While Nottingham Forest was training hard for their first EFL Cup title in 12 years, news came from the league committee that was definitely not good for them.
The league committee announced the allocation of the locker rooms for both teams in the EFL Cup final.
According to the convention of "southern teams using the south locker room and northern teams using the north locker room," Middlesbrough, which was even further north than Nottingham, obtained the right to use the north locker room, while Nottingham Forest could only helplessly accept the arrangement of fate — to use the "cursed" south locker room at the Millennium Stadium.
As soon as the result came out, the local media in Nottingham exploded. Those who lamented the unfairness of fate and emphasized fatalism were in the majority. There were also a few people who thought that the convention of "southern teams using the south locker room and northern teams using the north locker room" was unreasonable and should be abolished from now on and changed to the "bad practice" of drawing lots to decide.
The Middlesbrough side was overjoyed. In addition to advocating that fate was good for their team, the Middlesbrough media did not forget to continue to attack the opponent's confidence. They opposed the abolition or change of the convention because the city of Middlesbrough itself was very far north in England. The only teams that were further north than them and had the strength to reach this kind of cup final were probably Newcastle and Sunderland.
The evidence they used to refute the Nottingham media looked very convincing — before the 2002 FA Cup final, Chelsea and Arsenal entered the final. Although they were both teams from the southern city of London, Arsenal was in North London, while Chelsea was in West London. They were further south than Arsenal, so they had to use the south locker room. Before that, the Millennium Stadium replaced the rebuilt Wembley Stadium to host the finals of various English competitions (including the FA Cup, the Community Shield, the EFL Cup, and the play-off knockout rounds of leagues below League Two). All the teams that used the south locker room lost in the final without exception. The south locker room at the Millennium Stadium was also considered to be the cursed locker room. Chelsea was naturally unwilling to lose this important game because of the "fate of the north and south," so they protested to the Football Association. The Football Association was forced to decide that both sides would choose the locker room by tossing a coin. In the end, Chelsea still drew the south locker room. In order to compete with the "curse of the south locker room," Chelsea all wore "lucky white socks" in that game. What was the result? They lost 0: 2 to Arsenal in the final, with Parlour and Ljungberg scoring for Arsenal.
The Middlesbrough media used Chelsea as an example to tell the Nottingham media: In the face of a powerful destiny, you should not struggle on your deathbed! Even if you use the coin toss method to draw lots, you will still draw the south changing room, and you will still lose to us, Middlesbrough!
This was a result that had been arranged long ago!
Once the locker room incident came out, Tang En felt that there was a chance — he could make good use of it. As for how to use it, that would depend on the specific situation.
He had long heard about the incident in the south locker room of the Millennium Stadium when he was a fan. Of the seventeen finals held there, the winning teams had used the north changing room fourteen times, while the south changing room had only been used three times, two of which were won by Arsenal. The other victory was in the second division promotion play-off match, which was won by Stoke City, who had used the south changing room. But even three victories could not change the majority's opinion that the south changing room was ominous. There was a reason that could be used as proof.
Before Stoke City and Arsenal won, the Millennium Stadium specially invited a Fengshui master from China to advise them. In the end, after changing the placement of a few facilities, they invited a local Welsh artist, Vicary, to paint a seven-foot-long mural of a phoenix, a galloping horse, and the sun to block the curse. As expected, Stoke City and Arsenal won one after another.
Just when people thought that the curse would be completely broken by Arsenal, they lost to Manchester United in the Community Shield. As a result, the south changing room curse at the Millennium Stadium continued …
The influence of the curse on the team could not be ignored. Most people who played football were superstitious, which was why there were so many seemingly strange rules, such as women not being allowed to ride in the same car with the team. There were also some people who had even more superstitions, such as having to step into the field with their right foot first before entering the field, and some coaches would definitely wear their own lucky necktie … etc.
Tang En was not a superstitious person, but considering the overall situation of the team, he had to be superstitious for once.
At this time, if you told the players, "Curses are all lies! That's superstition and unscientific! Ability is the foundation of winning! ", absolutely no one would care about you.
There was one factor that was very beneficial to Tang En — his love and infatuation with Chinese culture was known throughout Nottingham, not to mention within the team. And the person who temporarily broke the curse of the south changing room at the Millennium Stadium was a Fengshui master from China. This matter was also known throughout the United Kingdom.
So, in order to prevent the team from losing the psychological battle before the match, Tang En had to act mysterious for once!
