While that spot may have exceeded his critics' initial expectations, he is resisting the temptation to gloat, and says: "It was satisfying, you have to say that, but we don't want to get carried away.
"Seventh spot is evidently the fourth highest the club has finished in the top division in modern history - I think we had a third with John Lyall, a fifth with Harry Redknapp and a sixth with Ron Greenwood.
"When we look back on the big picture from the start to the end we have got to be pleased - we saw progress with lots of the players, and I think you could easily argue that the majority of the players that played in the first team the season before performed better in the season just gone.
"Last year was a disappointing season after three terrific years, so the satisfying thing is that we got the team going in an upward direction.
"Quite often when a team has such a poor season that run continues - look at Leicester, who unfortunately were relegated after a poor end to the previous season.
"But none of us are going to get carried away because there is nothing to get carried away about - there is a lot of hard work to be done during the summer, lots of reminders to make sure we don't take our eye off the ball.
"An example of that is Ipswich, who qualified for the UEFA Cup and then got relegated, and, as I mentioned, Leicester had had four or five good seasons under Martin O' Neill before going down.
"Sunderland had two seventh spot finishes and then needed the last game of the season to stay up. There are no guarantees in the Premiership and you normally end up where you deserve, give or take a few points."