That night, Tang En suffered from insomnia again. Ever since he came to Nottingham, he had been suffering from insomnia for three consecutive nights. The first two times were due to the fear of the unpredictable future, but this time, his insomnia had nothing to do with those boring things. After this night was over, he would be facing his first professional match as a manager.
An ordinary fan who could only watch others play football excitedly in front of the television, a pitiful otaku who could only vent his fanatical feelings for football through computer games, a pitiful virgin who had no luck with women and could only place all his energy on football, actually had the opportunity to stand on the professional football field and direct the matches of professional players who usually looked impressive and awesome. Enjoying the tsunami-like cheers from the stadium and accepting interviews from the media after the match, no matter what he said, it would have an impact on the public.
Such a thing seemed like a dream to Tang En. This was not FM or CM. This was a miracle happening to him! Thinking of the match tomorrow, he was so nervous and excited that he could not sleep. Just like that, he stared at the ceiling with his eyes wide open and imagined how he would perform the next day.
He did not know what time he fell asleep, but he knew that he did not get enough sleep. He had been yawning since he got up. He yawned when he got dressed, washed up, ate breakfast, and still yawned when he walked to the training base.
It was already the third time that the guard at the Wilford training base, Ian McDonald, was surprised to see the team's manager so early in the morning. "Tony …" He opened his mouth, but Tang En interrupted him.
"I know. The match will only be held in the afternoon. There won't be training in the morning. I just want to start my work now, can't I? Ah! "Tang En yawned again.
"Uh, of course." McDonald came out and opened the metal door.
As Tang En passed by him, he heard him say, "Good luck, Tony." So he stopped and turned back to look at McDonald.
The white-haired old man had a stable source of income — the benefits provided by the government after retirement. But he still came here to work, insisting on taking a symbolic salary of one hundred pounds a month. After the club fell into an economic crisis, he did not even take that one hundred pounds. He did it because he loved the club and the team, so he regarded working at the club as an honor. He was polite to everyone and always looked with respect at the players and coaches who came in and out of the building every day, as well as the occasional chairman. Even if the team's results were bad, no one had ever heard him complain or sigh.
McDonald was frightened by the look in Tang En's eyes. In the past, although Tony Twain was a man of few words, he was very gentle to everyone. He would always look at your face politely before bowing his head slightly to greet you, and then turn to leave. Why would he be like this … staring at you with a burning gaze that made you feel a little uneasy?
MacDonald did not know that when he was in China, Tang En was despised because he always looked at others with such an "impolite" gaze. However, Tang En had never thought of changing his behavior.
Just as Tang En was feeling a little uneasy under Tang En's gaze, Tang En suddenly grinned. "Ian, do you like winning?"
McDonald froze for a moment, then reacted. He nodded and said, "Of course, no one likes to lose, right?"
Tang En's smile became even brighter. The corners of his mouth seemed to reach his ears. He said, "Me too. Where will you be watching the match? "
MacDonald pointed to the guardhouse behind him. "I'll listen to the radio here, just like in the City Stadium."
Tang En nodded. "I hope you can constantly hear the news of our goals on the radio. Goodbye, and good luck to you too, Ian. "
"Goodbye …" Looking at Tang En's back as he turned to leave, MacDonald froze in place. He had not recovered from the conversation just now. He had never seen Tony Twain so talkative, so full of energy, and with such an obvious smile on his face.
Would being hit here really cause a change in a person's personality? Puzzled, he reached out to touch the back of his head.
Even though they had just experienced the tragedy of losing by three goals in the previous league match, the Forest fans still showed great enthusiasm for this FA Cup match. The match would only start after three in the afternoon. After lunch, people had already begun to gather at the City Stadium on the banks of the Trent River from all directions. Opposite the City Ground Stadium, there was another stadium across the river from them. That was Meadow Lane, the home ground of Forest's arch-rival, Notts County. The distance between the two stadiums was only 300 yards, and they were probably the two closest stadiums in the world for arch-rival stadiums.
