Dunfermline manager Jim Jefferies says the Pars must gain promotion back to the Championship this season if they are to safeguard their status as a full-time club.
The Pars begin their competitive campaign with a visit from holders Raith Rovers in the Petrofac Training Cup first round on Saturday.
But as the Fife outfit prepare for their second successive campaign in League One, Jefferies says his priority is getting Dunfermline, beaten in the play-off final by Cowdenbeath, back into the second tier of Scottish football.
The East End Park board have managed to support full-time football this term but Jefferies concedes promotion is the minimum requirement.
He said: “You want to go into every cup and do well; it creates interest and money, especially after Dunfermline’s woes of being in administration.
“Everything helps but there is no doubt that the priority is to get promoted this year.
“Everyone was down on the final day when we were beaten by Cowdenbeath but we’ll try to use that as a motivation this year.
“We signed some players very quickly and it’s a record number of season tickets sold at this stage.
“I think everyone was fearing the worst, that we would have to make more cuts and we could have been looking at going part-time but the club have done great to regroup and strengthen.
“And this time we really need to be the ones to go up.
“We have to get up this time, everyone is aware of that and that’s fine.
“That’s what we have to handle, Dunfermline is a big club and we should be in the higher leagues.”
Dunfermline’s failure to achieve promotion is compounded by the prospect of this season’s Championship being the most lucrative ever with Rangers, Hearts and Hibs all in the league.
From a football perspective, Jefferies is philosophical about having another year in League One.
He added: “It might be a wee blessing in disguise that we have another year together.
“Circumstances have affected us over the last couple of years but you also want to go up there and not come straight back down.
“We would have liked to have gone up because of the financial side of it that will be a big help to clubs. We have to make sure we’re there next year.”