Same here.

At massive scale, sure, it might make sense to run your own infrastructure and data centres. Some may even run their own private cloud and get the benefits we see from the public cloud today from their own IT depts.

The vast majority of us however had nothing in common with the above. Like you we ran the hardware, and to the business, we were never more than a cost centre and anything pitched to the broader business to "improve" outcomes for the development teams were seen as a cost without benefit.

I find a lot of people who are proponents for getting rid of the cloud never had to manage their own infrastructure, and have very rose tinted glasses for a reality that never existed for most.