This was why I had bought a football club and now we were there, amongst the purported big boys. We had reached the promised land of football and I was now the youngest ever owner of a Premier League football club. Unfortunately my jar of honey was topped up with vinegar. Literally less than a week after promotion 121 succeeded in claiming back in excess of £4.5 million off me. My lawyers heralded this as a victory as the original claim was for £6.5 million. They appeared to forget that I had paid them £1 million in fees to save a further million. Following the conversation with Dowie after the play-off final win I made a conscious decision to improve our relationship. I formalised his brother Bob’s role with the club. I respected Bob’s football knowledge and as his background was in commerce, he knew about the business side of things. I made him director of football, and he was to become a conduit between Iain and myself. His first task was to look at player recruitment for the ensuing Premier League season.
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