[Selhurst Park. Boardroom. Saturday April 14. 20:14 BST.]

I sat with it for half a minute. Then I told them.

"I need the weekend."

Steve nodded once. Slowly. He had been expecting me to say it. The other five had not. Two of the five looked at each other across the table. One of them, the older one in the suit that did not quite fit at the shoulders, looked at his hands. The other two looked at Steve.

"Take the weekend," Steve said.

"Tuesday morning at nine I sit down with you and Jessica and we sign the contract extension."

"You sit down with me and Jessica at nine and we sign the contract extension."

"And after that."

"After that, you tell me what you want to do about the other thing. Wednesday morning, on my desk, in your own words."

"All right."

"Daniel."

"Yeah."

"This stays in this room. You do not tell Sarah. You do not tell Bray. You do not tell Dougie. You do not tell your mother. You do not tell Emma."

I looked at him.

"Steve."

"Yeah."

"Jessica."

He held my eye for a moment.

"Jessica is your representative. Jessica is bound by the same confidentiality you are bound by until the announcement. If you need her in the room on Wednesday morning when you tell me what you want, you tell her on Tuesday after we sign the contract.

Not before. I am asking you for forty-eight hours of professional silence on a board matter that does not become a club matter until I sign the announcement on Wednesday afternoon. Do not tell me you cannot give me forty-eight hours."

"I can give you forty-eight hours."

"Thank you, Daniel."

I stood up. Shook the five hands at the table. Went out. Drove home.

[Dulwich. Saturday April 14. 21:38 BST.]

She was on the sofa when I came in. She had been waiting for me with a glass of wine and a book she was not really reading.

"You took your time."

"I took my time."

"You said you had a meeting with the chairman."

"I had a meeting with the chairman."

"How was the meeting."

I sat down on the sofa next to her. Put my hand on her knee. Did not say anything for a long moment.

"Em."

"Yeah."

"I am going to ask you something. I am going to ask you to not press me on it for forty-eight hours. After forty-eight hours I will tell you. I am asking because I have been asked, and because the asking is reasonable, and because the thing I will tell you on Tuesday afternoon is going to be a thing we talk about properly and not a thing I tell you tired on a Saturday night in stages."

She looked at me.

She did not say anything for a moment. Then she took a sip of her wine and put the glass down.

"All right."

"All right."

"You are not allowed to lie to me. You can tell me there is something you are not telling me. You are not allowed to lie."

"I will not lie to you."

"Then we are fine. Tuesday afternoon."

"Tuesday afternoon."

She picked her book back up. Did not press. Did not ask. I sat there next to her for an hour with my hand on her knee and my head against the back of the sofa, and at the end of the hour she put the book down and told me to go to bed.

I went to bed. I did not sleep until two.

[Beckenham. Monday April 16. 09:00 BST.]

I came in early. Sat in the office for half an hour before Sarah came up. Marcus had left a stack of analysis on Bruno Fernandes on the desk. Two hours of tape edited into a thirty-minute reel by Friday afternoon. Notes in his handwriting in the margins of every page. Outside-foot pass with the right. Late run from the eight position. First touch sets the shot. Picks his moment.

I read it twice. I did not absorb it. I would read it a third time on Tuesday afternoon when there was room in my head.

Sarah came up at nine.

"Daniel."

"Yeah."

"You all right?"

"Yeah."

"You sure?"

"Sarah."

"Yeah."

"I am all right."

She looked at me for a second longer than she needed to. Did not push. Sat down. Opened her iPad. We went through the morning schedule. Light session at ten. Recovery for the lads who had played Watford. Bruno Fernandes tape with Marcus at one for the front three. Set pieces with Bray at half three.

She did not ask me what was wrong because Sarah did not ask. Sarah waited.

I let her wait.

[Beckenham. Tuesday April 17. 08:58 BST.]

Jessica was in the corridor outside my office at five to nine with a leather folder under her arm and the kind of suit she wore for boardrooms.

