Perhaps it was because of that joyous Christmas dinner, but George Wood was in surprisingly good form. The voices that doubted him a few weeks ago had not completely disappeared, but he slapped those doubters again and again with a steady performance.
The next day, the Forest team beat Southampton by 2: 1 at home. Although they continued to concede goals in goal, they still won in the end.
On December 28th, the Forest team challenged Manchester City in an away game. Tang En's intention to rectify the defense in this game was clear. At the Maine Road stadium, he arranged for a defensive counterattack strategy. In the end, under Manchester City's fierce attack, they did not fight back, but their defense was fully tested. George Wood, the defensive midfielder who partnered with Gunnarsson in the starting lineup for this game, once again received unanimous praise after the game. With Manchester City pressing the Forest team's half of the field and bombarding indiscriminately, it was his excellent performance that helped Darren Ward resolve the dangerous situation in front of the goal several times, allowing the Forest team to take a point from the away game.
Kevin Keegan indignantly told the reporters at the post-game press conference, "It's really unfair. We are playing with eleven players, and Nottingham Forest is playing with twelve players!"
Of course, he was not saying that the Forest team only got a point with the help of the referee. In fact, the referee for this game was biased towards the home team, Manchester City. This was also very normal — would there be a referee biased towards the away team?
The twelfth person Keegan was talking about was George Wood. Exactly half of the season had passed, 20 rounds of the league tournament, six UEFA Cup games, and the EFL Cup game. George Wood did not miss any game or any minute. His physical strength was not affected by full attendance at all. He ran from the first second to the last second in the game against Manchester City at the same speed throughout.
He was very good at using his body to make up for his lack of skills and experience.
No wonder Keegan felt depressed. His words were similar to the previous evaluation of the Brazilian right back, Cafu, as "a man with three lungs."
Since he not only successfully defended against Cristiano Ronaldo in the game against Manchester United, but also scored the equalizer in the final minute of the game, George Wood had a faint tendency to become the hottest rookie in the Premier League.
Recently, there had been more topics about Wood. Of course, the difference from before was that it was doubt, but now it was flattery.
However, Tang En was not worried that such mushy flattery would cause Wood to lose his composure and ruin the kid's future. Because he knew what kind of person Wood was, he did not care about these praises at all. He did not realize what benefits this kind of reputation would bring him.
※ ※ ※
The day after the game, the Nottingham Forest Football Club held an internal Christmas reception, where various awards were presented to reward the outstanding players in the Forest team in the past year. The selection method was to propose candidates through internal voting within the team, and then everyone would vote anonymously. In other words, if someone could be chosen as the best, then he must have been recognized by everyone.
Freddy Eastwood won the honor of the team's Player of the Year for his excellent and stable play and his repeated goals at crucial moments since he joined the team.
As expected, the trophy for the team's Rookie of the Year was taken by George Wood.
According to the usual practice, every winner must go on stage to give an acceptance speech. Eastwood himself was eloquent, and this kind of impromptu speech was child's play to him. He easily made everyone laugh, and the atmosphere reached a climax.
George Wood had never stood on stage like this and spoke in front of so many people. Tang En did not know whether it would be more difficult for Wood to deal with such a scene or for him and Roy Keane to fight again.
When he read out "the winner of the Rookie of the Year is George Wood," there was a warm applause in the stadium, and some people even whistled excitedly.
Wood sat next to his mother, still a little surprised by the result announced by Tang En. He turned his head to look at his teammates who were cheering and whistling for him, as if he could not believe his popularity was so good.
Tang En stood on the stage, holding a transparent trophy in his hand and shaking it at Wood. "George, if you don't come up to receive the award, I'll take this home!"
Everyone roared with laughter.
Amidst the laughter, Sophia adjusted the collar of her son's shirt under his suit and said to Wood with pride and affection, "Go ahead, George. It's not polite to make people wait. "
Only then did Wood get up and walk up to the stage. He took the trophy from Tang En and held it in his hands. The coolness from the cup made him calm down.
"Say something, George." Tang En handed a microphone to Wood.
