keegan, although it looks like Jean Tigana will carry it through to fruition.
Barring a disastrous downturn in fortune, which I simply cannot envisage, Fulham will go up next May and, I believe, prosper in the Premiership. I do not, however, think they can go all the way and emulate Blackburn in winning the title, nor sustain a long-term challenge to the top-six elite because they will never be able to establish regular crowds of 50,000 or so.
But they should be able to get 25,000 every week in the Premiership and comfortably compete with the likes of Leicester and West Ham. A big issue is whether they can redevelop their stadium to increase its capacity or have to move away from Craven Cottage, which would be a great shame when you consider its history and traditions.
Fulham have always been a special club in many ways, but I would say they are now unique in the way they are organised. For a start, the HQ and power base is in Knightsbridge, SW3 rather than Craven Cottage. The club is run like a department of Harrods rather than a separate business and in this scheme of things, being manager of Fulham is barely different from running the food hall or menswear department.
The staff and players have Harrods discount cards and are paid on Harrods payslips, and if you are considered to be doing a good job you are very well rewarded.
But there is another side - and it can be ruthless. A good number of heads have rolled in the past three or four years. It is not just managers and players who have come and gone - the head of security and finance director were dismissed almost without warning. It is the sort of place where both on and off the field you have to perform ... or you will be out.
When I arrived, Ray Wilkins was manager but he paid the price for failing to win promotion in his first season. Kevin Keegan got Fulham into the First Division but then left for England, and Paul Bracewell did not last a season.
I do think, however, it was an excellent idea to make Tigana's appointment before the end of the season so he had those final seven games - when I was in charge along with Karlheinz Riedle and Roy Evans - to see what he needed to do.
He came along in the summer with his own ideas and staff, and has been fantastic - perhaps the best signing Fulham have made. Certainly I can never remember a stronger or more consistent side than this one, where they have, in each area, the best players by far in the division, in Maik Taylor, Chris Coleman, John Collins and Louis Saha. Tigana has an excellent knowledge of French football from his time as a coach and an agent there, and he has two other excellent young Frenchmen in Fabrice Fernandes and Nicholas Sahoun.
But he has also been as good as his word in blooding youngsters who have come through the academy and is very keen to build for the future with homegrown talent too.
Tigana already has seven or eight players who can thrive in the Premiership, and will have no problem recruiting another four or five when they go up. He has the resources to do that without having to sell - indeed this year's reserves are almost the same as last year's first team.
Tigana also has the cachet to attract very good players to the club, just as Keegan did. Whenever I spent time in Europe for Fulham, people who had never previously heard of the club knew about them because of the manager. Keegan understood the importance of marketing, and that is another reason why Fulham stand out - their marketing philosophy is the same as Harrods', and indeed a lot of club merchandise is on sale there. But I do wonder what would happen if Fayed left for any reason. Walker left a lot of money in trust funds so that Blackburn will remain wealthy for years to come. I don't know if that would be the case at Fulham.
I'm more concerned that my Crystal Palace team are playing them this week. They are a frightening prospect for any club, and I suspect could give a few Premiership teams a run for their money. Fulham haven't been in the top flight for almost 40 years, when chairman Tommy Trinder, the music hall comedian, made most of his jokes at the club's expense.
But there are not too many people laughing at them - or Fayed's vision - now.