Scott Carson insists both he and West Brom return to the Barclays Premier League this season with a point to prove.
The goalkeeper, who was handed the captain's armband upon Roberto Di Matteo's arrival last summer, was part of the Albion side most recently relegated from the top flight in 2008-09.
The experience was an all too familiar one for the club who have never hung around for long in England's elite over the past eight years - suffering the dreaded drop three times and promotion from the second tier a staggering four.
But they are keen to make their swift stays a thing of the past and Carson hopes he can play his part in the club's steady rise, rebuilding his stock in the process.
Liverpool snapped up the now 24-year-old from Leeds in 2005 but he failed to nail down a regular first-team place, resulting in loan spells at Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton and Aston Villa.
By the time of his return to Anfield in the summer of 2008 Carson had slowly steered off course, not helped by an error-prone reputation, and his subsequent £3.25million transfer to The Hawthorns ended in misery 10 months later as Albion were relegated.
But he is back in the big time and asked whether he has unfinished business, the keeper said: "Yes, definitely. Most of the football that I've played in my career has been in the Premier League and everyone wants to play there.
"I want to try and cement this club as a Premier League side and cement myself as a Premier League goalkeeper for the next six to 10 years.
"We're one of the clubs that have this yo-yo tag and, as a group of players, we want to play at the highest level and that's the Premier League.
"So we want to try to end this tag."
Carson's competitive England debut was one he would rather forget as England's Euro 2008 dream lay in tatters on a rain-soaked Wembley pitch against Croatia, during which he was at fault for the opener in the 3-2 defeat.
His next cap came in November 2008 under Fabio Capello when he was involved in a mix-up with John Terry which led to Germany's equaliser in a friendly in Berlin.
But Carson is now a more assured goalkeeper and, having being denied an international call-up last October due to injury, he sees an opportunity to force his way into the England reckoning, especially considering events at the World Cup in South Africa.
"I'm pretty confident this season if I can play well and consistently then hopefully I've got a chance of getting back in the England set-up, which is what I want to do," he added.
But first and foremost, Carson is focused on matters with West Brom.
And that includes competing in a top flight which includes West Midlands neighbours Wolves, Aston Villa and Birmingham together for the first time since 1983-84.
"It's going to be a good season," he said.
"The derbies are going to make it that little bit more special and the big games are what the players want to play in.
"There's six big games. Hopefully that will spur us on and we can stand up to the challenge and get some wins out of those games."
He added: "First and foremost, we've just got to think about avoiding relegation.
"But we've got to take heart from the way Birmingham and Wolves did. If we can stand up to the challenge and be counted then I think we shouldn't be too far away from those sides.
"It's about us having the fight and I think that's what we missed last time."
