In fact, the match was not exciting, not at all. McAllister was the new manager who had just joined the team in the summer, and he was not a good manager. The new tactics designed for the Forest team were still in the run-in stage — he could not be blamed for that. Evan Doughty had not given him the lineup he wanted, so his tactical training could not be carried out normally.
Speaking of Nottingham Forest's new manager, Gary McAllister, Tang En had quite a history with him. When Tang En first became a manager and took charge of Nottingham Forest, it was in January 2003. At that time, Forest had just been eliminated by West Ham United in the FA Cup. Tang En criticized the referee and the Football Association at the post-match press conference, and was suspended for the match. In the next match of League One (now the English Football League Championship), Forest challenged Coventry City in an away game. At that time, Coventry City's manager was this man.
At that time, Tang En was a complete rookie and was sent to the stands as a punishment. McAllister was not much better. He had two roles at that time — he was both a manager and a player on the field. That match ended with McAllister's free kick, and Coventry City forced a draw with Nottingham Forest at home. The two men's first and only confrontation ended in a draw.
After that, Tang En did not care about this opponent that he had only met once. McAllister had been in the lower leagues for many years, and he had also coached a team in the English Premier League for a short time, but he had never achieved good results. His most glorious achievement was leading Wolverhampton Wanderers back to the English Premier League last season, and then he was poached by Evan Doughty to join Forest.
After more than a decade of training, his coaching skills had improved greatly compared to when he first met Tang En. However, it was still not enough to manage Nottingham Forest.
Nottingham Forest did not have a mature set of tactics, and their performance on the field relied more on individuals than on the whole. Their offense was a little like hitting wherever they wanted, without any pattern. Even if they had high ball possession, it did not make people feel at ease. On the contrary, Everton, who played in the away game, had a few attacks that threatened Forest's goal. Everton, which Moyes had managed for twenty years, was indeed extraordinary. If not for Everton's lack of financial resources, he might have been able to achieve great things as well …
Twain shook his head and found himself distracted again. Why was he still thinking about tactics? It looked like he had not completely gotten rid of his identity as a manager. It was an occupational hazard.
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If there were still people who mocked the American Evan Doughty for not knowing football, he would not be convinced. Although he could not be as professional as the manager, he could also see that the current match was very boring.
His team did not have any advantage at all. Instead, they had to worry about the opponent's counterattack. This was the result of McAllister's month of practice …
"A pile of loose sand …" Evan Doughty, who was sitting on the rostrum, snorted.
Alan Adams, who was sitting next to him, did not make a sound.
In front of them on the left was the Robin Hood Grandstand, where the Forest team's most hardcore fans gathered. As usual, there were a lot of slogans attacking and insulting Evan Doughty and Allan Adams.
"Go back to America and eat shit!"
"This isn't just your team. This is everyone's team!"
“FUCK_YOU！ Evan Doughty & Allan Adams! "
"You two gays! Go back home and f * * k each other! "
…
Of course, most of the slogans were along the lines of, "Give me back Tony!" "We want Tony!!" "No one can replace Tony Twain!"
Although four years had passed and Nottingham Forest had changed countless managers, the fans here still could not forget Tony Twain. Every time they changed a manager, it would only make them miss the former boss, the current England manager, even more.
The game went on until the 11th minute, and the fixed program at the Crimson Stadium began. The home fans stood up from their seats and then faced the direction of the rostrum. Without any command or advance rehearsal, they began to sing in unison:
"Tony Twain won the championship for us, but he left. Evan Doughty only sells people for money, but he still keeps him. Evan is a big idiot! A big idiot! Oh la la! If you agree, stamp your feet with me! "
Rumble. A series of stamping sounds spread throughout the entire stadium. The stands at the Crimson Stadium seemed to be shaking, as if a small earthquake was happening.
"Evan is a big idiot!!"
