Sam Allardyce's wife did not believe her husband when he told her he might be making a return to management after nearly two years out of the game. She thought he was having her on.
Fresh back from a cruise around the Caribbean with the family, Allardyce and his wife Lynne did not have a care in the world. They were enjoying his unofficial retirement. He had even found a new hobby, with his podcast keeping him busy, and any thoughts of a coaching comeback at bay.
Allardyce had been reluctantly trying to keep active but it was proving rather tedious. It was not quite living up to the buzz of the Premier League.
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"It's about getting out of the house," new Leeds boss Allardyce tells Sky Sports News' senior reporter Tim Thornton about life without football. "There's all that exercise stuff, but exercise is incredibly boring when you're on your own walking.
"'You have to get your 10,000 steps in' and all that. I might get more than 10,000 steps in just walking around here without even knowing it."
When the situation arose in unlikely circumstances to, potentially, get his last fix of football management, Allardyce became tempted.
So, sensing that a call was coming, the former England manager sat his wife down to warn her their lives might be about to change.
"She thought it was a joke," Allardyce says of his wife.
As the reality of the situation dawned on Lynne she then said to her husband: "You're winding me up. You're not going are you?!"
Rather sheepishly, Allardyce replied: "It's Leeds isn't it?"
When the approach became official, Allardyce broke the news to his wife. "The phone call comes and it's real and I tell her I'm off."
Lynne, knowing her husband all too well after 49 years of marriage, replied: "Well, I didn't expect anything else from you."
With her blessing, Allardyce made quite a splash on his return to the Premier League in his first press conference as Leeds boss. His impressive tan was the only lingering sign of the life he had left behind.
"I might be 68 and look old and antiquated but there's nobody ahead of me in football terms," he said. "Not Pep, not Klopp, not Arteta. It's all there with me. They do what they do and I do what I do."
Football world well-and-truly stunned, it was a job well done, according to Allardyce.
"Whatever opinions people have after that aren't particularly of interest to me," he tells Sky Sports. "I've given people something to talk about. I've given the media a great headline, so I thought tactically it was pretty good."
But does he really believe what he says?
"You don't stay in the game as long as I have, managing over 1,000 games without having that belief," Allardyce says, before adding: "I hadn't planned it, but, of course, that's me.
"Instinctively I can operate on a basis of there and then."
He will need that confidence in abundance for the task at hand. He has just four games to ensure Leeds' safety, with only goal difference keeping the club out of the relegation zone.
First up for Allardyce? The man 'Big Sam' claims is his equal. Pep Guardiola and defending champions Manchester City welcome Leeds to the Etihad on Saturday, live on Sky Sports, as they go in search of the treble.
Asked if he could achieve such a feat in Guardiola's place, Allardyce says: "Absolutely. The players make you a really good manager and a good coach. Your job is to be able to communicate with those players and I think it's - I wouldn't say easier but - a lot more enjoyable [going for the title rather than fighting relegation]."
He adds: "I'd sleep easy tonight if I had those players."
While preparing for his return to the Premier League dugout on Saturday, Allardyce daydreamed about the riches at Guardiola's disposal.
"I was thinking the other day, he's got two unbelievable teams," says Allardyce. "Which one would win the league? Would they finish first and second? He seems to have two highly-intelligent, quality players in every single position."
Irrespective of the seemingly insurmountable task that lies in wait on Saturday and beyond, Allardyce has no hesitation or regret about his decision to return to football management.
Asked how he will feel when 3pm comes around and is standing pitchside alongside Guardiola by the dugouts, Allardyce replies: "It's the best place to be on a Saturday afternoon."
Flooded by calls of congratulations, including from Sir Alex Ferguson, Allardyce has been unable to get around to responding to all the messages. He has got more pressing things on his mind.
He feels a tornado, rather than a whirlwind, is a more appropriate description of the week he has had since being parachuted in to Thorp Arch (training ground) with the sole mission of keeping Leeds up by any means possible.
Standing in his way are Man City, Newcastle, West Ham and Tottenham. Three of those four games are against the current top seven and the other is a tough trip to east London
Even with his experience, Allardyce's task is no joking matter.
Watch the full interview with Sam Allardyce on Sky Sports News from 12pm then watch his first game in charge of Leeds as they go to title-chasing Manchester City on Saturday, live on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event from 2pm; kick-off 3pm.
Leeds United's remaining fixtures
May 6: Man City (A) - Premier League, kick-off 3pm, live on Sky Sports
May 13: Newcastle (H) - Premier League, kick-off 3pm
May 21: West Ham (A) - Premier League, kick-off 1.30pm
May 28: Tottenham (H) - Premier League, kick-off 4.30pm