Danny Searle says the "only option" for Waterford is to target automatic promotion after missing out on a spot in the SSE Airtricity League Premier Division at the final hurdle of last season's playoffs.
The Englishman took over a few weeks after Ian Morris' April 2022 departure and the Blues finished the season strongly in the second tier as well as reaching the FAI Cup semi-finals.
But after navigating their way to a promotion/relegation play-off final against UCD, it was the Students who prevailed and retained their Premier Division status at the expense of Waterford.
Searle remains in charge at the RSC and speaking to RTÉ Sport at the launch of the new League of Ireland season in Dublin's City Hall, the former Aldershot Town manager was blunt about where the club needs to get to by the end of this campaign.
"That's the only option and it's not being involved in it, it's getting promoted. That's the only option," he said.
"We have to do the work on and off the field to make sure we create the best opportunity for ourselves to do that."
Searle, who will be working closely with former Republic of Ireland striker Jon Walters who has taken on the technical director role at both Waterford and sister club Fleetwood Town, believes the foundations from last season will be vital going forwards.
"It's an interesting one because when I came in, the club was in an interesting position, not just from a league position perspective but the whole environment," he said, adding that he was pleased with how the players he inherited bought into his ideas.
"We made great progress and I think if you said to us that we would get to an FAI Cup semi-final and get to the play-off final, most people would have said that's great success from where we were.
"Obviously with the progress we made in getting there and not getting over the line, it was a huge disappointment. But that soon turned into fuel for the fire because we need to make sure we're not in that situation again this season."
'It's not just a harvest farm where we're bringing in players just to facilitate Fleetwood'
Creative talents like Phoenix Patterson and Junior Quitirna - the latter immediately going out on loan to Altrincham - have both gone onto the books of Waterford owner Andrew Pilley's other club, Fleetwood in English League One since last season ended.
But the relationship between the two joint-owned clubs means Waterford have been able to loan players from The Fishermen for the coming season.
"Not to dismiss any confusion but Andy (Pilley) wants to win the league and he's put in any resource in place possible to make sure we do that," said Searle.
"So it's not just a harvest farm where we're bringing in players just to facilitate Fleetwood. He's been quite clear on that.
"Junior wasn't going anywhere. He was staying. Unfortunately, for visa issues, that's not been possible.
"Phoenix was always going to go if we weren't promoted and he deserved to go and make that move.
"But (Pilley) has invested the squad and the relationship between the clubs, the whole family - there's five clubs in that family - has been fantastic since we've come into it and it only bodes well for the long-term future of Waterford."
Searle has also signed players with experience of his philosophy of the game including American-born defender Giles Phillips from Aldershot who was sitting next to his manager during the conversation with RTÉ Sport at City Hall.
"I've got quite a clear philosophy on how I want the team to play and the likes of Giles who I've worked with before not only understand that but they've got the technical and tactical understanding and capabilities to come in and implement that," he said.
"We need to add a little bit more experience in the sense of being in big games which Giles and some of the others bring. But the big thing for us was we were able to retain most of the squad from last year that were successful and what we've added with the boys from Fleetwood has been a bonus."
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
Searle will mark a year in Irish football on 14 June but what have his impressions of the League of Ireland been since arriving from a nation where soccer is an industry and the number one sport?
"There's definitely an element of acclimatisation. It's different," he admitted.
"It's a country where football's not the main sport so being from England, we're not used to that."
"The whole world revolves around football in England and for me it's been interesting trying to deal with the dynamics of that.
"However, the passion of the coaches and the managers that we've played against and the sort of pride in players playing for their local side and being involved in that as well as the competitive element of the league, it's been brilliant. It's been a great experience so far and one that I'm hoping bears its fruits at the end of the season."
Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
