"If your club is right at the top... it filters down into what is a well run club."
The straightforward response given by Sunderland born Mick Harford when asked to describe the blueprint behind Luton Town's promotion to the Premier League, having been a non-league side as recent as 2013-14.
The former Black Cats forward is an influential figure in the Hatters' historic return to the top flight, winning perhaps the most important promotion in the club's history.
Harford was tasked with maintaining Town's promotion bid, when popular manager Nathan Jones left Kenilworth Road to take over at Stoke City back in 2019. The decision to appoint the chief recruitment officer as interim manager proved a masterstroke from Luton's hierarchy, with Harford guiding Luton to the second tier with the League One title in tow, the rest, as they say, is history.
There may be obvious differences between the manner in which Jones and former Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray departed their respective clubs, but there are also similarities in the position Harford found himself, to Beale's initial arrival.
Like the now Sunderland boss, Harford inherited a squad with promotion ambitions, albeit knocked by the departure of their highly respected head coach.
Beale himself has a plethora of talent at his disposal, but hasn't been able to find that winning formula.
In contrast, Harford would win five of his first six games in charge of the Hatters and was given the managerial role until the end of the season, while Beale has had a rough start in his permanent position at the Stadium of Light.
Read more: Beale on striking a balance between development and results
The Black Cats hierarchy will still be been hoping for a similar success story, despite the disappointing points return under their new head coach - with just two wins from his opening seven games in charge.
Harford has watched on from a distance as Sunderland, his boyhood club, look to go one better than last season and follow Luton Town into the Premier League.
Back in his role of chief recruitment officer at the Hatters, the 64-year-old saw Luton edge past the Black Cats in the Championship play-offs last season but still has high hopes for the club he's supported since being a young boy.
"Sunderland are a very good team, very expansive and they play a really good brand of football," Harford exclusively told We Are Sunderland over the festive period.
"The way I judge it is, all the ex-players come back here and enjoy watching the style of football they play.
"It's very expansive with two wide men and get in some great positions. Create loads of chances and it's a very exciting brand of football.
"I just hope that the new manager comes in and continues that brand of football. Some of the work Tony Mowbray has done in the past, I would hate to see that go to waste given where the football club is.
"They're at the top end of the Championship and it's very rare that you lose your manager in that position. It happened to Luton in League One when Nathan Jones left and I took over. We were lying in fourth or fifth and eventually won the league."
The Hatters defeated Sunderland 3-2 on aggregate to secure their place in the Championship final and set up their date with destiny under the Wembley Arch.
"I thought it was a really tight game in the play-off semi-final," Harford said. "We knew we had to do something different at Kenilworth Road and we did, we changed our style of play drastically.
"We got balls in the box, put Sunderland under pressure and I'd say deservedly won over the two games. It was a really, really hard game at the Stadium of Light.
"Whenever you go there, you know you're going to come under pressure and it was a really difficult game."
Born in Sunderland in February 1959, Harford took his first step into the professional game, joining Lincoln City from local side Lambton Street Boys Club.
He would become one of the most feared strikers in the Football League with fruitful spells at the Imps, Birmingham City and Luton Town.
Now a legend at the Hatters, Harford has helped oversee the club's rise from the Conference into the Premier League - the odds of us witnessing a club complete a similar feat will be highly unlikely.
"We're very diligent and we have our way of doing it," Harford said. "We're Luton Town. We like to be us, we'll do it our way and won't change whatever happens.
"We believe it's the right way. It's been successful so far. We try and sign good players, good footballers but good people who try to fit into the environment and the way the club is run, how we like our players to behave and it's massive that we bring in the right types."
Over the festive period, interim Sunderland boss Mike Dodds namedropped Luton as an example to follow, with both clubs not boasting the biggest budgets in the Championship.
Dodds told We Are Sunderland: "I've said this before and I mean this really respectfully in terms of the other clubs that have gone up - I use Luton as an example, a positive example - people will say our budget is not as competitive as some of the teams in the league.
"Luton have done it, there'll be other teams that have done it, so why not us?"
Clubs with the biggest budgets in the Championship have historically gone on to win promotion to the top flight, but the competitive nature of both the top flight and the second tier, means clubs are now looking for a more sustainable approach.
Gone are the days a newly promoted side could spend over £100million on new players - Fulham back in 2018/19 spring to mind.
Sunderland have stressed the need for a sustainable approach, with life in League One a clear reminder of how a slack financial approach can quickly come unstuck.
"We can't do that," Harford said when asked about buying survival in the top flight. "We have a different model to teams who come into the Premier League from the Championship.
"Look at Burnley, look at Sheffield United, they spend millions and we can't do that. We have to be very diligent in terms of how we spend money and the players we bring in to our football club.
"We have to sell them the dream and the dream is to come to our football club, make us better and try and keep us in the Premier League. We've worked very hard to get there and we're going to continue to work very hard."
The Black Cats have difference obstacles in their path and don't necessarily have to sell players the dream of playing for the club, but there's plenty of clubs with their own ambition to reach the Premier League, with different approaches and blueprints across the 24 clubs.
Sunderland's board have stressed the importance of sticking to a long-term plan, and so far, there's been year-on-year improvement which only strengthens their claim. However, the past few weeks have been a real rocky spell for the club both on and off the pitch.
It hasn't always been plain sailing for Luton on their rise to the top flight, but Harford believes if a club is right at the top, at board level, then the rest will all fall into place.
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"I am a Sunderland fan and have been all my life but I work for Luton Town," he added. "Seeing them rise through the leagues, it's sensational what we've done and what we've achieved.
"Going from the Conference to the Premier League. It's immense and done by hard work and diligence.
"In my humble opinion, if your club is right at the top - which is the board, our 2020 board [at Luton], our CEO Gary Sweet and the board are football fans of the club, they take care of the club and they're brilliant, the top is good - it filters down into what is a well run club."
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