Bolton Wanderers manager Steven Schumacher says keeping the club in the Championship in the forthcoming season would be a success.
The Trotters beat Stockport County 4-1 in the League One play-off final in May to secure promotion to the second tier in what Schumacher described as a day the fans will “remember for ever”.
But the 42-year-old said the focus immediately turned to Championship survival within 48 hours of lifting the trophy at Wembley Stadium.
“Literally on the Tuesday morning, we were straight into a recruitment meeting about what the list now looks like for the Championship,” Schumacher told Radio Manchester.
“It dawned on us then, this is going to be a challenge and this is what we’ve got to try and do better as a club to improve and keep trying to push ourselves to get to the next level.”
After seven years outside the Championship – including one season in League Two in 2020-21 – Schumacher said Bolton now “just need to try and establish ourselves”.
“If we can sustain ourselves at this level next year, I think that is a success,” he said.
“We’re coming into it with not an unbelievable budget. We’ll come in as one of the lower budgets in the league.
“So we understand the task at hand, the level and the step up to play in the Championship and to compete week in, week out is really difficult.
“For us, we just need to understand where we’re at and securing Championship status will be, I think, a realistic opportunity.”
Bolton have already signed two players in the summer transfer window, bringing in defender Ben Davies from Rangers and Scotland Under-21 midfielder David Watson, but released centre-back George Johnston, who has since signed for Luton Town.
“The most important thing is that we get a squad that’s capable of competing at this level,” Schumacher said.
“So whoever we bring in, we can’t afford to waste any money. We don’t have that luxury. So we need to make sure that we get our recruitment strategy right.”