With 100 days to go tomorrow until the start of Glasgow 2014, Adam Paker, chief executive of Commonwealth Games England, has described the impending Games in Scotland as the "acid test" for his organisation's wide-ranging regeneration in the wake of Delhi 2010.
And one of the key elements for Paker will be to ensure that new sponsors attracted via the joint marketing initiative between Commonwealth Games England and Glasgow 2014 will have a sufficiently positive experience at the Games to want to extend their contracts with the body.
Commonwealth Games England's Stepping Up strategy has sought to upgrade the organisation in four key areas - developing improved relations with other sports governing bodies, renewing the management structure, building their brand with new sponsors, and, critically, making a success of Glasgow 2014.
"We have made great strides within the last couple of years, but essentially the proof will be in the pudding, and the pudding will be the 2014 Games," Paker told insidethegames.
"Glasgow will be the acid test for us. It's got to be alright on the night. We have to deliver. We have to make it the best possible experience both for our athletes and for our sponsors.
"With 100 days to go, everything feels like it's on track. It has been a four-year plan, and we will be able to evaluate its success once the Games are over."
Speaking to insidethegames in December 2012 at Commonwealth Games England's newly established office in London's High Holborn, Paker - formerly in the marketing area with FIFA, where he created the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup, and then 888.com, where he was instrumental in setting up a major sponsorship of the Snooker World Championship - was happy to contemplate the positive benefits the hugely successful London 2012 Games would have upon another "home" multisport Games two years later.
"As Harold Macmillan once said, 'We've never had it so good'," Paker commented, referencing the speech made in 1957 by the Conservative Prime Minister.
Almost two years on, Paker is happy to confirm that such optimism has been well placed.
"We have definitely benefited from the wave of interest created by the London 2012 Games," he said. "Tickets for Glasgow 2014 have gone like hot cakes.
"The cycling, diving, swimming and athletics events for all sold out very, very quickly. But the demand has not been restricted to marquee sports - we have also sold out the shooting, which will take place near Carnoustie.
"There is definitely some resonance of London 2012. People have experienced once again how hard it has been to get tickets. Some events have had 20-25 applications for every ticket available."
Paker added that another "big plus factor" for the Glasgow 2014 Games was the involvement of the BBC, who will also be providing extensive coverage of the Queen's Baton Relay during the fortnight it will be in England from May 31 to June 13.
"The BBC are keen supporters of the Queen's Baton Relay in England, and the coverage of our team at the Games is going to be first class. They are definitely sending their A team there - Clare Balding, Gary Lineker and many others who were involved in London 2012.
"But looking beyond the London 2012 effect, we are also confident that Glasgow will create its own folklore, and that people will be talking about events and athletes there for many years to come."
Paker said he was "very pleased" with the sponsorship generated in the lead-up to the 2014 Games. "Glasgow 2014 have sold our rights as well as their own as part of a pool offer, and our roster of support now includes names such as BP, Ford, Cisco and Virgin Media.
"We have never before had a roster of sponsors of such quantity and quality.
"We have also accrued some key sponsorships for ourselves. We signed a deal with Kukri on St George's Day last year to supply all our kit for competition, delegations and parades. That is something we have never done in the past. When the public sees Team England on television, or live in the city, they will be seeing a branded look for the whole team. And we have also done a deal with Arena to provide all our swimwear."
In terms of England's aspiration to finishing top of the Commonwealth medals table - something they last managed at the 1986 Games in Edinburgh - Paker remains optimistic, although cautiously so.
"I counsel caution about reading too much into the London 2012 medals table as we look ahead to Glasgow 2014," he said. "Two years have passed, and many of the athletes are different, as are the sports themselves. Some Olympic sports are not in the Commonwealths, and vice versa.
"In terms of overall competitiveness, Australia are going to be bringing a very, very strong team. There has never been such a thing as a weak Australian team at the Commonwealths. But we feel we will be bringing a very strong team as well. We have some big names, and some other names who can be household names of the future.
"We were third at the 2010 Delhi Games behind Australia and the hosts, and we are really looking to do even better than that in Glasgow.
"Given that the official selection process has not yet taken place - the process is due to start on April 23 - and given the normal caveat about fitness, it is looking very good for Team England.
"Although Jessica Ennis-Hill has had a little distraction [she is pregnant], most of the names we were hoping for have signalled their decision to compete in Glasgow. We've already had positive indications from, among others, Sir Bradley Wiggins, Tom Daley, Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee, Max Whitlock and Nicola Adams.
"As far as Mo Farah is concerned, he's obviously got his first marathon in London this weekend so we will have to see how that goes, and he will be making a late decision on how the event fits into his season."
As England prepare to enter a Games set, for the third time in the last 44 years, in Scotland, Paker believes the referendum on Scottish Independence due to be held on September 18 this year has had a profound effect south of the border.
"There is no doubt that the impending referendum has focused our attention on what it means to be English," he said. "I think in international terms there has always been a clear idea of what Scottishness, or Welshness means.
"But I believe there is a very strong sense of identity among English people, and so much of it is rooted in modern ideas of inclusivity, diversity and multi-ethnicity. This is England in 2014. It is very different from England in the last century, and even from England ten years ago.
"I have lived abroad for a lot of my life, and I have experienced perceptions about English people and talk of their 'English reserve'. But there are lots of English people I have met who aren't very reserved at all.
"I think sport helps form our sense of English identity - it brings people together in their support of a team, whether it is the England rugby team, or football team, or Commonwealth Games team. I think if there's one thing that gels our ideas about what it means to be English, from Cornwall to Sunderland, it's sport. It's more about having a sense of collective consciousness."
Recent debate over the severity of UK Sport's "no compromise" funding policy for elite competitors has also, Paker believes, highlighted a benevolent feature of the Commonwealth's quadrennial sporting event.
