We knew the Football Association were really intent on England winning the 2014 World Cup, because Steve Peters turned up.
He had been British Cycling’s psychiatrist since 2005, and nine years later it was impossible to be taken seriously in British sport without a graduate from Sir Dave Brailsford’s academy on the firm.
It was much the same in the build-up to the 2015 Rugby World Cup when the RFU employed Matt Parker, formerly cycling’s head of marginal gains, to boost the chances of Stuart Lancaster’s team.
Of course, back then, we thought marginal gains meant transporting hypoallergenic mattresses around the French countryside for a better night’s sleep, not flying in mysterious Jiffy bags full of who knows what, but the last year or so has been an eye-opener for many who bought into all this pseudo-scientific wisdom.