THE waitress in the exclusive Knightsbridge restaurant could have been forgiven for suspecting something was wrong.

City joint-chairman Julian Rhodes was celebrating the FA Cup victory with his wife Alix in the Berkeley Hotel – but the pair had barely exchanged a word.

“We must have had over 100 text messages so both of us were glued to our mobile phones,” he said. “The waitress kept looking at us a bit funny wondering what on earth was going on.

“She probably thought we’d fallen out and had a tiff or something but the phones never stopped buzzing.

“We were going to stay over on Saturday night anyway but I never imagined most of the meal would be taking up reading through the congratulations texts.

“(Peterborough director of football) Barry Fry left a wonderful message to say that we had done League One proud. It was a fantastic gesture and there were so many others like that.”

Rhodes admits he is still pinching himself after another “brilliant, brilliant day”. But this is hardly new territory for the co-owner – or Phil Parkinson, the man he appointed in August 2011 with the sole objective of keeping City in the Football League.

Rhodes added: “He has performed wonders. Mark (Lawn) was on the telly saying that Phil inherited the worst squad we have ever had and look where we are three-and-a-half years later – and what we’ve achieved along the way.

“Now it’s all about keeping the momentum going and building on what we’ve got.

“We all work well together. Phil understands the budgets we set and is always pushing the boundaries, but that’s the same with any manager and the board.

WARNING: This video contains some strong language

“I told Phil before the season that if we expanded the budget again, we’re going to have to do well in the cup. He said ‘we will do’ – and you can’t deny he’s stuck to his word.”

Rhodes spoke to the manager on Friday night to wish him luck and urge the team to put in a performance that the travelling 6,000 army could be proud of.

“We knew the fans would be noisy and really up for it and I just hoped we wouldn’t have another Swansea. I wanted us to go out there and have a go.

“But I got the feeling that Phil did seem a little bit confident about their chances.

“I said to him ‘you never know, we might create another fantastic memory to go with all the others.’ It’s fair to say, I think he’s done that.

“He’s now inflicted the worst defeats in the career of Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho. Maybe we can do it to Louis van Gaal next!”

Rhodes has never been one to seek the limelight and is happy to stay in the background. But he found the opportunity to poke fun at his Chelsea-supporting taxi driver too hard to resist.

He laughed: “We were driving back to the station on Sunday and I just happened to ask if he was a Chelsea fan.

“The driver went off cursing and swearing about them losing to a League One team at home, so I had to tell him that I was the chairman!

“He actually took it very well and we had a laugh about it. Afterwards, when we got to the station he asked if we’d pose for a photo together so he could tell his friends ‘as if it couldn’t get any worse, I’ve got their chairman in the back...’ It was that kind of weekend!”