As the dust settles after Glasgow we look back with real pride and affection on an event that truly breathed renewed life into the Commonwealth Games movement.

Topping the medals table for the first time in 28 years with a total of 174 medals is a great achievement for Team England - it's a great testament to our athletes and their ability, we are very proud of them.

Of course the full venues, huge media interest and a sense of celebration owed much to the success of London two years ago - but these Games have delivered a their own unique feeling of togetherness and Civic pride for Glasgow and Scotland and everything reflected that. Seeing the reaction of erstwhile Team GB colleagues celebrating together and rapturous crowd reactions to all athletes was an inspiration and the friendliness of the Scottish people stole our hearts.

Our team, a mixture of established stars like Bradley Wiggins, Tom Daley and Greg Rutherford along with breakthrough talent like Claudia Fragapane, a history maker as the first woman to win four holds at a single Games since 1930, Anthony Fowler in boxing, Jade Jones in the T54 wheelchair 1500m, Ben Proud in swimming and Jodie Williams in 200m to name just a few, will all have learned so much from being around a multi sport environment.

England's team for Glasgow 2014 was a mixture of established talent and fresh faces ©AFP/Getty Images



We were asked how we felt Team England would be received in Scotland, and in truth we were not sure. In the end the famous Hampden roar and Scottish friendliness was inspirational, so well done Glasgow.

So how did we come from third to top of the medals table after Delhi 2010?

Of course success has many parents but failure is an orphan. For us organisationally after 2010 we set out to up our game in every way that we possibly could, building on what happened in 2012 that did so much to up everyone's awareness of the need to do things better. What we were keen to do was to surf that wave of success from London and look across everything we did and see how we could support the athletes more.

Central to it was working extremely closely with the various Governing Bodies, forging a relationship with them and setting up systems to forge a team culture through the talented network of Team Leaders across the 17 sports. We had four Team Leader meetings and numerous workshops and communication over a series of different meetings including briefings in the Athletes' Village in Glasgow.

Systems put in place ahead of the Commonwealth Games produced the results, with England topping the medals table for the first time since 1986 ©Getty Images



All the way through the process we made the event athlete focused, bringing their voices into our approach and looking closely at what they need the most.

The kit deal signed with Kukri in April 2013 was a step change in how we kitted out our athletes. Over the summer of 2013 we undertook an unprecedented number of sizing sessions. Every athlete received kit exactly right for them. It was a new approach and was appreciated. Kukri were strong

The fundamental Village innovation was the Performance Centre. In Glasgow we provided a bespoke diagnostic and treatment space for Team England athletes including a full medical facility, a physio room, an ice bath room and cycling training gym. These were totally new facilities for us and showed the range of our ambition and detail that we were just not able to do previously. They were well used and effective. The whole facility was. Everything was centred on professionalising all aspects of our approach.

The Club House situated at the Belevedere Bowls club close to the Village was a hub for friends and family of the athletes during the downtime of the Games. It also served as a place where non-rights media could go.  Marks and Spencer supplied our food and the clubhouse worked as a venue

Team England was steered brilliantly by our Chef de Mission Jan Paterson, ably supported by her deputy Chefs Graeme Dell, Hilda Gibson and Don Parker, all of whom had multi Games experience along with Claire Furlong in team media relations and Mo Diprose in commercial operations.

Working closely with them were communications, commercial and events teams keeping the media sponsors stakeholders and our organisation happy. But our greatest pride is in the performance of our wonderful massively talented athletes  - this promises well for the next four years in which Rio and the Gold Coast will be tremendous opportunities.

Sir Andrew Foster is the chairman of Commonwealth Games England.