ENZO Le Fee took a punt when he left the capital of Italy and the Serie A giants of Roma to move to the Championship.
By the time Florent Ghisolfi followed suit a few months later, Sunderland were in the Premier League, but it was still a bold move for a young executive who was very much sought after and one of the most highly-rated in Europe.
This was a time when sides that went up went straight back down. In the two seasons prior to last term, the three teams that had gone up to the Premier League had dropped back into the second tier at the first time of asking. The gap, it seemed, was bigger than ever. And Sunderland, let's not forget, had finished 28 points behind automatic promotion winners Leeds United and Burnley.
Unsurprisingly, the Black Cats were installed as favourites to go straight back down. And then what for Ghisolfi had that been the case? It would have been a long way back to the top.
But the Frenchman knew what pundits, outsiders and even supporters didn't. He'd sat with Kyril Louis-Dreyfus, he knew the vision, he felt an alignment with the values of Sunderland - the club and the city. And he welcomed a challenge.
Back in his early days as a sporting director, Lens were written after winning promotion to Ligue 1. The expectation was they'd go straight back down. Instead, they finished seventh. Then came the predictions of second season syndrome. They finished seventh again. The third year they finished second.
Nobody is predicting Sunderland will have a title tilt next season, of course, but the mantra of Ghisolfi's time on Wearside so far has been no limits. Tonight, the Black Cats play in the Europa League.
"I'm proud, I'm happy. It was not an easy choice to come from Roma in a promoted team. Now it's easy to say, ‘Yeah, it was," laughs Ghisolfi.
"I'm very proud to see the people here, because I like this city a lot, I like the people. They are honest. The club is the lighthouse in this city.
"So to see the club and the people happy is something good. It's always fragile, we have to work well, we have to give everything. We have to be connected all together. But I'm very proud about this journey."
It says everything about the standards being set at the top at the Stadium of Light that in the immediate aftermath of Sunderland's brilliant final day win over Chelsea last term that secured Europa League football, emotions were somewhat mixed for Ghisolfi. Of course he was thrilled and incredibly proud, but there was also "frustration" because he felt - knew - it could have been even better for Sunderland. The message, then, was clear: finishing seventh last term doesn't have to be and won't be the high point for the Black Cats. They can go again, they can keep building, keep improving. But targets aren't necessarily set.
"The ownership, me and the manager, we don't create expectations," said Ghisolfi, ahead of Wednesday night's opener against AZ Alkmaar at the Stadium of Light.
"We don't also set an objective to the team to target, never. We just ask to be the best version of Sunderland and to do our best.
"Last season shouldn't be a pressure. It's done, it was an amazing season, now it's a fantastic challenge because we have the Europa League also.
"We are calm. We will be calm when we lose, we'll be calm when we win. If we can win against AZ, we'll be proud, we will be Sunderland.
"We won't ask to win or to draw, we will ask only to be Sunderland, to be connected with our crowd, and just to be proud at the end. This is our philosophy at the moment."
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