Therefore, when he was interviewed by the reporters, Tang En appeared to be full of confidence for the match and was completely not worried about the "curse" of the south changing room. Not only that, he also seemed to casually mention the matter of the Millennium Stadium hiring a Fengshui master to break the curse. Pierce Brosnan very cleverly guessed Tang En's hidden meaning. So, the next day, Brosnan wrote in the Nottingham Evening Post:
"… Manager Tang En mentioned the matter of hiring a Fengshui master to break the curse. And we all know that he personally likes Chinese culture very much. It is said that his Chinese teacher brought him a mysterious gift after he returned from China. He has never mentioned it to anyone. So, what kind of 'mysterious gift' is it? "
What kind of "mysterious gift" was it? Actually, there was nothing mysterious about it. It was just a set of Han Chinese clothing. Because Tang En told Yang Yan that he liked Chinese traditional culture very much, Yang Yan thought about it for a long time and felt that buying a Han Chinese clothing for Tang En was a more representative item. Moreover, she also wanted to see how a foreigner with a high nose and fair skin would look like in a Han Chinese clothing. But because of the nature of Tang En's work, he had to wear a suit and shirt almost all year round, so the Han Chinese clothing was hanging in the wardrobe.
It was a good thing that the Han costume Yang Yan bought for Twain was not one of those gaudy and colorful Chinese costumes. Otherwise, it would be difficult for Twain to use it as a Taoist robe. Although foreigners would not understand it anyway, the props used by actors had to be slightly more professional.
As for the other very important tool, he could only ask Yang Yan for help again. He asked her to help look around Manchester's Chinatown to see if there was a compass for sale. He thought that in a place like Chinatown, some traditional things were preserved better than in mainland China. Something like a compass should be easy to find.
Yang Yan asked him what he wanted that thing for, and Tang En told her his plans. On the other end of the phone, Yang Yan smiled happily. "Mr. Tang En, I'll be waiting to watch your performance on television when the time comes!"
They could already communicate directly in Mandarin, so Yang Yan was not afraid that Tang En would not understand what "dancing" meant.
"Can acting mysterious also help us win?" Yang Yan then asked.
"Well, this question is not easy to answer. But you can see this as a psychological adjustment for the team. "
"Hearing you say this, football coaches seem very interesting!"
"Haha, the team's locker room is even more interesting. But I'm really sorry that I can't tell you these stories. " Tang En's words were not wrong. The locker room was a very mysterious place to outsiders. There were many interesting stories happening in it every day. The players and coaches treated it as their own private place, and no one was allowed to explore it. There were many unspoken rules in the football world. "No one in the team is allowed to divulge anything that happens in the locker room" was one of them. Tang En was the manager, and he could not violate this rule. Otherwise, he would quickly lose the trust of the players and the respect of his colleagues. A manager who could not control the team was no different from a good-for-nothing.
Two days after his phone call with Yang Yan, just before Tang En was about to lead the team to Cardiff, he received a parcel from Manchester. It was the compass he needed.
It was engraved with Chinese characters and Eight Trigrams symbols. In the eyes of foreigners, it was a very mysterious compass.
With this thing, Tang En was confident that he could bluff everyone. He reckoned that when the time came, the English media would be in an uproar again. Thinking of this, he was secretly delighted that his prank was about to succeed.
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Cardiff, the capital of Wales, was the location of the Millennium Stadium, the venue for the EFL Cup finals. It was not too far from Nottingham. If Middlesbrough wanted to come here to play, they had to take a plane, while Forest only had to take the team bus all the way here.
On the bus, the players were not in high spirits. Clearly, they were frightened by the "curse of the south locker room." Many people thought it was an inauspicious omen that foretold the team's loss. The team was a whole. If one person thought that way, it could affect two people, two people affect four people, four people affect eight people, eight people affect 16 people … and so on. In the end, no matter how much they said "those are all baseless nonsense," in their hearts, they would also ask themselves, "Is the curse real? Will we really lose because we used the south locker room? "
This was the meaning of the saying, "three men make a tiger." This was the same logic as China football's "Korephobia." Originally, there were wins and losses, and losing consecutively was nothing. Later, the media came up with the concept of "Korephobia," and went all out to hype it up. In the end, even the China team themselves felt that they were naturally afraid of Korea. Even if they were a team made up of players who were eight or nine years old and had not yet been born when the "Korephobia" first started, they were still "Korephobia."
Tang En knew that gossip was a fearful thing. Looking at the silent players in the bus, when had they not talked and laughed when they went to away games in the past?
They could not win in this state of mind. Their team's morale and desire to win had already been defeated before the game. How were they going to play the next game?
