Chapter One: The Red Words on the Severance Agreement

“I don't care whether you leaked anything. Is Kovac worth twelve million?” “Forty.” A two-second silence. “We have four point seven million euros available.” “Then buy him for four point seven.” “Are you insane, or did unemployment make you funny?” Lin emerged into the rain. Water blurred the silver lion on Northcastle's enormous crest. “Give me a seventy-two-hour contract. Salary: one pound. If I fail, you lose nothing. If I succeed, I receive five percent of future net transfer profits and final negotiating authority on football deals.” “What do you offer as security?” “The secret Northcastle is desperate to bury.” Forty minutes later, Lin sat beneath a leaking roof in the chairman's office at Old Dock Stadium.