Friends: The One Where Nick Considers a Career Change Nick's revelry was broken by a voice at the door. Miriam! What are you doing here? Nick hurriedly removed his feet from the desk. "I just came to check up on the most powerful man in the country," she said. Although I can see that you're busy. "No, no," said Nick, folding away the newspaper. Miriam grabbed it and turned to the front page. "Actually, this is what I've come to talk to you about," she said. "Oh yes?" said Nick. Why don't you apply to be the next manager of the England football team? "Have you gone completely mad?" said Nick. I know nothing about football. You don't know much about the EU, wind farms or higher rates of taxation, either, but that's never stopped you. Nick said nothing. "Anyway," Miriam continued, "how hard can it be? Six million a year to tell 11 people how to kick a football. That's a lot of money for someone like you. And just think: you'll never have to go to a Lib Dem conference again. "But why would they choose me?" asked Nick. "Well, they always choose a manager who's the opposite of the one before," said Miriam, who had read about nothing else for three days. The last one was suave, Italian and highly successful. And you're... She trailed off diplomatically. Anyway, it's not like you couldn't deal with the public opprobrium if you do badly. Graham Taylor, Glenn Hoddle, even Steve McClaren - none of them had had as much experience of being universally hated as you. "Thanks," said Nick. "And if kick-off is at 7.30, you could still do the school run," she added, helpfully. "But what about the job security?" said Nick. I might be gone by the summer if we get a bad result in Europe... It was Nick's turn not to complete his sentence. "Oh I see," he said, a smile flitting across his face. Now pass me that phone, would you?