That would not do. But he was already prepared.
The bus driver was focused on driving when he suddenly realized that there was someone beside him. He turned his head to look. It turned out to be the team's manager, Mr. Tony Twain. He was holding a CD and playing it into the car's DVD player. With a hurried glance, he only saw the words "85 'LIVE _ AID" written on the cover of the CD.
Putting the CD into the player, Tang En fiddled with it again. Then, he stood at the front door of the bus with the remote control in hand. Looking at the players who had their heads lowered in silence or turned to look out the window, he pressed the play button.
Suddenly, a loud hum like that of the stadium's stands rang out from the car's stereo system. Cheers, applause, boos … all mixed together and suddenly sounded without warning, startling everyone in the bus.
Then, the noise gradually faded, and a familiar beat of drums rang out. The players in the bus raised their heads in surprise.
It was a clip of Queen performing at a charity concert held in London's Hyde Park in 1985 to help Africa and draw the public's attention to the areas that needed help the most. It was chosen by music critics as the greatest live rock performance in history. The song that rang out along with the drumming was the famous "We Will Rock You." It was a classic rhythm, a rhythm that could make people uncontrollably excited. Tang En noticed that the players in the bus were already tapping along to the beat.
"We Will Rock You" was very short, followed by "We Are the Champions," which everyone was more familiar with. Unlike the one recorded in the studio, this live version was more passionate, and the voice of Freddie Mercury (lead singer of Queen) was more explosive.
Then, amidst the singing, Tang En spoke.
"I intend to add a new rule to the team. In the future, before we go to the Millennium Stadium and Wembley Stadium to play this song on the team bus. Look at your surprised expressions … Do you think we'll only go once in our lives? " He smiled. "The EFL Cup final is just the beginning. There are still many more finals waiting for us. There are even more championship trophies waiting for us to win. So, I think it's necessary to set up such a tradition. Alright, guys, don't keep frowning. I know what you're worried about, but I don't think you need to worry about it at all. "
"At the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, the team that uses the south locker room cannot win. Such a curse has existed for some time, but this curse is not invulnerable. But this curse isn't invulnerable. You guys should know about Arsenal and Stoke City, right? They won the game, and they used the south locker room. "
"But, Boss." The honest Huth raised his hand. "That's because before the game, they hired that … that … that …"
He said "that" for a long time, but could not come up with the next word. In the end, everyone grinned at his "that."
Tang En had originally tilted his head to listen, but seeing that the German could not come up with the word, he could only say it for him. "Feng shui master. They hired a Chinese feng shui master to temporarily break the curse of the south locker room. "
Huth nodded his head vigorously, indicating that he meant it. The others in the bus also echoed.
Tang En spread his hands and pulled out something from behind his back like a magic trick. "Does anyone know what this is?"
He was holding a compass in his hand.
No one would know what it was. Everyone looked at the compass in Tang En's hand and shook their heads.
"I think you all know that I found a Chinese teacher, learned from her, and got good grades, right?"
Everyone nodded.
"Very good. Feng shui is also a part of China's traditional culture, so I happen to know how to do it." Tang En shamelessly put on the hat of "proficient in feng shui." In reality, not to mention now, even when he was in China, he knew very little about feng shui. "This is a compass. In China, it's used to survey feng shui and dispel inauspicious curses."
Hearing Tang En's words, the expressions in the players' eyes changed. Quite a number of them looked at their manager in surprise and seemed a little confused.
Tang En had a confident smile on his face. "Why? Would I lie to you? "He realized that he was really good at" acting "… Why did he not realize this talent in the past? "When I say we will win, have we ever failed?"
"No!" The players answered in unison. This was something that made them the proudest. Ever since Tony Twain took over this team midway through the season, Nottingham Forest had not tasted defeat in the league.
"Isn't that it? Don't worry, on the day of the game, I will definitely be able to break the curse of the south locker room at the Millennium Stadium! So, you don't have to worry about any curse at all. And I think … maybe, when the final is over, the media will start to hype up the 'north locker room curse' again! "
Everyone, including the bus driver who was originally focused on driving, burst into laughter.
"That's right, that's right! This is Nottingham Forest! "
The music from the speakers continued. The voice of the greatest band in British rock history was still full of passion.
"We are the champions! My friends! We are the champions! Because we are undefeated in every battle! We are the champions! We are the kings of the world! "
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We've fallen back to tenth place. My friends, let's support the monthly votes again and surpass the past! (To be continued, if you want to know what happens next, please log on to WWW. CMFU. com. More chapters. Support the author. Support original reading!)
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