Wood gripped the microphone in his hand and bit his lip as he looked at the pairs of expectant eyes below.
What should he say?
When he was still working as a porter, the men around him were football fans who would enthusiastically discuss yesterday's football game in their spare time. Most of them were Nottingham Forest supporters. At that time, he never thought he would become a Nottingham Forest player and become the center of their discussions after work. He felt that world was too far away from him, until one day he "bumped into" someone on the street and everything changed.
"I …" Wood finally opened his mouth after being stunned for a long time. "Before, before, I never thought, never thought I would become a professional footballer."
Could it really be a long speech? Tang En was secretly delighted.
"I won't say anything …"
The hall was quiet. Everyone was holding their breath. They knew that Wood wouldn't say much because it was rare to hear him say so much in one breath. It was rare for him to stand in front of everyone and speak like this.
"I don't know what to say … It's harder than getting me to score against Manchester United …" Wood said with a straight face, but the audience below the stage burst into laughter. Even Tang En, who was standing behind him, chuckled.
"So, I can only thank everyone …" He bowed slightly to the audience below the stage and walked off.
A round of applause followed.
Even though he said too little, Tang En did not ask him to say more. For a boy who rarely interacted with others, this was already a great improvement. Growth was a long process. You could not ask for more.
Wood, who returned to his seat, received an encouraging kiss from his mother. He looked a little embarrassed.
Next was the Youth Team Player of the Year award. The recipient was Gareth Bale, whom Tang En had brought from Southampton. Even though he was only 15 years old, he had long been transferred to the Under 18 Youth Team as an exception. Now, Tang En was waiting for him to turn 16 and then sign a professional contract with him, firmly tying his future here.
After the main event was over, the atmosphere was very relaxed. There were all kinds of strange awards. Tang En was an expert at adjusting the atmosphere, whether it was in the changing room, beside the football field, or here. He was always able to make everyone laugh.
After fighting for half a season, whether it was the coaches or the players, everyone could finally put aside the damned opponents, the damned scoreboard, and the damned season goals … and relax for a while.
After the award ceremony was the reception. Tang En became the busiest person. He dragged Shania, who came to play, to hold a glass of wine and look for autographs …
If he did not tell them Shania's real age, probably no one would think she was a child, right?
Everyone nodded and smiled as they gave Shania an autograph. At the same time, they were gossiping in their hearts: Oh, so she was the girl who went out to eat with Boss that night!
Of course, Tang En knew what these guys were thinking, but he pretended not to see it. He led Shania to greet them one by one, introducing them, and asking for autographs. Turning from one side to the other, and back again, he felt dizzy.
He did not notice when he led Shania to Evan and Allan. "The two of them are …" He had just started when he realized something was wrong. He looked up and saw the club chairman and marketing manager smiling at him.
"Tony, do we need autographs too?" They laughed.
"Uh …" Tang En scratched his head in embarrassment, but still introduced Shania to the two of them. "Judy Shania Jordana."
Evan nodded. "I know you, Miss Jordana. I saw you at a fashion show last week. "
Shania's eyes widened in surprise, let alone Tang En. However, Shania was surprised that the club chairman knew about the small brand's fashion show. Tang En was surprised that she had already started walking the runway at such a young age?
"Yeah." Evan sized up Shania, who was now dressed very casually. "You're completely different from how you are now on the runway. I didn't recognize you just now. I only remembered when Tony introduced you. "
Shania put on a straight face and raised her head slightly. She glanced sideways at Tang En and said to Evan Doughty, "Is that so?"
Evan smiled. "That's right. That's the feeling."
Shania's expression returned to normal. She stuck out her tongue. "I don't like it. But it's a model …"
Evan and Allan nodded in understanding. Tang En's attention was attracted by the cold side of Shania. He had never seen Shania like this. She gave off a cold feeling that kept people a thousand miles away. So model Shania was like this …
No wonder Shania did not like to be a model. She should be the kind of girl who was naturally happy and lively. It was really … inhumane for her to put on a straight face and scare people at this age.
I don't like this Shania either. Tang En thought to himself.
(To be continued. If you want 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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