Possibly the most trotted out question prior to the Sunday play-off final at Wembley was the one which asked whether or not the players would handle the occasion but, having seen how the semi-final double-header had been dealt with, it was arguably a subject that hadn’t needed to be raised in the first place.
“The group handled the occasion really well and I think that shows their personalities, character and togetherness they had,” manager Paul Simpson said. “They’re all really hard to manufacture and hard to create but the players have done it all.
“We’ve tried to create the environment and make small steps to improve everything. When I say ‘we’, I mean my staff, and the whole football club staff.
“The media team have tried to take a step up and improve things, the hospitality have tried to improve things, Stef in the shop is absolutely flying with sales, Louise in the ticket office has done brilliantly, Sarah and Suzanne on the organisational side of things.
“Everybody has been fantastic. The challenge when I came back in was - can we actually make things better - and we sit here today and I don’t think anyone can doubt that we’ve all made it better. It’s about going again and making it even better now.
“That’s what we’ve got to try and do over the summer. There are still lots and lots of things that need to be better that I would hope we can make better. I don’t know whether we can, but we’ll keep working as hard as we possibly can.
“Whenever the decision is made that I have to leave this role I’m in now, I hope I’m leaving everything in a much better place.”
So what was his final message to the group when he got them together for one last time on Tuesday?
“All I said to them was well done, enjoy your break, and make sure you come back ready to go again on 28 June,” he revealed. “We’ve got a brilliant challenge ahead and we’re going to have to be better than we were this year.
“That’s what I want them to do, whatever they’ve given me this year, when they come back for pre-season I want even more.
“I don’t believe they’ve given everything, I think there’s more to come. Maybe I’m being a little bit greedy or pushy, but they have to be better because we’re going to a better level against better clubs. We’ve got to improve as well.”