The End is Nigh
When I was finally called into Brother Allred’s office, I had a fair idea why. It wasn’t hard to see. For weeks he had been avoiding me and either passing me terse notes via his assistant or sending Sister Allred to talk down to me. Now the moment had finally arrived the moment of reckoning.
When I was let into the owner’s suite it was all business.
“I won’t ask you to sit down Nigel, it’s not really that kind of meeting. I’m sorry it’s come to this, but the franchise is going nowhere. We are losing games in ever increasing numbers year after year. I know you’ve been good and sorted out our financial woes, I was very pleased to actually get a profit this year, but it just isn’t enough. El Paso has become like Wichita before, the laughingstock of the BBA and it just can’t go on. I do appreciate all you’ve done here and your fiscal restraint over the last five years which is why we are having this meeting face to face rather than you just receiving a note. As you may surmise, we are dispensing with your services, we have reached the point of no return. I have been looking around the league for other options and indeed other leagues, as quite frankly no-one in the BBA would touch us with a bargepole. I have now made my decision and hired young, up & coming GM Rich Young to be year replacement. And just as a token of my appreciation for your five years of hard work I have spoken to the owner, Abdul-Alim Mufeed, of Mr Young’s former team, the expansion Riyadh Red Crescents of the Unified Middle Eastern Baseball Association, and he has agreed to take you on as their replacement GM. I know you came to us from Cairo of the UMEBA so you will have no worries about working there again. So, that’s it. Thank you for five years of 100 win losses and I wish you better luck over in Saudi Arabia.”
And that was that, the door was shown. I was no longer required once more. It wasn’t the first time in my long GM career which started way back in 1995 with the former Omaha Barnstormers franchise as the MBBA opened it’s doors again after a long hiatus and I probably guess it won’t be the last in my career as a GM in the Brewster, the European Baseball Association and the Unified Middle Eastern Baseball Association. One more office to pack up, one more flight to book and yet another place to learn about.
My best wishes to Mr Young, he’ll need it in this job. No doubt we’ll pass each other in the airport, him arriving with a spring in his step and me shipping out to yet one more job. I’m not a very good GM and I’m certainly not the faithful servant type, I thought I’d found my resting place here, but it just didn’t work out. So, onwards to Riyadh and hopefully better luck.
