The day after Fenerbahçe Football Club announced Anelka's transfer, Nottingham Forest's official website also published a large photo of Anelka and used an eye-catching headline to point out that Forest Team would welcome an excellent striker.
The high-profile publicity also confirmed the news from Turkey. The English media exploded.
It was almost one-sided in their pessimistic view of this transfer. Many people questioned Tang En's decision.
"… I can hardly believe my eyes. I thought this day was April 1st. That Anelka is back again! Damn it! Sorry for the profanity. Honestly, I can't figure out why Manager Tony Twain would choose this Frenchman. "
"Manager Tony Twain must be out of his mind to actually choose Anelka. Does he think his locker room is too calm? "
"What's so good about the Frenchman? There are many strikers who can score goals like him, but there are not many strikers in the world who give every manager headaches like him. "
"… Sorry. Actually, I think Manager Tony Twain wants to challenge himself."
"… That's good. We can take the opportunity to hype up Anelka's misdeeds in England over the past few years. But don't expect us to interview Anelka. "
"What puzzles me is why Anelka chose to return to England after just half a season. It looks like he's not happy in Turkey. But I think if he doesn't change his personality and fire his two agent brothers, he won't be happy anywhere. "
"To be honest, I'm not optimistic about Tony Twain's decision at all. Originally, I was full of expectations for Forest Team's new season, but now I've changed my mind."
…
Tang En shook the newspapers and complained in front of Dunn. "I never said I wanted to buy that Frenchman. I've basically helped Allan take the blame."
"But the media doesn't know about what happened between you two."
Of course, Tang En knew that. He paced back and forth in the room in frustration before retrieving his laptop from the room upstairs.
"What are you going to do?" Dunn asked, puzzled.
"Write a draft for my column. Scold those bastard media! "Tang En clenched his teeth and pressed the power button.
"Scold what? Scold them for not knowing about what happened between you and Allan and making things up? "
"No, I'm scolding them for questioning, criticizing, and mocking Anelka."
Dunn was so surprised by the answer that he stopped watching the video. He stood up and went behind Tang En to watch him open a Word document.
"Aren't you …"
Tang En knew what he was going to say, so he nodded. "That's right. I don't like the French striker's two agent brothers. I hate them, so I don't like the French striker either. But now that Anelka has become a member of the Forest team, he is considered my man. If the media wants to scold my players, I will not allow it. I can't let my own rules break with Anelka — no one can criticize my players except myself. If you want to beat a dog, you have to look at its owner, right? "
Dunn frowned and thought for a moment. "Are you angry that the media is questioning you?"
Twain shrugged. "Whatever you think." After that, he did not continue the conversation and typed quickly on the keyboard.
※ ※ ※
The next day, Tang En's column in the Nottingham Evening Post published the full text, completely refuting the media's various doubts and mockery of Anelka. In the eyes of many professional sports reporters, the purpose of the article was not to refute the media from time to time, but to express Tang En's attitude — he strongly supported Anelka.
As the reporter closest to Tang En, Pierce Brosnan knew Tang En's attitude toward the transfer deal. So, after receiving the draft, he was very curious as to why Tang En's attitude would take a 180-degree turn.
If he said it was out of love for his own men, Brosnan felt the explanation was a little far-fetched.
Like Brosnan, Nottingham Forest Club's chairman, Evan Doughty, also found it strange. In the afternoon, it was the press conference for Anelka to join the Forest team. He felt the need to clarify things.
Faced with this question, Tang En smiled mysteriously. "Whether I like Anelka or not, he's already here. I can't possibly tell Fenerbahçe that because I don't like him, you guys have to bring him back. That won't do, right? "
Evan nodded his head in agreement.
"Since he's already here, I can't possibly put him on the bench or send him to the reserve team just because I don't like him. That would be a waste of the club's money. So, I plan to use him well and let him be of the greatest use. "
Evan continued to nod. Even a fool would understand this logic. He did not understand what this had to do with his question.
Looking at the puzzled Evan, Tang En coughed. "The first part is all nonsense. Let me put it to you this way, Evan. There's a saying in China that goes, 'carrot and stick.' It means that both gentle and forceful methods must be used. You have to do this to deal with Anelka. Using a single method won't work. You have to let him know that the coach trusts him and supports him. At the same time, you have to let him know that if he plans to use this to do something out of line, there won't be any good results. Now, as a meeting gift, I'll let him experience the warmth of the team and the manager's support for him. In the future … "Tang En blinked.
※ ※ ※
At the press conference in the afternoon, Tang En displayed what he called "enthusiasm" in front of everyone. He praised Anelka's scoring ability, which gave the defenders headaches, but did not mention Anelka's similarly headache-inducing personality and temper. In short, if you had listened to Tang En's speech at the press conference, you would have felt that this was Forest Team's most important acquisition of the summer. Anelka was practically the hope of Forest Team's future.
Brosnan shook his head as he listened. Based on his understanding of Tang En, when Tang En praised someone so obviously and even slightly exaggeratedly, it often did not mean that the person being praised would have a good life.
However, Anelka, who had not had much contact with Tang En, did not know about these things. He was also very happy with the support and trust shown by the manager.
To be able to return to the heart of the world's football scene and have the support of the new team's manager, this made his speech at the press conference much more lively. Naturally, he also talked about his original intentions for joining Forest Team.
"Forest Team is a very aggressive team, and Manager Tang En is also a very capable manager. He has already talked to me. He has many great goals. I hope I can help him achieve those goals. "
Almost all the reporters rolled their eyes inwardly. Who would believe Anelka's words?
Would he believe it himself?
In the end, when Tang En and Anelka stood up and took a group photo holding the number 39 jersey, the reporters looked at Tang En's bright and even somewhat dazzling smile, and then looked at Anelka's slightly bashful yet confident smile. They all knew that this season's Forest Team would have a good show to watch …
(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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