Michael Duff, the manager of Barnsley, maintains he never second-guessed his choice to accept the position last summer after relegation had left the team in shambles.
The Reds, who had only won six Sky Bet Championship games before to their decline, are now on the verge of a swift comeback.
On Monday, the League One play-off final will be decided, 11 months after Duff left Cheltenham to try to improve Barnsley's situation. They will meet local rivals Sheffield Wednesday.
Disillusioned supporters had lost track of the players who had either left or arrived at Oakwell after the club's relegation, but Duff never looked back despite the fact that they had suffered three losses in their first five league games this year.
"No," he replied, "because I always stand by myself. At Cheltenham, I went ten games without a victory, but I still believed in myself at that point.I gained a lot of knowledge, but I remained confident. As a result, I am a little older, a little wiser, a little greyer, and a lot fatter. However, when I gave my first interviews here and people asked where I thought we would end up, I remained silent.
"I wasn't trying to be evasive; I just said, 'We'll see. But I'm aware of how hard I work, how much I believe in what I do, and how competitive it is right now to advance.
Cheltenham finished 15th in League One under Duff's leadership, which was their best English Football League placement.
Former Burnley defender Duff transformed a new-look squad into automatic promotion contenders after an uneven start.
In a thrilling 4-2 victory at Oakwell in March, Barnsley ended Wednesday's 23-game unbeaten league stretch to extend their own unbeaten streak to 12 games.
Ten victories during that stretch propelled them into top-two contention, but Duff continued to hesitate to publicly establish goals for his team.
"I think talking is cheap," he remarked. "You can go on and on about philosophy and stuff like that. In my view, it is foolishness.As the season has progressed, we have demonstrated our ability to get a group of people to work hard, remain together, and find a way to play.
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However, when I gave my first interviews here and people asked where I thought we would end up, I remained silent.
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