The Forest team won their first victory of the season, which was not small news in Nottingham. For several days, the reports revolved around the game against Manchester City. Keegan's life became more difficult, but Twain could not care less. The pressure on his head was temporarily removed. Now the team's internal and external environment were impeccable.
He could prepare for the UEFA Europa League qualifier on September 16 and the first leg of the game against Ostrava.
If Ostrava were not playing in the UEFA Europa League qualifier, Twain might not have understood them at all. Even after understanding them, Twain did not think the team would cause any trouble for the Forest team, not to mention that they were playing at home.
The team's morale was high. If it was difficult to play against a Czech Republic team at home, then they could forget about doing anything in the UEFA Europa League.
The facts proved that Twain's reassurance made sense.
Nottingham Forest easily beat the visiting Ostrava 3: 0 at their home ground. Although the opponent was weak, the City Ground stadium was full again as the "opening game" for the Forest team's return to the European arena after eight years. It had been more than a month since the start of the English Premier League, and the City Ground stadium had the highest attendance according to official statistics — all full, 100%!
It could be seen how anxious the Nottingham Forest supporters were to be able to appear in the top competition. Their emotions, suppressed for eight years, were all released and clearly felt by the whole of England.
After beating Ostrava 3: 0 at home, the Nottingham people were still immersed in joy. It looked like the team was almost certain to advance in the next away leg.
With their first victory in the league tournament and a three-goal lead in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League qualifier, it looked like the Forest team had been doing well recently. But in the away game against Fulham on September 18, the Forest team wasted three opportunities to score and could only shake hands with the opponent 1: 1.
In the general plan that Twain developed for the team this season, Twain requested that teams ranked below the top ten should try to get three points, regardless of home or away. As a newly promoted team, the Forest team could only grab points against teams of similar strength. If they lost too many points against these teams, the Forest team would really have to fight to avoid relegation.
Such a result of the game naturally did not satisfy Twain. But for the team, he still had to smile and reduce the pressure on the young people.
The pressure should not be transferred to the players. The pressure must be borne by the manager alone. This was the way Tang En insisted on teaching.
At the post-match press conference, a reporter asked why the Forest team's performance was always up and down. When everyone thought they could win, they could not win.
In this regard, Tang En felt that Forest was a relatively young team. It was normal for their performance to be unstable. There was no need to make a fuss about it.
Despite what he said, Tang En did not intend to be lenient toward this group of players who were performing erratically. On the day the match ended, Sen left the team and took the bus back to Nottingham. Even though the next match was four days later on September 22nd, Tang En announced on the bus that the one-day holiday after the match was canceled.
Now, the players who thought that Twain was not angry after reading the news reports knew that the boss was very dissatisfied with the team's current unstable results.
After six rounds of the league tournament, the Forest team achieved one win, four draws and one loss. With seven points, they were even tied with Liverpool. Logically speaking, as a newly promoted team, they should be satisfied with such a start. But Tang En was not someone who was willing to accept the status quo. How could they allow the gap to widen at the start when they had the banner of a newly promoted team but had a plan to compete with the top six teams in the league?
Arsenal was at the top with five wins and one draw, with 16 points. Mourinho's Chelsea was close behind with four wins and two draws. In third place was Moyes's Everton with four wins, one draw and one loss. Tang En felt that if they had won the match against Fulham, the Forest team would have accumulated nine points. At the very least, they would be ranked between seventh and ninth in the second division. But now, the Forest team was only ranked 13th.
On this week's Match of the Day program on BBC, Lineker and Mark Lawrenson talked about the Forest team and Tony Twain. Lawrenson, who had shaved his beard, seemed determined to play a role that Tang En did not like. In the program, he said that Tony Twain of League One claimed to pursue victory. The results of the team he led were in line with his statement. The Forest team's win rate was very high, ranking first among all the teams in League One. But when it came to the English Premier League, Tang En did not talk about "pursuing victory." Clearly, he had learned his lesson and knew that the English Premier League was different from the lower-level leagues. Being arrogant was not the way to get a good ranking.
Tang En had yet to express his opinion on this, but the local media in Nottingham were having none of it. Pierce Brosnan wrote an article to refute Lawrenson's nonsense and believed that Lawrenson's unfair comments about Tang En and the Forest team were because he had lost his beard in a bet. He harbored a grudge and was waiting for an opportunity to take revenge.
The English Premier League had never lacked such lively scenes.
Since Brosnan was standing up for him, Tang En could not be bothered to waste his energy on the media. He focused on leading the team to train and prepare for the next round of competition. In the seventh round of the league, Nottingham Forest would be facing Chelsea at home. This was definitely going to be a tough battle!
※ ※ ※
It was an ordinary Monday morning on September 20th. The sun shone brightly. Tang En was leading the team in training as usual. He suddenly saw the club chairman, Evan Doughty, who had not shown his face for a long time, appear at the side of the training ground.
For the chairman to appear here, he must have something to discuss with Tang En. Tang En gestured for David to continue training, then turned around and walked off the training ground.
"Evan, I don't see you here very often. If you appear, then it must be something big! "Tang En joked with Evan as he walked towards him. Although the team's current results were average, Tang En was always optimistic in front of Evan.
"Yes, it's really something big … Tony, I just received a call from Derby County Hospital." Evan did not return Tang En's joke with a smile. Instead, he said with a straight face, "Brian Clough has just passed away because of stomach cancer."
Tang En was stunned for a moment, thinking that he did not hear clearly. "What did you say?"
"Mrs. Clough hopes that you can attend the private funeral tomorrow. I know the feelings between you and Boss, Tony … "Evan patted Tang En on the shoulder and did not continue speaking. Instead, he turned around and left the training ground.
Tang En stood alone at the side of the field, staring at Evan's back in a daze. For a moment, he could not react.
Just as Evan's back disappeared, Tang En saw Pierce Brosnan stumble outside the barbed wire fence. He gestured at Tang En with all his might, hoping that he would go over.
Tang En walked over. Brosnan asked, panting, "Tony … Tony, I called you … Didn't you receive the call?"
"I don't bring my cell phone with me when I train …"
"I … I just received the news and came to inform you on the way: Clough … Brian Clough has passed away!" Brosnan said with wide eyes. To him, this was a major event in Nottingham's football history, a very, very major event. However, Tang En's reaction was not as intense as he had imagined.
"Evan … Mr. Chairman just informed me that I've been invited to attend the private funeral tomorrow." Tang En pointed in the direction where Evan had disappeared. When he said this, there was no shock or sadness on his face at all.
Brosnan looked at Tang En, then nodded and said, "Then I'll leave first. I still have to go to Derby County to follow up on this."
"Goodbye, Mr. Reporter."
"Goodbye, Tony."
When Brosnan also disappeared from his sight, Tang En's brain seemed to react — someone had just died.
(To be continued, if you want to know what happened after, please log on to WWW. CMFU. com. More chapters. Support the author. Support original reading!)
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