Not for the first time, Lee Cattermole has reinvented himself this season and the midfielder thinks he and Sunderland will be stronger for it if they can return to the Championship in May.
Before they get back to the nitty-gritty of winning promotion, Sunderland have a day out at Wembley to enjoy, a bonus for a player who doubted if injury would allow him to return to English football’s grandest stage.
Cattermole has added goals to his game this term, scoring more (six) in 2018-19 than his previous nine seasons on Wearside combined. And he believes the mentality of the club is better for a year in the third tier.
“If we come through this season we’ve built such a good culture and core, it’s going to make you stronger when you add (players) again,” says the 31-year-old.
“I think we’re a long way off doing that just yet. It’s going to be difficult, there are going to be changes all the time but I think we’re confident in the form we’ve got at the minute and the squad we’ve got, and the support and everything like that so we’ve got to be confident in the run-in.
“But we’ve got to be a better club if we go back up, we must be.”
The Black Cats have nine games to make up the six-point gap to second-placed Barnsley, who only have six to play, and clinch an automatic promotion spot.
First they have a trip to Wembley for the Football League Trophy final against Portsmouth. It is a bonus for a player worried about his footballing future when he struggled to shake off a long-term injury.
“I had a really bad injury which no one ever mentions,” he points out. “I had a hip injury which bothered me for a long time.
“Last year I might still have been recovering from that. It was a full labral tear.
“I don’t know how long it took me (to fully recover) but I definitely feel better this season than last.
“For a long time I didn’t know what it was. It became too much the season we went down (from the Premier League). I had a hernia operation and it just wasn’t right.
“I couldn’t warm up properly or anything like that.
“Flying over to America I didn’t know I was going to have an operation and when the guy saw me he said, ‘You’ve got to have it done.’ He showed me the size of the tear, which was pretty substantial.
“I’m delighted we found it because it had been going on for a number of years.
“I was determined to get to the bottom of it.
“It’s dealt with.”
It allowed Cattermole to go through his latest Stadium of Light regeneration. Journalists tease the dog of war turned deep-lying playmaker that he has turned into Frank Lampard.
“When I first came with Brucie (Steve Bruce) I had a knee injury in that spell and then the big change was Gus Poyet. I really enjoyed that role and learnt a lot,” he says.
“Big Sam (Allardyce) came in and I went to playing slightly on the right and ran a lot further.”
Bruce and Poyet had plenty of medals to put on the table when they asked Cattermole to change and Allardyce was months from managing England, but all Ross had was a Scottish Championship with St Mirren.
Cattermole has been impressed, though.
“He’s been great, hasn’t he?” he says.
“He’s dealt with a unique situation, really. Maybe Leeds have been through something similar but he came in and was determined.
“He’s been consistent in his messages and he’s very level and one-paced. He just keeps repeating the same sessions, repeating what he wants from us.
“I think he’ll go on to have a great career in management and hopefully as a group we can give him the rewards he deserves.”
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