The Contract Signing.
The week following our meeting seemed to take a life time to pass but eventually the date came. I started it the same as any. I woke up, had a shave and ate the wonderfully delicious fry up that Emma had cooked. Then I left for Dublin.
I arrived at Richmond Park at around 3pm. I was greeted by Thomas, a few of the club's lawyers and a man that introduced himself as Trevor Croly. He was the assistant manager. He seemed a little anxious to meet me. I assumed it was because he was worried that his job was under threat with a new boss coming in. I immediately put his mind at rest by saying that I was looking forward to working with him.
The five men lead me into the stadium, down a few corridors to a little room where Mr. O'Callaghan sat.
He shook my hand as he stood up. "Good to see you again Stephen. I trust your flight was good." He asked as he sat down.
"Very good. Thank you for the hospitality." I replied sitting at the other end of the table.
"It's the least we could do." Mr. O'Callaghan nodded to one of the lawyers, who proceeded to pull my contract out of a briefcase. My good friend, who was also a lawyer, John Mulholland was present to read it.
"Looks good Ru." John said handing me the contract. I nodded and signed along the dotted line.
"Great stuff." Mr. O'Callaghan said as I handed his lawyer the documents. "I can assure you that you have the full backing of the board Stephen. Ideally we'd like you to finish behind the top two in the league but of course we would be happy just to finish in the top half. Unfortunatly we don't have too much to spend so I'm afraid I've only got £40k to offer you in regards of transfer funds."
"That's okay," I said, "I'm sure I can find a few good freebies out there."
O'Callaghan looked at Trevor with a frown. "I'm afraid that you will have to sell first." He said, "The wage budget is slightly over what we can afford."
"That's totally fine." I said with a smile on my face.
"Brilliant! We will arrange a press conference to officially unveil you as the boss tomorrow. Welcome to the Super Saints." Once again I shook Mr. O'Callaghan's hand and the other's hands and walked out of the room.
As we walked down the corridor, John turned to me. "Isn't going to England and back going to wipe you out?"
"Probably. But it's fine." I replied.
"Why don't you stay at mine tonight? I'm sure Emma won't mind."
"I'll just give her a ring."
After clearing it with the missus, John and myself set off for some late lunch then to his house to get some sleep. I had a busy day tomorrow. I couldn't wait. The 16th of January 2007 was my first official day in charge and my first ever press conference. | 
