Never again. That must be the lesson that Sunderland take away from their stay in League One.
Now that the dust has settled on the weekend's unforgettable Wembley play-off final celebrations, it is time to draw a line in the sand and resolve that the club must never again find itself languishing in the third tier. One season in the 1980s was one too many; this four-season stint was beyond the pale.
The novelty, if there ever was such a thing, wore off a very long time ago. Sunderland's promotion to the Championship is the first tentative step towards regaining the Premier League status lost five years ago.
READ MORE: Seven changes Sunderland will encounter as they return to the Championship next season
And while a return to the top flight is still some way away - back-to-back promotions are much tougher to achieve than the back-to-back relegations the Black Cats suffered in 2017 and 2018 - it is at least now within sight, if not yet within reach. Sunderland's promotion is rightly viewed as a significant moment, a tangible sign that the club has turned the corner, but perhaps the toughest tests still lie ahead.
The architects of Sunderland's precipitous decline are long gone, with Ellis Short having sold up in 2018 following the double relegation which laid the club low. The next step is to purge the club of the remnants of the Stewart Donald regime which followed Short, and which squandered the wave of goodwill that greeted it, rapidly alienating supporters as failed promotion attempts were accompanied by revelations over the way the purchase of the club was financed, and a series of PR catastrophies.
While Kyril Louis-Dreyfus is now chairman, biggest single shareholder, and in control, Donald and Charlie Methven retain stakes in the club. Fans now want them to cash in their chips, sell their shares to Louis-Dreyfus, repay in full the money they took out of the club to finance their takeover, and disappear into the sunset.
The eruption of anger in February over the news that Donald and Methven still owned 34 and five percent of the club respectively - almost as much combined as Louis-Dreyfus' 41 percent stake - dissipated during a successful run-in, but only once that duo sell up will it disappear entirely. Resolving the ownership situation is a priority, but equally important in the eyes of supporters is to clear up any uncertainty over Alex Neil's future as head coach.
Neil signed a 12-month rolling contract when he arrived in February and made it clear following the win at Wembley that he wants to stay at Sunderland and lead the club in the Championship next season. But he also said that there would need to be conversations with the hierarchy at the club, principally Louis-Dreyfus and sporting director Kristjaan Speakman, to ensure that he will be given the backing he requires to compete in the second tier.
Louis-Dreyfus may be a trust fund billionaire but he has repeatedly said that he would not throw money at the club, instead preferring to build sustainable foundations. Given the parlous financial state of many clubs in the Championship who are constantly flirting with disaster, that is no bad thing.
However, considerable investment will be needed this summer to improve off-field infrastructure and to upgrade and reinforce the squad ready for the step up. After taking the reins on Wearside at a time when the club's play-off chances, never mind its promotion prospects, were in jeopardy and leading it to victory at Wembley, Neil has earned hero status amongst supporters and that has given him a strong hand to play in any negotiations.
The job that Neil has done over the last three months will not have gone unnoticed elsewhere, and for Sunderland to lose him because of an attempt to build a squad on the cheap - or by refusing to afford him sufficient control over transfer policy - would be an own-goal of epic proportions. Last season ended just four days ago, and the early start next season means the players will return to pre-season training in only four weeks' time.
There is a lot to do in a very short period of time. This is a pivotal summer for Sunderland, but if they get it right then there is every reason to believe the club's renaissance can continue.
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