Tony Mowbray does not hold with the idea that promotion to the Premier League could come too soon for Sunderland. The Black Cats have arrived at the final game of the Championship season still in with a chance of following last year's step up from League One with a giant leap into the top flight.
They go to Preston tomorrow needing to win at Deepdale, and for either Middlesbrough to beat Coventry, or for Millwall to drop points against Blackburn, in order to secure a play-off spot and the opportunity to compete for a place in the Premier League. As talk of the play-offs has ramped up in the second half of the season, there have been voices wondering whether Sunderland's young squad would benefit from another 12 months in the Championship to better prepare themselves - and the club - for a tilt at promotion.
But Mowbray has been in management long enough to know that if you sit around waiting for the perfect moment it might never come, and instead you must seize any opportunity that comes your way. "You never turn down a shot at promotion,” said Mowbray, who led West Brom to promotion from the Championship in 2007-08.
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"There are plenty of clubs who have got promoted and had to do major surgery on the team. They've maybe even come down, but they've been so much stronger to go back up again.
"West Brom are the classic case. When I was there, the fans sang 'Boing Boing'. Why?
"Because they were going up and down and up. But on the back of going up, we bought some great players for the club, the Chris Brunts and James Morrisons who stayed ten years and were the foundation of playing in the Premier League for seven years on the bounce."
For Sunderland, the prospect of going from League One to the Premier League in the space of two seasons would be a shock to the system every bit as great as making that same journey in reverse via back-to-back relegations in 2016-17 and 2017-18. The club was aiming to go from the third tier to the Premier League in a five-year timeframe, and to do so within two years would require a major rewrite of the plans that have been drawn up behind the scenes by sporting director Kristjaan Speakman and owner Kyril Louis-Dreyfus.
But Mowbray is happy to leave those things to those above him, because he knows none of this can come to pass unless he can guide his team to victory at Preston. He said: "I'm not sure we’ve been sitting there saying, 'Is there a plan for promotion?'
"Have they got £10m players they will go and sign? I'm not sure.
"But we have young talented players from around the world who we think will help this team keep improving. Whether that gets put in the bin because we win the next four games [at Preston and the three play-off games], who knows?
"That would change the dynamic of the summer. Kristjaan has to dare to believe; I, as the coach, have to dare to win the next game."
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