Chapter Two: The One-Pound Club

“Pay all arrears, the first tax instalment, and the league bond, and we have under sixty thousand. Seven weeks at current costs. Three if we repair the stand.” “Pay the wages first.” “The league doesn't require full settlement today.” “The staff have financed this club with eleven weeks of their lives.” Mara watched him, then opened the banking portal. At six, seventeen players, four employees, and Oscar received every unpaid penny. The squad chat filled with question marks. Someone asked if it was a banking error. Ten minutes later, Lin entered the dressing room as owner for the first time. Only eleven players had come. Captain Gary Nolan, a thirty-four-year-old centre-back who repaired boilers by day, sat with folded arms.