Steve Parish was at the door of my office at three minutes to nine with a leather folder under his arm and a coffee in his other hand.

The three of us went in together. Sat at the desk. Steve put his folder down in front of him. Jessica put her folder down in front of me.

"Daniel."

"Steve."

"This is the contract extension that the board approved on Friday morning. It runs five years from the first of July 2018 to the thirtieth of June 2023. It is a top-up extension on the existing four-year deal you signed in August, with the original deal still running in parallel until it expires in 2021 and the new extension taking over at that point. The whole thing reads as a single nine-year commitment from this football club to you and from you to this football club."

"All right."

"Jessica has been over it twice with me on the phone yesterday and once again at six o’clock this morning. The terms are the terms we agreed at the board meeting on Friday. The terms are not negotiable today because the negotiation is done."

"Show me."

Steve opened his folder. Slid it across the desk.

[Contract Extension Summary - Crystal Palace FC.]

[Manager, First Team. Daniel Walsh.]

[Duration: 5 years. 1 July 2018 - 30 June 2023.]

[Original 4-year contract (Aug 2017 - June 2021) continues to run in parallel until expiry. Extension commences upon original expiry.]

[Base Salary:]

• Year 1 (2018/19): £5.5 million

• Year 2 (2019/20): £6.0 million

• Year 3 (2020/21): £6.5 million

• Year 4 (2021/22): £7.5 million

• Year 5 (2022/23): £8.5 million

[Signing Bonus: £2 million. Payable on execution.]

[Loyalty Bonus: £3 million. Payable upon completion of the full five-year extension, contingent on continuous employment.]

[Performance Bonuses - Annual:]

• Top-four Premier League finish: £750,000

• Premier League title: £5 million

• Premier League runner-up: £2 million

• Champions League qualification: £1.5 million

[Cup Bonuses:]

• FA Cup / League Cup - Final: £750,000 • FA Cup / League Cup - Winner: £2 million

[European Bonuses:]

• Europa League - Semi-final: £1 million

• Europa League - Final: £2 million

• Europa League - Winner: £4 million

• Champions League - Group Stage: £500,000

• Champions League - Round of 16: £750,000

• Champions League - Quarter-final: £1.5 million

• Champions League - Semi-final: £2.5 million

• Champions League - Final: £4 million

• Champions League - Winner: £8 million

[Development Bonuses:]

• Academy Integration - per player making 10+ first-team appearances: £100,000 (uncapped)

• UEFA Youth League - Quarter-final: £100,000

• UEFA Youth League - Semi-final: £250,000

• UEFA Youth League - Winner: £500,000

[Manager of the Year Recognition:]

• LMA Manager of the Year: £500,000

• Premier League Manager of the Season: £500,000

• FIFA Best Men’s Coach (top 5 finish): £500,000

• FIFA Best Men’s Coach (winner): £2 million

[Historical Trigger Bonuses - one-time payments:]

• First major domestic trophy in club history: PAID (Carabao Cup 2017/18, £500,000 disbursed February 2018)

• First European trophy in club history: £2 million

• First Premier League title in club history: £5 million

• First Champions League appearance in club history: £1 million

• First Champions League knockout round: £750,000

• First Champions League final in club history: £3 million

• First Champions League winner in club history: £10 million

[Termination Clauses:]

• Termination by club without cause: 36 months’ base salary, all unpaid bonuses, and accelerated vesting of all unpaid loyalty bonuses.

• Termination by manager: 6 months’ notice. No release fee payable to club.

• Termination for cause: as defined in clauses 14.3 and 14.4. No severance.

[Total potential earnings in Year 1 alone, assuming Champions League qualification, Premier League runner-up finish, Europa League win, and FIFA Best Coach top-five finish: approximately £18.5 million.]

[Cumulative earnings over the full five-year extension, in a continued-success scenario: approximately £75 million.]

I read it twice.

***

Thank you for 200 Power Stones.