The Press Association wires carried the news late on Sunday evening that Stuart McCall had turned down Sheffield United's offer. Others followed and by Monday morning our man's decision featured on all the sports pages. All that was missing were any quotes or confirmation from the man himself or from either club.
It is a rare thing for anyone involved in football to turn down a salary rise in preference to job satisfaction and there must be great satisfaction in the corridors of Fir Park at the reported decision. It says lots for the players, directors and other staff at Motherwell that the relentless flow of talent south of the border was declined on this occasion.
We should not assume that McCall's decision guarantees that he'll serve out his two year contract extension in full. There will be other temptations possibly before the start of the new season but, for the moment, there will be a collective sigh of relief all over Lanarkshire that he has decided to stay.
Now that we know that our season will start on Thursday 1 August plans for pre-season can be activated. Had Hibs produced a surprise result at Hampden we would have been on Europa League duty on July 18. The players will have some extra time to recover from the 45 game season just passed and the manager will have an extra fortnight to fill the gaps as players move on.
In the meantime - Stuart, thanks for your decision and you'll be guaranteed the backing of Motherwell fans....at least until the first dip in form in the new season!