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Manager Enzo Maresca has already set his team their target for the new campaign, with City’s place in the top flight secured by Leeds’ surprise loss to QPR on Friday night. And returning the club to their previous glorious heights is not an option for the Italian.

City finished in the top half for five straight seasons before their relegation, a run in which they also won the FA Cup and reached a European semi-final. Only a couple of years earlier, they won the title.

But those are just memories and not the reality of the club, Maresca has said. Maintaining their Premier League status will be the aim, and it could be a tough ask given they are expected to be handed a points deduction for a Profit and Sustainability rules (PSR) breach.

Maresca said those financial issues, which led to drama in the January transfer window as a deal for Inter Milan’s Stefano Sensi falling through and could yet see City sell players in June as they look to avoid a second breach of PSR, have been a difficult part of the season. But the toughest aspect has been the battle against the perceptions in the squad and the fanbase that City are better than the Championship.

“You have to convince the players this is a club that cannot survive in the Championship,” Maresca said on Friday, before City’s promotion was confirmed. “You need to win. Then the January transfer window was not easy. The financial problems has not been easy.

“After one year in this club, if you ask me, I can give you my opinion. In the last history of this club, this club achieved important things. So the memory of the people is about winning the Premier League and winning the FA Cup.

“So now you are Championship, so the reality has been tough for the players, but also for the fans. In the moment, if we get promoted, people that still think about the Premier League or the FA Cup or the things this club achieved, it’s good to have in the memory but the reality is completely different.

“In case we get promoted, next year, the target is not the Premier League, the target is not the FA Cup. The target has to be to maintain, to avoid the relegation.

“So far after one year, too many people have still fresh in their mind the things this club achieved. I understand that to switch from that to the relegation is not easy. Probably it has been the most difficult thing.”