Twain really did not know whether to laugh or cry when he heard such explicit and vulgar lyrics. In fact, if there was any dissatisfaction with Evan Doughty and Allan Adams, it had long dissipated in the past four years. They just had different ideals. As the saying goes, people with different beliefs cannot work together. It was not considered a personal grudge, so there was no need to be entangled. But for the fans, Evan Doughty and Allan Adams teamed up to chase Twain away was an absolutely unforgivable thing.
How could the two men sitting on the rostrum not feel such an obvious tremor? Moreover, after such lyrics had been repeatedly sung, the specific meaning was no longer a secret. Every time he heard such a song, Evan Doughty's expression was rather ugly. To be called a "idiot" by tens of thousands of people and still act as if nothing had happened, one's skin must be thicker than the earth's crust. Unfortunately, Evan Doughty could not reach that level. However, Doughty was a little abnormal today. He was not angry, or rather, one could not tell from his appearance whether he was angry or not. He sat in his seat and looked down at the stadium, as if his mind was wandering.
The song lasted for a minute before it stopped. The fans also returned to their seats and resumed watching the game.
Unfortunately, the team's performance still did not improve.
Allan was not interested in such a game that had no sense of beauty and no hope of winning. He turned his head to chat with the two guests sitting next to him. The two guests were Arabs from the Middle East, and their white robes and headscarves were very conspicuous. Their appearance here meant that the club seemed to be in contact with a consortium from the Middle East.
In fact, most of the guests sitting on the rostrum were actually not interested in the game. They were just using the football game as an opportunity to socialize. For example, they talked with each other about their gains in the stock market and futures market, talked about their chain stores opening new stores, talked about a certain investment project that they were optimistic about, and tried to rope in the people around them …
It was like a social ball that had been moved to the stands of the football stadium.
Evan Doughty snapped out of his daze and realized that there was a buzz of discussion behind him. Furthermore, the topic of discussion had nothing to do with football. It was as if there were countless flies flying around his ears and it made him very annoyed. However, he could not stand up and berate them. He could not tell them to "shut up" (shut up). These people were sponsors that he could not afford to offend easily …
Evan, who could not find anyone to talk to, looked at the field again. The score was still 0: 0. However, Everton had already taken the initiative, and Nottingham Forest could only take a beating. The Forest team was indeed in contact with a consortium from the United Arab Emirates. This time, they were invited to watch the Forest team's first game of the new season. The club hoped that the team could use outstanding results to raise their value in front of the Arab tycoons.
But the team's performance was so terrible …
McAllister was just a stop-gap measure, just a temporary manager. To revive the Forest team, they still needed to find a manager who had the ability and reputation to control the locker room. However, there were not many such managers in the football world today. Where could they find one?
Evan Doughty's eyes wandered around, and they landed on the slogans on the Robin Hood grandstand.
"No one can replace Tony Twain!!"
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Twain wanted to yawn, but he held it in. This game was too boring. On the other hand, Teresa was very interested in everything. She looked everywhere and was very restless in his arms, so he did not have to worry about having nothing to do …
On the field, the Everton players were holding the ball, and the fans around him were using their boos to put pressure on the Everton players. It was even more common for people to give him the middle finger. He slightly regretted bringing his daughter here, because Teresa had already asked him three times what the "middle finger" meant …
In order to divert her attention, Twain could only do everything possible to get his daughter to pay attention to the game itself. The way to coax her was, "Quick, look at your big brother Wood playing!", "Quick, look at your big brother Wood falling!", "Quick, look at your big brother Wood …"
Finally, his youngest daughter was a little interested in the game.
However, Wood's big brother did not touch the ball. The person holding the ball on the field now was an Everton player.
The Belgian midfielder, Marouane Fellaini, was controlling the ball. He was a tall defensive midfielder and was Everton's anchor. At the same time, he was also the main midfielder for the national team. Due to his position at the back, no one from the Forest team went up to snatch the ball. Fellaini was able to calmly control the ball, and eventually he passed the ball to James Vaughan, who had retreated to receive.
