Paranoia strikes deep Into your life it will creep It starts when you're always afraid

We were at breakfast, a few of my fellow CSLEA Board members and I, during some golf fund raiser. For some reason there had been speculation that Barcelona might be accepting some appointment. So naturally our conversation got around to who would replace him if he left. We threw out various people's names, not finding any really suitable. It was just idle speculation, or so we thought.

A few days later I got a call at work from Ricardo Sanchez. He wanted to know if I was free for lunch, just to catch up. Sure, no problem. We met at the Quiznos downstairs from my office. Hey how ya' doing? No bad, you? Then bam! What's this about you guys looking to replace Alan? WTF?

Sanchez goes on to say that someone (who?) overheard you guys plotting to overthrow Alan. No, I explain, we were playing what if because there was speculation that Alan was looking for a plum appointment.

So someone (the only person ever remotely in earshot was Pete Mitchell) overheard our idle speculation about a "what if" and reported back to Alan. Alan, always on the alert to a palace revolt, sent Sanchez out to put the fear of god into us - Never, ever discuss internal politics in public.

Knowing what Alan had done to John Miller I guess we were appropriately chastised - even though there was nothing for Alan to be worried about. Paranoia does strike deep.