perhaps the shortage of suitable experienced SFO's to upgrade is showing that policy to have been flawed
You are not kidding! Ryanair were very mistaken if they ever thought that you could turn every 21 year cadet who passes selection, line training and flies 3000 hours into an airline captain! Whatever the inherent value of Ryanair's SOPs and quality of recurrent training, there is plenty of poor raw material in the ranks - especially of late. Dare I suggest that the ratio of wheat to chaff will further increase as the few SFOs with the flying aptitude, maturity and personality for the captain's seat escape the company?