It was two days before the derby game at Huddersfield and I was just polishing off my preview pieces and breakfast.

The phone rang and a voice came on that I couldn't place straight off. But he certainly knew me.

"Eating again, some things never change," he laughed, as I hurriedly tried to wolf down a mouthful of egg and bacon butty in one. I was still unable to twig who it was.

"It's me, you daft so and so - Stuart "

Stuart? Stuart McCall? Hasn't he got a Premiership match to prepare for with Sheffield United?

"Yes, but I just thought you might want a bit of a rallying call for everyone," he said, pre-empting my first question.

And that was it. No agenda - even though he knew the speculation was mounting over his possible return - no empty words, just to satisfy the supporters.

His reason for calling was genuine. He wanted to get behind the lads and urge the fans to stick with them come what may.

For the next 15 minutes he talked passionately about how much it meant to play in big games like West Yorkshire derbies and what a lift it gave the team to come out to a wall of noise.

He listed the occasions when the fans had made such an impact for City - and then even phoned back a couple of minutes later to correct a small mistake.

"I've got to go now, I'm doing the tactics for training," he said with a cheery farewell, and that was the last conversation we had.

Since then, McCall has proved as hard to pin down as Jose Mourinho's dog. But that's hardly surprising as the rumour mill whirred into overdrive.

I'm sure it will be easier from next month when he settles himself into the Valley Parade hot-seat. And, as any supporter will tell you, that should fit rather snugly.

This was the appointment they have craved for so long. Our website went into meltdown when we broke the story at tea-time on Thursday.

We've forgotten what good news is like in these parts. Who could have seen it coming? Well, I can think of a certain ginger fella for starters.

It wasn't so much written in the stars as in his autobiography, the Real McCall, penned in 1998 when he last came back.

Dusting off our copy in the office, I found the following extract: "One day in the distant future I would love to manage Bradford City. If I had the choice, that would be where I would start."

On the same page, he dropped the famous "unfinished business" quote - words he backed up by helping to deliver promotion to the Premiership in his first season back at the club.

McCall is a rookie in management terms, though he will have picked up plenty from sharing a touchline with Neil Warnock for so long.

But you can be sure he will bring the same drive and motivation to the dug-out as he did every time he slipped on the claret and amber jersey on the pitch.

It's always been the McCall way to give everything until there is no more to give. That approach epitomised City's sleeves-rolled-up survival in the top flight.

He certainly won't stand for lily-livered performances like the one at Huddersfield which followed his pre-derby battle cry.

David Wetherall carries no blame for his short but ultimately doomed tenure. He inherited a team in freefall and it was not through lack of effort on his part that he could not halt their slide.

When relegation was confirmed at Chesterfield, he hoped that City had struck rock-bottom. Wetherall said the club needed a lift - and that lift would be McCall.

His arrival will not wipe away all City's ills in one stroke. Money will still be tight, though there are whispers of proper investment on the way with such an icon now installed at the helm.

But it has given genuine and very real hope for the future.

The fans, starved of success for so long, will find their voice again. And McCall will aim to build a side capable of answering that battle call.