[Wembley. Directors' Lounge. 19:54 BST.]
Steve had been in the same suit since the warm-up. He was at the window looking out over the empty pitch. There was nobody else in the room. The waiter who had been working the lounge had been sent away.
"Daniel."
"Steve."
"Two things. The first one is Ed Woodward had me on the phone at quarter past five and ten past seven."
"All right."
"The number on the table is sixty-two with three add-ons that could take it to seventy-four. Three-year personal terms at one hundred and eighty thousand a week."
"That is more than Mama is on."
"That is twenty-five thousand a week more than Mama is on. They want a meeting in London on Tuesday at three. Just me, Ed, and one of their lawyers. They want it in private. They want it before the announcement of your directorship on Wednesday because they think the directorship narrows the window. They are correct that the directorship narrows the window. They are not getting the meeting."
"Steve."
