Jim Goodwin knows he has an almighty job on his hands to turnaround Aberdeen's fortunes next season.
The Dons finished in the bottom six for the first time in almost a decade and Goodwin has struggled to get a tune out of the squad left by Stephen Glass.
But the 40-year-old believes you just have to look at what Robbie Neilson has done with Hearts to realise that there's no reason why the north east club can't be back challenging for trophies.
Hearts were in the Championship this time last year and disgruntled fans even demonstrated outside Tynecastle for Neilson's departure following a Scottish Cup loss to Brora Rangers.
Now the Gorgie club have secured a third place Premiership finish which comes with the lure of European football and they also face Rangers in the Scottish Cup final on Saturday.
And Goodwin insists that just shows what can be done within a year.
"I understand the supporters’ frustration but there are examples of teams who have been in similar scenario to ourselves," said Goodwin.
“You only have to look at what happened at Hearts.
“Hearts are a similar sized club to ourselves.
“They were knocked out of the cup by Brora Rangers and there were demonstrations outside Tynecastle.
“Only 12 months or so on from that they are the third best team in the country and have a cup final to look forward to.
“That is because they got the recruitment right. I want that to be us in 12 months’ time.
“I’m very confident that we have the ability and the resources here to make that happen.”
Goodwin also acknowledges that getting the right players in the door in time for next season will be crucial to how the Pittodrie club fare.
And he believes the club are already doing all they can behind the scenes to recruit quality players.
“There’s absolutely no reason why we can’t go and do the same next season," added the former St Mirren boss.
“However, in order for that to happen we need to get the squad sorted.
“We need to do the most important thing in the summer which is getting the recruitment right.
“We’re doing that at the moment. We’ve got a great strategy in place.
"We’ve got good people behind the scenes working hard on it.
“There is also a great budget."
