The advertisement was small but spelled out the role in pain-staking detail.
Manchester City were searching for a support officer for their players, and the players’ families.
The successful applicant would require not just language skills, it seemed, but the determination and loyalty of Man Friday and the organisational and magical abilities of Mary Poppins.
The support officers would in effect run lives — manage the logistics of everything from house hunting to car buying, organising a plumber, registering with a GP, finding the right school, even structuring the household budget and paying bills.