Roy Keane will resume the battle for Barclays Premier League points tomorrow grateful for the time he is being given to prove himself.
It would be easy to forget that the 36-year-old has only been in management for less than 15 months after accepting chairman Niall Quinn's offer to launch a new phase of his career on Wearside.
Promotion from the Coca-Cola Championship as champions at the first attempt served notice that his talent on the field was matched by the capacity to assemble, organise and motivate a team off it.
This time around, however, the Black Cats have inevitably found life in the top flight a lot tougher despite the investment of around £36million in the squad during the summer.
But at the end of a week which saw Steve McClaren, the man who was at Sir Alex Ferguson's side as Keane led Manchester United to their unprecedented treble in 1999, become the highest profile managerial casualty this season, Keane heads for Everton tomorrow confident he will be given the time enjoyed by opposite number David Moyes to put his blueprint into action.
He said with a smile: "I've got another 24 hours in the job — I've definitely got until Saturday.
"You want stability at any club, but the bottom line is sometimes you don't get that time.
"If you look at the clubs out there outside the top four who have had a bit of success, the Portsmouths, the Blackburns, the Evertons, they have built nice and steadily.
"That shows what can happen if you are given that time. Sometimes you are not, and that's part of life.
"I am very confident that if I am to see out my contract here, we can make progress.
"Whether I get that time and I stay another 10 years, who knows?"
Moyes is a classic example of a manager who has enjoyed the patience of his club's hierarchy to reward them in fine style.
Now in his sixth full season at the helm, he has secured top-six finishes in two of the last three and twice delivered European football with only one major scare in his second campaign at Goodison Park.
Keane said: "He has been given that time. He has had three or four years to build a very good squad and he has done very well.
"You look at the likes of Tim Cahill — a lot of clubs were looking at him, but David went out and got him. They are all signs of a very good manager."
Everton currently sit ninth in the table, some seven places and 10 points better off than tomorrow's opponents, who are without a league win in seven attempts despite some near misses.
