Mick McCarthy arrived at the Stadium of Light last month knowing that relegation was a racing certainty.
He will turn up for work tomorrow morning knowing that it is an inevitability which could be confirmed as early as next weekend when his side face Birmingham, acutely aware that anything less than victory will prove fatal.
But the former Ireland boss will be boosted by the passion and commitment shown in yesterday's 2-1 home defeat to Chelsea.
Sunderland produced a performance which, if not quite vintage, was as good as they have turned in for many a month to give Champions League-chasing Chelsea a fright.
Sean Thornton's 12th-minute volley handed the home side a deserved half-time lead, and it took superb strikes from Gianfranco Zola and substitute Carlton Cole just five minutes from time to deny McCarthy his first point.
The coffin lid on Sunderland's four-year stay in the top flight is almost secure and the manager can now begin his planning for the future.
And while he acknowledges that First Division football may not suit some of the men who only two years ago were contemplating the possibility of European football, he is determined to carry on regardless.
"Players may want to leave and I want to change it around, there's no question," he said. "That has been a benchmark, it's been very, very good.
"I think players may want to leave, may not want to play in the First Division if that's what's going to happen.
"But it doesn't matter to me who the players are at the football club. It's the performance, it's how they play in the shirts, and whether it's somebody who's here now or somebody who's going to come in and play, that's the standard that we've set for the club now.
"But we want to win then a the end of it. It's no good playing well and getting spanked."
With 18 points still to play for and a gap now of 16 to safety, pride seems the only issue at stake for Sunderland. The club equalled its 26-year-old record of nine successive league defeats at the weekend and is still five points adrift of the lowest-ever Premiership total.
"I'd like a win, I really would," McCarthy said when asked about his remaining targets for the season. "Performances like the one we had on Saturday, I will look for every single week, and in training as well.
"I've said to them if anybody turns up with a grumpy face on Monday morning, I won't be happy because they've done themselves proud and it's not going to turn it around by being miserable about it.
"They should be proud of themselves, and that's what I would look for in a team that Mick McCarthy is coaching and managing."
PA