The addition of two championship-level players, Albertini and Hierro, was a great morale booster. Overall, the current Forest team could be considered a young team. They were full of vigor and ambition, but they lacked experience. Hierro and Albertini, two veteran players who had led powerhouse teams to UEFA Champions League glory, could bring the experience and steadiness they needed to the youngsters. Tang En believed that the team would benefit a lot from these old guys, whether it was in training or in the game.
He had to admit that when he went to look for these two old guys, it was partly out of selfishness as a fan who had once liked them. However, the difference between the Forest team having these veterans and not having them was quite obvious. This could be seen from the training. Young people always liked to imitate famous players. Albertini and Hierro were also happy to teach the kids during training.
Piqué might be a Barcelona man, but Hierro, the former Real Madrid captain, took good care of the Spanish lads.
As for Albertini, Tang En specifically asked George Wood to learn from Albertini. Not only did he learn his defensive positions and running routes, but he also wanted to learn his ability to organize attacks. Albertini was not just a defensive midfielder.
Tang En had high hopes for Wood. He also wanted Wood to be more well-rounded. He did not want to lose his talent in defense, but he could not leave his offensive side blank.
Many times, he would praise the achievements of Hierro and Albertini in front of the entire team, hinting to the players that they were their role models.
Privately, he also hoped that Hierro and Albertini could help the youngsters in the team. For this kind of thing, the two old men would not refuse.
This summer, Manchester United and Arsenal were not as active in the transfer market as before. As a result, Chelsea, who had just changed managers, and Nottingham Forest, who had been promoted in a high-profile manner, attracted a lot of attention.
After Mourinho took over at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea successively brought in Robben, Kezman, Čech, Drogba, and many other strong players. In addition, Mourinho also brought in his direct subordinates from Porto — Carvalho, Ferreira, and Tiago.
As Chelsea's new manager, Mourinho came with the title of UEFA Champions League champion, a title that was much more glorious than Tony Twain's.
What excited the British media was that Mourinho was clearly not someone to be trifled with. When he came to Chelsea and started working, what he said to the players was exposed by the media on the first day of team training.
"Standing in front of me is a group of outstanding players, but lads, you have to remember — standing in front of you is a great manager. I, Mourinho, am a UEFA Champions League manager! "
Before that, at a press conference held by the Chelsea club to welcome him, he told the camera bluntly, "Don't call me a megalomaniac. I'm a European champion. I think I'll try the most special one."
No matter what others thought, the media was amused. Tony Twain had just led the Forest team into the English Premier League and made Mark Lawrenson shave his beard in front of the entire British television audience. Everyone still remembered the scene. Now, there was another Portuguese who was not inferior to him at all. He spoke fluent English and exuded the mature charm of a successful man. No matter how one looked at him, he would become an outstanding media figure.
The only thing that the media regretted was that, as of mid-July, the two most characterful managers had not had a direct confrontation in the transfer market. The Forest team had blocked Manchester United and Arsenal's interest in the transfer market in succession. Only Chelsea seemed to mind their own business.
※ ※ ※
Allan did some calculations for Twain regarding his expenses during the transfer period. In the end, Twain was surprised to find that he did not spend much money. Could it be that he was used to being poor?
So far, the Forest team had bought a total of seven players. They had only spent 220,000 pounds on Piqué, 200,000 pounds on Bendtner, and one million on Lennon. They had gotten Ribéry, Albertini, and Hierro for free. One million to buy Chimbonda from Bastia. The center back, Matthew Upson, was the Forest team's biggest expenditure — four million.
Saving money was good, but Allan hoped that Twain would continue to increase his investment in the transfer market. Although Albertini and Hierro were championship-level players in Twain's eyes, they were old and their appeal was not as good as before. Twain had previously focused on how to maximize the team's ability and ignored the needs of the market.
Allan told Twain very clearly that he hoped he would consider bringing in a popular player. If possible, it would be best if it was a striker.
