I watched a bit of the 2007 Derby vs Albion play off final last night as it was re-run on Sky. I could only take it up to the Derby goal tbh (arghhh) but it did remind me that Derby were very organised, solid and workmanlike (with Big Dave at the back) and we had an absolute quality midfield and forward line. We could only dream of having Greening, Koren, Koumas and Gera as our midfield today. Philips up front! The defence was poor (Sodje and McShane as RB) but at the end of the day, most of that Albion team went on and trounced the championship the season after playing wonderful football.
Today, we're more Derby (07) than Albion (07). Until we overhaul our midfield completely and do away with the remnants of the Pulis' midfielders.
The point on this thread though is, you don't need to be that great to get promoted from this division but you need to be solid, tight at the back and hard to beat as a minimum - we and many others have proven it over the years. Good luck to Sheff Utd and others who are adopting this approach, it obviously works.