Scott Parker has vowed Fulham will learn lessons from their mistakes last time in the Premier League and will not make drastic changes.
Left-back Joe Bryan was the surprise hero at Wembley on Tuesday with the first brace of his career sending the Whites back to the top flight with a 2-1 extra-time victory over local rivals Brentford.
It is the second time in three years Fulham have won the Sky Bet Championship play-off final, but they endured a torrid most recent season in the Premier League.
Despite spending over £100million on eight permanent signings plus five high-profile loans ahead of the 2018-19 campaign, the Craven Cottage club shipped 81 goals and finished 19th.
“You can’t build teams with drastic changes and drastic swings of players, you can’t do that,” Parker said.
“This team have been around myself for the best part of 15 months and they’ve improved, improved and improved.
“A lot more improvement needs to be done, for sure, but I am happy with where we are.
“Of course we will need additions, we are going into the biggest league there is and we will need to add, but for sure no drastic changes.”
Parker was one of three managers Fulham used during their most recent stint in the Premier League with both Slavisa Jokanovic and Claudio Ranieri sacked by owner Shahid Khan.
After relative stability between 2000 to 2010, this past decade has seen nine different men in the Craven Cottage hot seat.
Throughout the campaign Parker has spoken about core foundations and, no matter what happens next season, he feels Fulham are in a strong place.
He added: “There were some clear errors made last time and we will learn from that and need to.
“We are going into the best league in the world, the best players and best teams and it is a brutal league.
“I realise the challenge ahead. I don’t want to think about it at the moment because I want to enjoy what we have done so far, but we all understand and will learn from them mistakes.
“What we are trying to build and ingrain in these players and in this football club is core foundations and them core foundations get you far in life.
“You can have as much talent as you want – if you are not building on concrete and you are building on sand it will be the rollercoaster ride.
“I hope we can grow gradually. It will be tough and if we can’t, we have core foundations to fall back on.”
Fulham’s director of football operations Tony Khan tweeted: “We’re back in the Premier League; we worked hard for it!
“Last summer with the scouts & Scott, I worked to assemble a team to get us promoted, we have a great squad now & I promise we’ll work hard again in this window to stay up! Come on Fulham!”
Wembley hero Bryan joined the club two years ago ahead of their return to the top flight.
Thank you all @FulhamFC supporters! We’re back in the Premier League; we worked hard for it! Last summer with the scouts & Scott, I worked to assemble a team to get us promoted, we have a great squad now & I promise we’ll work hard again in this window to stay up! Come on Fulham!— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) August 5, 2020
The ex-Bristol City defender is confident they are better equipped this time.
“Last time we went up, there wasn’t the right mentality in the squad,” Bryan told talkSPORT.
“There were people here who were just happy to be there in the Premier League and not graft, but this time we have a really good, young, hungry squad and a good, young, hungry manager.”
