LAURIE: Be buggered I’ll leave it to you. Listen. I’ve been around here for twenty-seven years and I’m coach of this bloody Club, not the office boy. How are you getting the money?

GERRY: Keep it quiet then. It’s all touch and go at the moment. We had two of the biggest property developers in the country in the members bar last Saturday—

LAURIE: Arthur Mowbray and Dick Tanner?

GERRY: Yeah, and despite what Ted thinks they didn’t get there by accident. I fossicked around and found out that they’re both old supporters so I’ve been courting them, and doing it pretty well even if I do say so myself. Most guys of that age and in their position are looking for an interesting sideline, pastime, hobby—and these two are no exception, except that they won’t have anything to do with us while Ted is President. They haven’t said anything directly but it was quite obvious what they were feeling and I can’t say I blame them. He was fawning on them like a drunken toad on Saturday.

LAURIE: What sort of role in the Club are you planning for them?

GERRY: If we get rid of Ted we can put Mowbray in as Vice-President and make Tanner an honorary life member.

LAURIE: Where’s his twenty-five years active service?

GERRY: We’ll get around that. Shit, Laurie, let’s not be bush lawyers when there’s this sort of money involved.

LAURIE: What sort of money?

GERRY: Two hundred thousand each for starters. If we can’t buy ourselves a premiership with that nobody can.

JOCK: We’ll collect a bit of cash from our sales as well.

LAURIE: What sales?

GERRY: (glaring at JOCK) I was going to discuss the possibility of offloading one or two of our older players who are still looking good but who are just about over the hill.

LAURIE: Such as?

GERRY: I don’t know. I’m just an administrator, you’re the expert. Given that we get Donaldson, Dimisch and Payne, who could we do without?

LAURIE: Tony Harper, I suppose.

GERRY: Hardly worth the effort. His market price is somewhere under five thousand.

LAURIE: Market price?

GERRY: I’ve been making a few enquiries.

LAURIE: They’re men, not pigs.

GERRY: All right. If you want to mince words we’ll call it something else, but the fact remains that there is a market mechanism operating, there is a price on every player and the price on Tony Harper is so low it’s not worth negotiating his sale. The only player we’ve got that has big money on his head is Danny.

LAURIE: We’re not selling Danny.

GERRY: Why not? With the players we’re getting do we really need him?

LAURIE: (angry) Yes of—