On Championship play-off final day towards the end of May, Richard Keogh wants to look around Wembley and breathe a sigh of relief.
What has become a personal six-year crusade to get Derby County promotion to the Premier League will, he hopes, be over.
First there are the doubters to deal with because Derby are going through what has become as predictable as Arsene Wenger is stubborn: their end-of-season promotion wobble.
It started four years ago when Keogh's mistake let in Bobby Zamora to steal QPR a last minute play-off final win at Wembley.
Derby had been the better team by far and lost. It set a pattern.
They fell away in the promotion race the next season, lost in the play-off semi-finals of 2015-16, dropped out of contention yet again the following year and now haven't won in seven games and automatic promotion is virtually a gonner.
The Rams must beat bottom club Sunderland on Friday night. A kick-start is essential.
“We both need the points,” says Keogh. “Sunderland need them to stay up, we need them to get to where we want to get to.
“It's in our control. Sunderland might fancy it, thinking confidence is low and look to exploit that. But I can tell them we are a good side still. We've just drawn too many games.”
Derby's last win was in the early days of February, 3-0 at home to Brentford. They were second in the table and unbeaten in 11 league games.
But five points out of the last 21 have dropped them to fifth, a point clear of dropping out of the top six and 14 behind second-placed Cardiff.
If you were a doctor you'd say it's repeat syndrome.
Keogh, 31, captain of the club, disputes the whispers, and says the ship is not heading for the rocks again.
“People on the outside will be saying ‘here go Derby again', but that's just the world we live in,” says Keogh.
“Social media, Sky TV, they build it up. They need to talk about something and it builds up into something it's not.
“People can say what they want, but it's us that go out on the pitch, we can determine our outcome. What an opportunity we've given ourselves to win such a massive prize.
“If you are not excited by that, or ready for the challenge, then you shouldn't be at this football club because that is the reality. You are at a big club and the pressures that come with it.
“But surely as a player, as a professional, you want to play in the big moments, play under pressure, your best game and don't be distracted by the noise.
“When I was a boy and going to games, seeing great players on TV, that's why I got into football. I wanted to be involved in big games, be at a big club in order to achieve something great.”
Nigel Clough paid £1m to take Keogh from Coventry and begin a challenge that has become a marathon.
“I was at a great club trying to prove myself,” recalls Keogh. “We finished 10th in my first season which was the highest Derby had been since getting relegated from the Premier League (2007-08).
“I learned more about the club and its potential. To get Derby back in the Premier League was the reason I signed. We narrowly missed out at Wembley and ever since have been fighting tooth and nail to do it.”
Four of the Derby team who played QPR are still playing for them today, Keogh, Andre Wisdom, Craig Forsyth and George Thorne, plus Chris Martin, out on loan at Reading.
“There have been a lot of bumps in the road but hopefully the experience of the team, all of us having seen it and done it in the Championship, it can hold us in good stead,” he said.
Keogh doesn't hide from taking responsibility for leading this latest assault.
Here are his general's medals:
Keogh has captained Carlisle, Leeds, Coventry, Derby and the Republic of Ireland. He was Bristol City's young player of the season 11 years ago and since then he's been player of the year at Leeds, Coventry and Derby (twice), players' player of the year twice at Coventry, twice at Derby and supporters' player of the year.
He's also got in the Championship's team of the season.
Keogh is a central defender by trade, a leader by inclination.
He is still at the front of the battle, having not missed a single minute of any Championship game this season.
Keogh has the platform to talk about how Derby will end the years of hurt this season.
“It has become personal for me,” he says. “When people look back at my career they will remember me for my time at Derby, that's for sure.
“Playing close to 300 games for the club, winning player of the year twice and all that kind of stuff, it's been good for me at Derby, I've achieved a lot of accolades.
“Derby County and me, we have been through a lot together. The personal accolades are nice, a nice pat on the back when people realise the commitment you have made, something to look back on, but for me it's always been about the team.
“That QPR game? Football is a cruel game. We were the better team and we deserved to go up, but sometimes it isn't like that.
“It's learning from it, becoming a better player. Some people are scared to fail, but how you get better is by failing. If you don't go through that then you won't become a better player.
“Better players than me have gone through something like that and bounced back. People were saying this and that, but next season I got voted into the Championship team of the year.
“Listen, I was in tears. That's my character. I am emotional, I play with my heart on my sleeve and I think it's good to show emotion. We are human. If people didn't do something wrong then it would be a boring game.
“It wasn't just me, I was disappointed for the club, my team-mates, everyone around me. That's the kind of guy I am. I go into defence mode for my team, I am the captain.
“I remember John Terry slipping taking a penalty in a Champions League final to win it. It doesn't mean he's a bad player. People can be quite short-minded.
“As a player I lead from the front, I don't shirk anything. It's about having the balls to do it, take the responsibility. I'm quite abrasive, I enjoy that.
“People like me to do the captain's job. I don't think you are born a natural leader, you just have characteristics that make you that way.
“When you put yourself out there you take the brunt of it when it's not going so well. It doesn't matter if it's fair, that's the nature of the beast. But I'll take that and keep it off the younger players.”
Keogh's contract takes him to 2021. The question is will they be his Premier League years?
“It will mean a lot more to me than somebody who has just signed in January and is new to the club,” he added. “I've got that affiliation.
“I've loved every minute, even the tears at Wembley. It's been a nice journey. Let's hope we can finish it off.”
