Steve Bruce insists he will never take owner Ellis Short and Niall Quinn for granted as they attempt to turn Sunderland into a genuine force.
The 50-year-old last week signed a contract extension which will keep him at the Stadium of Light until the summer of 2014, a ringing endorsement of his reign to date.
Bruce arrived on Wearside during the summer of 2009 and was handed a remit to establish the club as a Premier League fixture after years of rebounding between English football's top two divisions.
Despite a run of four successive defeats which has dented the Black Cats' hopes of a first ever qualification for European football via the league, that task appears to have been largely fulfilled, and the hierarchy is now starting to look to loftier ideals.
Bruce finds himself in an enviable position working for a chairman who both knows the game in general and the club in particular after spending the final years of his own distinguished playing career there, and an owner who has bought into chairman Quinn's vision for future and lasting success.
However, he knows that will count for little if he and his players do not continue to deliver on the pitch.
Bruce said: "I have said it before, with Niall and the owner, the one thing I am not going to do is take that for granted.
"I know we are in a results business and at the minute, I am up against it, so I am not going to take that for granted.
"But they are good people to work for I am very, very fortunate. When I hear stories and see what's happening at other clubs - and I have been in that position as well, let me tell you - then I am very, very fortunate.
"But as I said, I am not going to take that for granted just because we have a working relationship.
"I must get results and try to keep us moving forward."
Bruce had been engaged in talks with the club over his new deal for some time, but insists his decision was an easy one to take with their shared ambition intact.
He said: "It's been unbowed, the ambition is still there. The owner has done remarkable things for the club over the last two or three years and I know he still wants to keep marching one.
"I was delighted to sign the contract and see where we can go in the next three years.
It was very, very easy to say 'Yes'. I am delighted to manage the club.
"It's difficult. It's a difficult job, I knew that, and it's full-on, right in your face day in and day out.
"But I have enjoyed it immensely and I hope we keep on improving because I do believe there has been an improvement.
"It's probably the wrong time to ask me - if you had asked me a month ago...but I think there is an improvement.
"If you look at the squad of players we have to what we had even three or for years ago when Roy (Keane) started on the journey, then for me the club is in a different position to where it has ever been before.
"My job is to keep improving if I can and try to keep us moving forward."
Meanwhile, Bruce revealed that keeper Craig Gordon is to see a specialist in Sweden next week over his troublesome knee injury.
He said: "Craig Gordon is not 100 per cent fit, I have to report that. He's going to see a specialist on Monday.
"He came back from Scotland with a knee injury and it has been niggling away at him. He's away to see a specialist in Sweden on Monday and we will see how he is."
