The first Sean Dillon heard he was about to embark on what would be a long, and continuing, career in Scottish football was a bolt from the blue.
And he was told it would see him wearing dark blue.
Almost 10 years on, the Dundee United captain remembers it all like it was yesterday.
It came at the end of a successful, but eventful, year with Irish League side Shelbourne.
“It was my first, and only, year with Shels and we’d won the league on the final day,” he recalled.
“It was a great season and the dressing-room at Shelbourne was a great place.
“There were a lot of good experienced players and, at 22, I was the youngest member of the team.
“Pat Fenlon was the manager and I really enjoyed working with him.
“But there were problems at the club. We were supposed to be paid on a Friday but that hardly ever happened.
“Some weeks you got part of your money and the rest of it would come on the Monday, or even later. Other times, you didn’t get anything at all.
“At the end of the season I presented them with a letter from a solicitor saying they’d failed to meet the terms of my contract and I’d be leaving.
“Looking back, I can’t believe I did that, it’s just not me.
“Don’t get me wrong, it was the right thing to do because I found out a lot of other players were getting their money.
“I think they saw me as the baby of the team and thought they’d get away with it.
“After the season finished, I ended up training with the captain just to stay fit.
“We did a session in the gym one night and when I came out my phone rang.
“I can remember the conversation word for word.
“It was a reporter and he told me “congratulations” and that I must be delighted.
“I asked him why and he said because I was signing for Dundee Football Club. It would be a great move.
“I told him the truth — I didn’t have a clue what he was speaking about, so I’d have to make a few calls then ring him back.
“I got hold of Eamonn Collins, who is now my agent, but at the time was assistant manager at Shels.
“He said the club had accepted an offer from Dundee United, not Dundee, and I was to fly over to meet Craig Levein.
“I said I would because my situation at Shelbourne wasn’t great .”
It was on that first trip to Tannadice his career at United almost ended before it began.
“I came to United, met Craig and Peter Houston and had a look around.
“I was heading back home to Dublin before I signed anything and the club drove me back to Edinburgh airport. When I got there, two agents from the League of Ireland were there and wanted me to wait and meet Stephen Kenny.
“He’d tried to sign me before when he was in Ireland and at the time was manager of Dunfermline. He wanted me to go there.
“I was on an earlier flight than he thought so, by the time he got there, I was on the plane home.
“But someone at the airport saw me and then saw him there. They put two and two together and a story appeared saying I’d met him.
“The chairman (Eddie Thompson) found out and to put it mildly he wasn’t very happy.
“United had paid for my trip and were angry I’d met with another club.
“Luckily, I was able to speak to United and persuade them I hadn’t met Stephen. The deal went through and here I still am.”
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