In Twain's eyes, the only people on the Forest team who were capable of playing in the English Premier League were Freddy Eastwood, Peter Crouch, and Nicklas Bendtner. The latter was too young and would probably become a substitute to gradually train. As for David Johnson … Twain had originally planned to loan him out, but Johnson hoped to stay on the Forest team.
Twain was not at ease with the three strikers. Adding a striker was imperative.
He picked up his list of candidates. This list was specifically used to record the names and information of the players he was interested in. Originally, this function should have been replaced by the "player database system" that Twain had proposed before Christmas last year. However, when he received the beta version sent by the United States in the recent summer, it only took him 15 minutes to decide to stop working with the American IT company. This system was very, very idiotic and very, very unfriendly. There were many, many problems when using it. There were so many bugs that Twain could not be bothered to count. At that time, there were many things to do and he did not have time to deal with this matter, so he temporarily left it there. Now, he could only use the most traditional pen and paper to replace the computer program.
Twain had to continue looking at them one by one, circling the names of the players he was interested in. Putting aside whether the Forest team could buy them, as long as Twain thought they were good players, he would circle them and mark them. He would only refine the list after he was done combing through them.
Crespo, the Argentine national footballer. Whether in terms of ability or market appeal, he was one of the best. Furthermore, Crespo's relationship with Chelsea's manager, Mourinho, was not very good. Several days after Mourinho took office, the arrogant Portuguese said when talking about Crespo, "I haven't seen Crespo at all since I came here. Have you seen him? "It seemed feasible to apply to Chelsea for a transfer at this time. However, the reality was that Crespo had long received Ancelotti's promise. AC Milan was in contact with Chelsea, hoping to get the Argentine main striker.
Twain put a cross on Crespo's name.
Kluivert, the Dutch national footballer and Barcelona's striker. However, his days at Camp Nou seemed to have come to an end. Ever since the introduction of Eto 'o and Giuly, coupled with the gradual rise of Messi, Kluivert, who could not find his form, had lost his position as the main striker. It was naturally a wise choice to leave Barcelona at this time. But would he come to the Forest team? Obviously not. Newcastle had just announced that Kluivert was one of them.
Kluivert's name also had an additional cross.
Kanu? Twain would naturally not want someone who had been abandoned by Arsenal.
…
After looking around, Twain's gaze locked onto two players from the same team.
Leeds United finally fell into League One last season. For the fans who liked Leeds United, it was a heartbreaking matter. However, for the managers of other teams, it was a good opportunity to make big purchases.
Twain was not a Leeds United fan, so he was happy to see Leeds United relegated and went bankrupt as he wished. They had no choice but to sell off the team's star players to pay off their debts.
He took a fancy to Leeds United's two strikers — Alan Smith and Mark Viduka.
Strictly speaking, Smith was not a striker. He was more like a midfielder than a striker. However, Twain thought that a striker with Smith's style could improve the Forest team's attacking power in the front field. Of course, he knew that, according to his memory, Smith had gone to Manchester United this summer. But since he had already snatched Piqué from Manchester United, why not work hard to snatch Smith away?
The only problem was the player's individual will. Smith's contract with Leeds United had expired. He was already a free agent in the summer. He could choose to go to the team he wanted to go to the most and not be at the mercy of the club. This put the Forest team at a disadvantage in the competition with Manchester United from the start.
In fact, Twain really wanted to tell Smith that going to Manchester United did not mean that his career had reached its peak. Instead, it was a sweet trap. But he could not say it. Why? Because even if he said it, Smith would not believe him. He would only think that it was a ploy to persuade him to join the Forest team.
Joining a powerhouse club would give him more opportunities to obtain glory than in a newly promoted team, right? If I don't go to Manchester United, why should I choose Nottingham Forest?
Nottingham Forest's Tony Twain lost to Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson in the battle for Alan Smith's signature. The attraction of a powerhouse club was something that Nottingham Forest could not compare to.
For young players, he could still attract them to join by promising them stable opportunities to appear on the field. But for mature players who no longer needed stable appearances to train themselves and were eager to obtain glory, Twain really did not have any good ideas.
(To be continued. If you want to know what happened next, please log on to WWW. CMFU. com. More chapters. Support the author. Support original reading!)
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