Vaughan and his forward partner, the Pole Robert Lewandowski, did a two-on-one combination to shake off George Wood, who had come up to defend. After receiving the ball again, he did not give the Forest team's center back a chance to pounce on him. He suddenly raised his leg and shot from the top of the penalty area!
The football rolled past the goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey's hand on the turf and crossed the goal line …
"A beautiful long shot! James Vaughan! Everton is leading Nottingham Forest by 1: 0 in the away game! "
The blue fans in the opposite stands jumped up and cheered loudly. On the other hand, Nottingham Forest's side fell silent. Many fans around Twain had their heads in their hands and looked helplessly at the Everton players who were celebrating wildly on the field.
In fact, they had more or less gotten used to such scenes over the past four years, so they did not boo at the team's goal loss. They just chose to be silent.
This silence, in Twain's eyes, was more like numbness. In the past, whenever the team lost the ball, the Forest fans would immediately launch an earth-shattering wave of boos at the team that scored the goal. You want to not be booed after scoring on our home ground? Dream on!
After a while, boos finally came from another direction. It was the most radical group of fans. It was just that it was unknown whether they were booing Everton or Nottingham Forest.
※ ※ ※
The goal on the field finally interrupted the chatter of the guests on the podium. A group of people turned their attention back to the field. When they realized that it was Everton who scored, they quickly returned to their respective topics.
"I know of a project that is guaranteed to make a lot of money …"
"Even Cambodia is almost emptied. Where else in the world has not been developed? Antarctica? Ha … "
"I plan to fly back to New York next weekend. I still have some business to take care of there …"
"Ms. Nancy, you're so beautiful …"
"No, we don't have any problems now. There are no difficulties in the business. I guarantee this is a deal that benefits both parties … "
Only Evan Doughty stared blankly at the Everton players celebrating on the field, feeling indignant. Even he, who did not know much about football, could feel the team's morale dropping.
※ ※ ※
The game went on. The Forest fans in the stands were a little disheartened. This time period belonged to the Everton fans. They sang and cheered for Everton in the stands, while the Forest fans could not muster up the energy to go against them.
It was impossible for the broadcast of every game to always focus the camera on the field. It would often insert some shots from other places, such as giving some shots to the technical area, or when they found interesting slogans in the stands, the camera would also pay special attention to them. In addition, when there were some celebrities in the stands, it would also give them a close-up shot.
The live camera of the game shook in the stands. It first focused on the few slogans, and then suddenly changed and cut to a certain part of the stands.
The close-up shots of the live television broadcast could usually be seen on the big screen in the stadium. Therefore, when watching the live television broadcast, it was often possible to see some fans who appeared on the television screen excitedly waving at the camera while looking at the big screen on the other side.
This was nothing new. However, the Forest fans were not in the mood to put on a show. Their team was falling behind. Anyone who could still smile at the camera was definitely not a hardcore Forest fan.
This time, the close-up shot was not for the fans there to put on a show. They clearly had other intentions. The camera zoomed in and zoomed in again, and then it fixed on a certain person.
"Ah ha! Let's see who this is! "The commentator of the game laughed when he saw this person. "Sunglasses and a baseball cap. He really looks like a spy …"
There was no doubt that the person who was betrayed by the live television broadcast was Tony Twain. Twain did not care at first because his mind was on the game. It was only when he noticed that the people around him had a different look in their eyes that he felt something was wrong. Because everyone was no longer watching the game. Instead, they turned their heads to look at him.
Before he could react to what was going on, a voice suddenly rang out in the live broadcast, "Let us welcome —"
A unified voice rang out like a tsunami in the stands, "Tony Twain!!!"
The voice startled Twain, and he stood up reflexively. This resulted in the cheers becoming louder.
"Tony! Tony! Tony!! "
This time, Twain finally reacted. He knew that he had been exposed, so he simply used Teresa's hand to greet everyone.
To be honest, he was a little proud to be able to receive such cheers after leaving for four years.
