Nigel Clough says Burton Albion "desperately wanted to stay" in the Championship after their relegation to League One was confirmed on Sunday.
The Brewers' 2-1 defeat at Preston North End sent them out of the second-tier after a two-year stay.
And rubbing shoulders with some of the finest clubs in English football has left the Brewers wanting a taste of more.
But they will have to wait at least another season to have that opportunity after the most dramatic of final-day denouements.
"It's been an unbelievable experience for everybody at Burton," Clough said.
"Nobody ever dreamed that Burton would be in the championship.
"But I think once you get a taste of it, your teams and stadiums, the fifth biggest league in Europe - you want to stay in it.
"We desperately wanted to stay in it today.
"If we can, we'll try to get back.
"Nothing will change in terms of the way the club's run."
In the end, the result at Deepdale relegated Burton regardless of how those fighting it out down at the bottom got on.
Burton were safe with five minutes to play, but with Bolton reversing their fortunes to beat Nottingham Forest 3-2 in a matter of minutes, that left Burton needing a victory.
They went for it late on, as they had done for much of the second half, but it wasn't enough, with Louis Moult's injury-time winner for Preston the final blow.
"We knew Forest had gone 2-1 up with a few minutes to go," he added.
"And then we knew it was 2-2 and then 3-2.
"That changes your mindset with just a few minutes to go.
"That was always going to be, we felt, a problem for us if things changed so late.
"But we were positive all throughout the second half.
"As soon as they went down to 10 men, then we got Darren Bent and Lloyd Dyer on to try to win the game.
"And then that puts everyone else out of it."
Albion had opportunities to put themselves out of sight after Hope Akpan's 63rd-minute equaliser.
Billy Bodin's red card on the 50th minute opened the game up in Burton's favour, but they could not capitalise on their opponents being a man down, with Marvin Sordell among those to be well denied by North End keeper Declan Rudd.
And they were left to rue their missed opportunities, which has been a theme of their season.
"At that point it was go and get one goal," Clough continued when discussing Akpan's equaliser.
"Get one goal and see what happens from there.
"And of course they went down to 10 men - and deservedly so.
"He's (Bodin) handballed it, and he's dived in the penalty area so there's no doubt about the red card
"Just go and win the game, from that point.
"We had to get back into it and get an equaliser which we got.
"And then I thought we had enough skirmishes.
"I thought Marvin had a great header and he's (Preston goalkeeper Declan Rudd) clawed one out of the top corner.
"The only threat we saw coming ahead of that point was corners and free kicks.
"They had a couple on the edge of the box, and Paul Gallagher comes on and he's a big threat.
"But I thought we had enough play and possession to do a bit more to try and get a goal."
