The English Premier League is known as a cut-throat business, but Australian defender Jason Davidson was shown some rare mercy with his good character securing him a dream deal with West Bromwich Albion in 2014.
After a stellar showing at the World Cup in Brazil with the Socceroos, Davidson had a number of clubs circling him but it was West Brom and the appeal of Premier League football that got his attention.
Offered a much larger wage than any other club was offering, the defender swiftly accepted the deal and was just as quickly introduced to the players and staff pending a medical.
Buzzing and generally blown away by the professionalism of the club, tragedy would strike however when an extensive medical discovered a hairline fracture in his back he'd had since a child.
Despite having not impacted his football, the discovery was all West Brom needed to call off a deal Davidson thought was done.
Devastated, Jason called his father, former Socceroo Alan Davidson, in tears. His dream having been briefly realised, was shattered in an instant.
With every right to be angry, it was what the then 23-year-old would do next in the face of heartbreak that revived a seemingly dead situation.
Speaking to Football Nation Radio, Alan Davidson revealed how his son's decision to say goodbye and thank everyone at the club resulted in a shock change of heart.
"He had such a great time at West Brom, they spent three days introducing him to everyone, like all the back staff and the kitchen hand," Alan Davidson said.
"So what happened was that we didn't know, Jason spent the next day (after being told his move was off) just thanking everyone for what happened and one of the ladies in the kitchen went to the directors.
"She went there and said this kid typifies what football and this club is all about. He's got such a great attitude it's not fair that you haven't signed him.
"So the director turned around and said you're absolutely right.
"All these people had mentioned it and then they went around and found out Jason had went to pretty much everyone in the club and thanked them and wished them all the best. Even the players spoke highly of him
"So the chairman turned around and said that's what we want, we want players here that respect the club and appreciate what they've got. The coach was an advocate of that as well."
Having already flown back home to Holland with his dream in tatters, Jason's phone buzzed, a butterfly effect of his parting gesture.
"So they rang him back and invited him back and said regarding your injury we think there's two ways we can look at it but we're gonna look at it the other way," Alan said.
"It's a long term injury that's been there and never affected you. We've looked at all your games, you've played X amount of games last year.
"So that was it and they signed him."
The moral of the story?
"Image is important. The most important thing in any part of life it's all about respect," Alan said
"That was one of the things that got him (Jason) over the line there."
Despite the miraculous nature of his move, Davidson's time at West Brom wouldn't end in a fairytale as he made just two appearances before being shipped off to Huddersfield.
Frozen out of the then Championship side, he was loaned out to Groningen in the Netherlands during 2016 before being released by Huddersfield and picked up by Croatian side Rijeka.
Recently, he has just been loaned out to Slovenian side Olimpija Ljubljana for four months as he looks to get precious game time.
Which is exactly what a quality person like Jason Davidson deserves.
