With two midfielders consecutively, Forest's left flank was not a problem. Now it was the right flank that gave Tang En a headache. His original idea was to successfully persuade Lennon to switch to Nottingham Forest, which would solve the problem of confirming the right flank. But he did not expect the plan to fail. Brian Cash's performance in the team disappointed Tang En. The kid seemed to be completely immersed in dribbling the ball and did not care about the team's overall tactics. A year had passed, and there was no improvement at all. Tang En also removed his name from his future plans.
As a result, he led the team for a month, but Nottingham Forest had never found a suitable candidate for the right flank.
The team's offense was now heavily leaning to the left, which was not a good thing. Such a Forest team was as good as walking with a limp.
At this time, the old scout Moer helped him again. He recommended a young player to Tang En. Even though the player had only played one game for the First Team, just hearing the name made Tang En decide to buy him no matter how much money he had to spend.
The player Moer recommended to Tang En was Ashley Young, an 18-year-old midfielder who had just been transferred to the First Team by Watford Football Club.
The kid was a calf in the game, and he was not bad in reality. In the 06-07 season, Aston Villa spent eight million pounds to take him from Watford. He could play on both the left and right flank of the midfield. His passing and dribbling were excellent, and he also had a beautiful free kick and shooting skills.
The opposing club clearly knew the value of a player who could catch the eye of Forest's chief scout Moer. If he did not pay a price, Tang En would not be able to bring the young player to the City Ground. But Tang En believed that the opposing club's attitude was not a problem for this transfer deal. Buying Clinton Hill cost 300,000, and buying Kris Commons cost 300,000, adding up to 600,000. And Tang En had a transfer fund of eight million pounds at his disposal! There was still 7.4 million! This was a huge sum of money for an A-League club. Tang En did not believe that Watford could resist the attack of money. The only uncertain factor was the player's attitude. If Ashley Young was the second Lennon, then it did not matter how much money was spent. As long as the player's thoughts were clear, Tang En would know how to spend the money.
Of course, bypassing the club and privately contacting the player was against the relevant FIFA rules. But … there were some things in the industry that everyone knew. As long as they didn't do it too openly and let everyone know, it would be fine.
If Ashley Young could handle it, then the problem on the Forest team's right flank would more or less be solved.
Other than the good news from the transfer market, there was another matter that put Tang En in a good mood.
Because he scored two goals in the match against Sunderland and became the main contributor to the team's victory, Eastwood could not only receive a goal bonus according to the contract, but the media's evaluation of him had also changed overnight.
No matter how harsh the media was, in the face of that beautiful long shot and two goals, they had to put away their prejudices and admit that Eastwood's performance had surprised them.
Of course, two goals were insignificant in the long season, and there was no guarantee that Eastwood could continue to score in consecutive games. But at the very least, it gave him a good start in the Forest team and made the Forest fans accept this new player in the first place. For a striker, there was nothing better than scoring goals to please the fans.
Eastwood became famous, and his beloved horse also benefited from it. The pet shop that he had fostered the horse not only decided to help Eastwood raise the horse for free, but also put up an advertisement in the newspaper. The full text of the advertisement was as follows:
"Pets' Home" provides the best service to Freddy Eastwood's beloved horse!
Just this one sentence made the shop lively. Every day, there was an endless stream of people who came to see the horse because of its fame. The shop took advantage of the situation and launched a "Photo with the Star's Beloved Horse" campaign. For just one pound, one could stand outside the railing and take a photo with the horse.
It was no longer rare to take a photo with a star. Instead, taking a photo with a star's horse attracted the interest of countless fans.
Eastwood was not jealous of his horse. It was just that he had an agreement with "Pets' Home" to ensure the horse's health, set working hours, and limit the amount of time it spent "receiving" customers every day for no more than five hours. Furthermore, they had to take out at least 30% of their income to improve the horse's daily treatment. He believed in his horse's "professional ethics" and that it would not go crazy and bite or kick people. After all, it had often followed him for walks on the A127 road. What had it not seen?
It was not wrong to describe the horse as steady, calm, and knowledgeable.
