TED: (exploding) Holy Jesus, Laurie. There’s no need to be totally self righteous. When a football club performs as badly as ours has over the last five weeks, most coaches would be honest enough not to try and absolve themselves of all the blame. It really makes me wonder whether there’s any point to this exercise when I come to you in a spirit of conciliation and you jump down my throat at the first opportunity. I was hurt by what you said about me in the press, deeply hurt. It took all my self control to be pleasant to you when you walked in that door.

GERRY: I think I should tell you that the Committee took a pretty dim view of your press statements, Laurie. If you had any grievances you should have come to us.

LAURIE: The press asked me if it was true I was handing in my resignation, so I said yes, and they asked me why, so I told them.

GERRY: How did they know about your resignation before we did?

LAURIE: I don’t know.

GERRY: Did you tell the players you were about to resign?

LAURIE: Yes. I felt I owed it to them.

TED: You must have known they’d take it to the press.

LAURIE: I thought it was a possibility. I didn’t ask them to.

GERRY: It puts the Committee in a hell of a position when you criticise the Club President in the press, Laurie.

TED: What’s my sin, Laurie? What’s my crime? All I could get out of the article was some vague accusation that I was autocratic. What exactly were you trying to say? That I have opinions? All right. I’m guilty. That on occasions I express them? All right. Guilty again. Just what am I expected to do, might I ask? Go away and hide in a corner? I’m the Club President, Laurie. I was elected by the members to lead this Club and I’ll bloody well lead it, and if anybody tries to stop me I’ll crush them. No, Gerry. I’m sick of pussyfooting around. I’m going to speak my mind. He’s called me autocratic so he just better come up with some evidence.

LAURIE: I wouldn’t know where to begin.

There is a knock at the door and DANNY ROWE enters. He is twenty-eight, small and nuggetty.

TED: What do you want?

DANNY: I want to know what’s happening.

LAURIE: It’s all right, Danny. I can handle it.

DANNY: (to GERRY) The players want their point of view heard before the committee makes any decision about Laurie.

TED: The players can go to hell.

DANNY: They always could as far as you were concerned, Parker, but we’d just like the Committee to know that we’re a hundred percent behind Laurie.