※ ※ ※
The sudden cheers also frightened the players on the field. Mitchell was supposed to catch the pass, but he heard it go out of bounds. However, the fans did not boo him. Instead, there was a blanket of "Tony! Tony! "shouts.
He raised his head and easily found the focus of the cheers. There was a man standing on the upper level of the stands. He looked like a king accepting the worship of his people.
It was not only him. Many players looked up, but there were not many who could be stunned after seeing that person. After all, the old players of Forest were almost gone.
Mitchell was still in a daze when Wood came up to him and shouted, "What are you doing! Why aren't you defending? "
"Look over there, George! Boss! It's the boss! "Mitchell shouted excitedly as he pointed to the stands.
Wood did not turn his head. He just stared at Mitchell and said, "Are you going to let him see you sleepwalk on the field?"
His words were like a wake-up call. Mitchell ran to participate in the defense. This time, it was Wood's turn to look back at the stands.
※ ※ ※
The cheers continued. Evan Doughty was initially shocked by the cheers. Then, he actually saw Tony Twain's figure on the television screen. This greatly surprised him. They had not been in contact for a long time. He did not expect Twain to actually come to watch the game live. He thought Twain must hate him.
Behind him, the social forum was also interrupted by the fans' cheers to welcome Twain. One by one, they asked around in bewilderment, looking for the source of the cheers.
"What happened?"
"What are they shouting?"
"Tony? Which Tony? Tony Twain? He's back? "
Allan also stopped talking to the Arabs and turned his gaze to the big screen. As expected, he saw Twain and his daughter.
After four years, they even had a child …
※ ※ ※
More than 40,000 Forest fans in the stands stretched out their hands and bowed in a kneeling position. They were paying their respects to His Majesty, even if it was a King who had been away for four years. Just like the slogan said, there was no one here who could replace Tony Twain.
Twain waved to his subjects and sat down again. If this went on, he would not even be able to watch the game anymore.
The cheers continued for a while before gradually dying down.
But the worship of the King was not over. At this time, someone rushed up from the side and said, "Hey, I can't believe the guy sitting next to me is Tony Twain. Give me an autograph, Tony! "
"I want to take a picture with him!"
"Your daughter is so beautiful!"
…
For a moment, he was surrounded by enthusiastic fans. Twain had to deal with them one by one. After satisfying the requests such as autographs, photos, handshakes, hugs, and other requests, he could finally sit down and watch the game again …
When the surrounding voices finally returned to the normal decibel range, Teresa leaned over to Twain's ear and blew into him. "Dad, which 'Tony' are they shouting?"
Twain laughed this time. "They are shouting your dad!"
"Is Dad a big star?"
"Yes, a big star!" Twain's answer was full of pride and certainty. "Dad is the king here." He looked at the field below and murmured the last sentence, "I was …"
※ ※ ※
Perhaps it was because Twain had personally come to watch the game, but Nottingham Forest's morale was greatly boosted. In the following game, they gradually took the initiative and finally equalized the score with Mitchell before the end of the first half.
Mitchell, who scored the goal, ran to the stands where Twain was and gave a military salute. Everyone knew what his celebratory gesture meant.
In the second half, Nottingham Forest continued to work hard and scored another goal. In the end, they reversed the situation and defeated Everton, who played in the away game, with a score of 2: 1.
But after the game, people were not concerned about the Forest team's victory, but Tony Twain's "return" to the Crimson Stadium. At the press conference after the game, the media used Twain's visit to the game as a question to ask McAllister what he thought about it. McAllister replied with an unfriendly expression, "Sorry, I'm not interested in ordinary spectators."
But the media did not "let him off" just like that. After the game, in order to attract attention, some of the media did not even hesitate to use a headline — "Returning to Nottingham Forest after four years, His Majesty helped the team turn the tables!"
It looked as if Twain had led the team to victory. Poor McAllister …
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PS: Sorry, I had some things to do today, so I was a little late.
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