Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill says the club's American owner Randy Lerner will have taken great satisfaction from last week's victory over Chelsea.
He told Villa's website: "Games like Sunday - that's what Randy Lerner got into Premier League football for. That's the type of excitement that people yearn for. The place was rocking, it really was fantastic.
"He's well aware of those things and knows this will take time. His own view is that we're doing better than he would have expected at this stage. These things take a bit of time. It takes time for players to gel.
"So Randy is pleased, but he's genuinely in this for the medium to long term. Of course I'm the eternal pragmatist when it comes to these things - you don't get that sort of time.
"But he has never expected instant results. I remember him saying in January/February that if we finished higher than we did the previous year that we'd say that was progress."
Patience may be a rare thing in modern football, but O'Neill and Lerner share the same long-term vision for Villa and both know sustained success will not come overnight.
The Villa boss added: "I think his background with the Cleveland Browns has helped that. You get an understanding of it and you know how difficult these things are. They take time.
"We by comparison to smaller clubs are trying to invest and that's great, but by comparison to the big boys, we're still well behind.
"But the fun of it is still trying to compete with those people when the level of investment isn't anywhere near what they've put in - not that he's ever said it, but there has to be a bit of sense to all of this."