Tony Mowbray accepts that expectations will rise next season following Sunderland's play-off campaign - and insists the club's summer recruitment will be pivotal. After winning promotion from League One 12 months ago, the Black Cats sprang a surprise as they immediately challenged for - and secured - a play-off place in their first season back in the Championship.
Ultimately, they fell short as they lost out to Luton Town, who went on to win promotion, over two legs in the play-off semi-final, but their performance over the course of the season was a sign that Sunderland are continuing to head in the right direction. While their sixth-placed finish was achieved against a backdrop of little pressure given that Mowbray's brief when he took over at the end of August was to reestablish the club in the second tier, it inevitably means that the bar will be raised next season and Mowbray himself knows that sixth will be the new minimum target.
With the transfer market due to open next week, Sunderland's recruitment will hold the key to the club's fortunes as they seek to not only reinforce a squad that was badly hit by injuries throughout the last campaign, but also find a way to replace a player of the quality of Amad who enjoyed a magnificent season while on loan from Manchester United. "I think we've had a good season," said Mowbray, at the end of his first season in charge.
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"My hope is that the expectation rises, that the demand is that it is nothing less than we have done this year. But then I might be sitting here [next season], the recruitment hasn't gone as well as we had hoped, we haven't really signed anyone of high quality, they are all young players with no pedigree.
"The quality of the football team is going to decide how good we are, not necessarily the coach. The coach has to inspire footballers, they have to believe in the tactics and what you do, but the quality of the footballer ultimately wins the football match.
"Man City don't win the Premier League just because Pep [Guardiola] is great, he also has the best players. His tactics are great and people follow them all over the world, but if you haven't got the players then you can't use the tactics to do what he does.
"We have to get recruitment right."
Sunderland's recruitment will be overseen by sporting director Kristjaan Speakman and head of recruitment Stuart Harvey, although Mowbray will also have a voice in the process. The club's additions last summer and in January were an overwhelming success and some of those players will improve again after spending a season in the Championship, while there will also be pressure to bring in players who can further improve the squad.
Mowbray said: "It's a credit to the new owners [Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Juan Sartori] and the structure that they have brought to the club, bringing in new players. I was probably on a database somewhere because I had worked with young players - Blackburn had the second youngest team in the league the previous year - so I am assuming it was not an accident that I came here, so you have to give the ownership model a lot of credit for the way they try to recruit.
"From my perspective, it's great to have so many quality individuals who can damage the league. It's also about organisation, it's about drive, it's about commitment, standards of workrate.
"They've all embraced it and taken it on board and, driven by the support base, we did very well last season."
