This blog is a personal story from my days living and working in London. After I finished school in the summer of 2000, I decided to take some time away from home with my best friend Jonas. Instead of going to India or Australia like everybody else, we decided to go to London. England for us meant football, beers & music – things we both rated higher then cows, smog and surfing. We found jobs on a hotel near Kings cross station, bellboys with a massive £3.20 an hour, but included in that was three meals a day, and a room in the hotels staff house.
We had loads of good times, we saw a lot of football and drank a lot of beer, a perfect ending to three years in business school. Among my favorite moments working in the hotel were the day Bryan Robson came in and asked for directions, obviously I send him the wrong way, another brilliant moment was when Taribo West, the former Inter Milan & Derby player came in and asked if he could rent a room for an hour or three, the fun in the story being the three girls he had brought with him into the reception, we had to turn his offer down though ;)
My very favorite anecdote however includes our current and former chairman. My boss told me that the hotel were going to host an FA conference and that all the Premier League chairmen would attend, so we should be on our best behavior and have complete control. The big day arrived and our hotel was buzzing when the first taxi pulled up in front of the entrance, out stepped Ken Bates (then of Chelsea), I welcomed him to our hotel and was about to show him the way to the suite were the conference were held when he looked at me and said; “Do you know how expensive the taxis are in London, it’s a complete joke”, I was stunned, the man owns more money than I could imagine, and he complains to me, a guy working for £3.20 an hour…Talk about cheap!
Minutes later another taxi pulled up, and the man stepping out from that was way flashier then Ken Bates, the man was Peter Ridsdale. I welcomed him too and congratulated him on signing Rio Ferdinand (Didn’t know at the time we couldn’t afford him), and told him that I was a massive Leeds fan and how pleased I was seeing the team doing so well. He gave me his “Ridsdale million dollar smile” and we talked a bit while I showed him the way to the suite, when we arrived I joked about the Ferdinand transfer and told him that I would gladly have signed for half the amount of Rio, Ridsdale looked at me and said; “Just come to Leeds and give it a go then”, still smiling the Ridsdale way. Once again I was stunned and mumbled something and then laughed and left.
Looking back I think that I should have taken him up on the offer, he paid around £30000 a week to anyone who could kick a ball, and even if my talent is limited I do manage to kick the odd ball around - but then again, if I had been paid that much by Leeds, I would have had part in our downfall, so actually I am quite happy just to tell the tale and not to be at fault for the meltdown that followed Ridsdale.
My days in London were great and filled with fantastic memories, I won’t “bore” you with the rest, but I did feel that the “Leeds” story was worth telling. M.O.T
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