Naturally, the incident made it to the newspapers and became the team's new joke about the Romani.
Everyone in the team liked Eastwood. Even though the two goals were a large part of the reason, it was not just because of the goals. Eastwood had a good personality. He was warm, cheerful, and could get along well with anyone. In addition, he kept a low profile. Even Gareth Taylor, who was threatened by him for his main position, could not find a reason to hate him.
Of course, Eastwood, who had such a good relationship with others, only had an attitude toward one teammate.
※ ※ ※
George Wood, like Eastwood, was one of the players that Tang En paid the most attention to during training. After Christmas, he had been transferred to the First Team. He had been training with the team for half a month, but had yet to get a chance to represent the First Team. His contract was still the same one he had signed with the youth team.
However, Tang En did not let Wood stop competing. In the past few weeks, he had Wood train with the First Team, familiarize himself with his teammates, and play in the reserve team matches to maintain his form. Moreover, he would watch every match live and personally observe Wood's form. What comforted him was that the kid was still improving.
However, most of the time, he still appeared inexperienced and crude, unable to calmly judge the situation on the field. He had more than enough drive, but not enough composure.
As a young man, Tang En did not ask for too much. For someone of his age, he was already outstanding enough.
Tang En decided to give up on the 28th round of the league tournament against Reading F.C. to use it to train the young players and reserve team players. The First Team's main lineup, which had been fighting for half a season, would get a rest to avoid the chance of injury and fully prepare for the EFL Cup.
On January 16th, after the end of the training the day before the league tournament, Tang En announced the player list for the next day's match on the training ground as usual. As for the starting lineup, it was usually announced in the locker room after the match.
Every time this happened, the competition that was usually hidden under the friendly smile would surface. Other than a few players who had performed well and were almost certain to be included in the squad list due to their exceptional performances or special positions, the others would anxiously wait for the moment their names were read out from Tang En's mouth.
Only one person was an exception.
Standing in the last row of the team, George Wood did not care what Tang En was doing. Right now, he was thinking about how to play well in the reserve team match the next day. His mother was very happy that he could be transferred to the First Team. Even though he could only play a few matches in the reserve team, it was enough to make her feel proud of her son. In her heart, since the reserve team was considered the second team, then it must be of a higher standard than the youth team. This showed that her son was better than before. He did not want to disappoint his mother, so he would demand that he not make any mistakes in every match.
Money and his mother's expectations were the only two reasons that kept him on this path.
He suddenly heard someone call his name. His teammates in front of him all turned to look. He looked up curiously and saw Tang En, who was standing in front of him, through the crowd. He was also looking at him.
"Wood, you stay behind. The rest … dismissed!"
The players dispersed and walked to the locker room with their own thoughts. After the squad list was announced, some were happy while others were worried.
Wood stood where he was. Most of his teammates would turn to look at him before they left, but he did not understand what was there to look at.
When everyone had left and only the two of them were left on the training ground, Tang En walked over and took out a ticket from his pocket, handing it to Wood. "Go back and give it to your mother."
Wood did not take it because he did not understand what had happened.
Seeing his confusion, Tang En asked, "Were you distracted just now? Didn't you hear me call your name? "
Wood nodded.
"Yeah … This is a ticket to the City Ground's VIP box. Go back and give it to your mother. Tell her to go to the stadium to watch the match tomorrow. Someone from the club will receive her then. You don't have to worry about anything."
Wood still did not understand.
Tang En smiled. "George, go home and tell your mother. Tell her to take this ticket to the City Ground tomorrow afternoon to watch your match. Remember, it's tomorrow afternoon, not morning. You'll be starting in the league tournament. "With that, he stuffed the ticket into Wood's hands, then turned around and waved as he walked to his office.
"Goodbye, George. Have a good rest tonight. Gather here at nine in the morning sharp. "
Holding the ticket, Wood stood in the middle of the training ground and stared blankly at Tang En's back.
(To be continued. If you wish to know what happened next, please log on to WWW. CMFU. com. More chapters. Support the author. Support the original reading!)
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