"I think one of the things which distinguishes the Commonwealth Games from the Olympic Games is the fact that there is a unique blend in the Commonwealths," he said. "Of course there is world class sport - you have Jamaican sprinters, Canadian and Australian swimmers, African middle and long distance runners, and of course you will have a very strong team from England in Glasgow - but there is another side to it.
"The Olympics is all about fastest, highest, strongest, but at the Commonwealths there's a sense that for many of the athletes attending from all around the Commonwealth it's the pinnacle of their career to be at the Games and that it is fantastic that they are going to be there competing.
"Although I am not a big fan of the Friendly Games tag, there is a vital element of that within the Games which you don't find at the Olympics.
"I think from the UK Sport point of view they want to raise competitive standards as much as they possibly can, but there are multiple objectives at a major Games such as we are about to have in Glasgow.
"Clearly we are striving to excel and to enable our elite athletes to be as strong as they can be to do well in the medal table. But we are also being aware of what we can do to inspire people to take up sport themselves.
"That is a large part of what the Queen's Baton Relay is all about. We want people involved to have a go at different sports that will be put on in association with the Relay."
While the Relay route around England has already been released, Paker added that the list of those who would carry the Baton will be announced on April 16.
In the meantime, Paker is adopting a broadly positive attitude to the announcement by the Glasgow 2014 organisers that they will blow up five of the six remaining Red Road high-rise tower blocks in the city as part of the Opening Ceremony on July 23.
The decision has provoked widespread complaint, with more than 17,000 people signing an online protest petition which maintains: "If the flats are not fit for 'human' habitation, the message to the residents (asylum seeking families) in the remaining block is that they are not human enough to deserve decent housing."
Paker commented: "This idea has aroused some quite strong subjective reactions from people. But the 2014 Glasgow Games have been a highly important agent in changing the city and the theme of regeneration has been very strong there.
"The Games are being used to regenerate the city, and I think the idea of getting rid of these tower blocks as part of the Opening Ceremony is a very strong statement of the city's intentions.
"It will impact some people, but in terms of its overall message I can certainly see what is happening there. Hopefully in 10, 20, 30 years' time we will still see the regenerative benefits of these Games."
The same time scale offers the opportunity for England to bid for the Games once again following their triumphant staging at Manchester in 2002. For the Commonwealth Games Federation, which has endured considerable concern about getting anyone to bid for the next Games on offer - the 2022 version - the prospect of a return to the safe hands of England must be tempting indeed.
Paker underlined that England would not seek to become hosts in 2022, but made it clear that the Games were very likely to make a return soon afterwards.
"We are delighted to see that two very strong bidders in the form of Edmonton and Durban have made known their interest in hosting the 2022 Commonwealth Games," he said.
"There has been a question of interest, so it is good to see two very strong, very different kinds of potential bids for those Games.
"Canada has hosted the Games before, and is a known quantity. South Africa has never held a Commonwealth Games - in fact Africa hasn't. So the prospect of the Games going there following the World Cup finals in 2010 is an exciting one.
"We still have very fond memories of Manchester 2002. We would love at some stage to throw our hat into the ring to host another Games.
"At the moment I can't tell you when that will be - we will need to hold consultations with particular interested cities. But the enthusiasm to host another Commonwealth Games is there. We are not going to be involved in bidding for the 2022 Games, but it would be wonderful to hold the Commonwealths again in England.
"I don't think the fact that the Games were in Glasgow in 2014 will be a big influence in any decision about England getting a Games after 2022. Really the reference point for England should be the 2002 Manchester Games rather than the 2014 Glasgow Games.
"And by the time the 2026 or the 2030 Games come along, Glasgow will be in the distant past.
"I think there are other more important issues concerned in England getting to host another Games. The two key ones are to have a suitable city which is really up for hosting the event, and to be assured of Government support for the project. Those are the fundamental issues."
But Paker downplayed the likelihood that England would soon be hosting a Commonwealth Youth Games, which were last held at the Isle of Man in 2011 and will next be hosted by Samoa in 2015.
"I would never rule it out for England," he said, "but there is a feeling that the Commonwealth Youth Games are particularly well suited to smaller members of the Commonwealth who may perhaps not have hosted larger multisport events.
"I think the Commonwealth Youth Games worked very well in the Isle of Man in 2011 and have given the island a very valuable sporting legacy. And Samoa has a great opportunity for showcasing itself in 2015.
"We are convinced of the continuing value of the Commonwealth Youth Games as a vital step up for athletes. The competition has enabled English competitors of the calibre of Jessica Ennis, Louis Smith and Beth Tweddle to establish themselves on the international scene."
One issue high in priority for Commonwealth Games England at Glasgow 2014 will be to ensure social media is used responsibly by England athletes - and to help mitigate any ill effects their athletes might suffer from trolling incidents such as the one which afflicted short track speed skater Elise Christie at the Sochi 2014 Winter Games.
Christie admitted her training between events had been adversely affected by receiving threatening messages - which she believes originated from Korea - following her disqualification in the 500 metres final following a collision with South Korea's Park Seung-Hi.
Her Twitter account has since been deleted.
Paker said that the use of social media during the Games was an area of concern.
"We want our athletes to be tweeting sensibly," he said. "We don't want there to be anything offensive or inappropriate. We have collaborated closely on this issue with the British Olympic Association, and adapted their guidelines in this area. There were some bad experiences for athletes at the Sochi Games with cases of trolling, and we want to avoid this wherever possible. We want to keep a close watch on the social media side of things."
As the 2014 Games emerge with ever-increasing clarity on the horizon, Commonwealth Games England is hoping such attention to detail will pay off for them in all areas of their enterprise.