Like most cities in England, Nottingham had two professional football teams. Moreover, these two teams were quite famous in history. Forest (founded in 1865) and their arch-rival in Nottingham, Notts County Football Club (founded in 1862), were recognized as one of the four oldest football teams in the world. The other two were Stoke City (founded in 1863) and Chesterfield (founded in 1866).
Incidentally, the jerseys of the famous Juventus and Arsenal teams in today's football world originated from these two teams in Nottingham. Juventus' black and white striped jerseys came from Notts County giving their own team's jersey to the Italian team. Arsenal, on the other hand, was closely related to Nottingham Forest from the day it was founded. Their club's founders were two players from Forest: Freddy Beardsley and Morris Bates. Before the team's official match, Beardsley used his connections to ask for a batch of jerseys from Nottingham Forest. As a result, Arsenal's jersey was mainly red, just like Nottingham Forest. It was not until 1925 that they changed to the classic red shirt with white sleeves.
In the early history of English football, these two teams from Nottingham were very successful. They had both won the FA Cup. However, in the later years, the trajectory of the two teams gradually deviated. Notts County, which was rooted in the mining class, had always been poor due to a lack of financial support. As the representative of the city's middle class, Nottingham Forest ushered in the club's most glorious page at the end of the seventies.
Under the leadership of the legendary manager, Brian Clough, the team experienced a meteoric rise.
The legend of Kaiserslautern was amazing, right? The team won the First Division title in the first year they were promoted from the Second Division to the First Division. Clough's team did this 20 years ago. They were promoted from the Second Division to the First Division (the highest league in England at that time, equivalent to the current Premier League), and then began the legend of dominating English football. In the first season after they were promoted to the First Division, the Forest team won 25 games, drew 14 games, and only lost 3 games to accumulate 64 points. (At that time, the world of football was still in the era of two points system. A win was worth two points, a draw was worth one point, and a loss was worth zero points.) They became the league champion.
In the seventies, the English football and European football was dominated by Liverpool. At that time, the only team that was qualified to challenge Liverpool, the only team that could beat Liverpool three times in a year, and the only team that could make Liverpool feel fear was Nottingham Forest, who was also dressed in red. After successfully winning the First Division title, the Forest team defeated the defending champion, Liverpool, in the first game of the Champions League the following season. In the end, they defeated the dark horse, Malmo, in Sweden, which was coached by Houghton, and became the king of Europe that season. In the 1979-1980 season, the Forest team successfully defended their European title. This time, they defeated Germany's Hamburg team, which had the European Footballer of the Year and England's top scorer, Kevin Keegan.
During this period, the most astonishing thing was that from the 0: 0 draw with West Bromwich Albion on November 26, 1977, until the 0: 2 loss to Liverpool on December 9, 1978, Clough's Forest team created a record of 42 consecutive matches without a defeat in the English top league. This record was only broken by Wenger's Arsenal team 26 years later in the new century.
Of course, history was always glorious, especially for England, the birthplace of modern football. It was no surprise how glorious the history was. Compared to the glorious past, the current situation of the Forest team and Notts County could only be described as "heartache." Notts County had faced economic crises many times, and even went through 18 months of darkness at the beginning of the new century. In the end, a consortium and an FA Cup match with Chelsea saved the team. Before that match, Chelsea agreed to give all the ticket revenue to Notts County to save the oldest football club in the world. Nottingham Forest was slightly better than their city rivals, but the team's past was too glorious. The fans always had the illusion that they should achieve the same results as they did in the past, and not be content in the lower leagues and fall like Notts County.
The current Forest team seemed to be lacking in confidence when facing West Ham United. After all, West Ham's historical achievements were far less than the Forest team's.
This was a match in the third round of the English FA Cup. Originally, it was not planned to be broadcast live on television, but because the current situation of the participating teams was not good, and all of them desperately needed a victory, BBC chose to broadcast it live. They felt that this match was enough of a hot topic. Of course, Tony Twain was also one of the hot topics, because he had just become the first manager in the history of English football to be injured by his own players during a match.
※ ※ ※
The weather was good today, and the sun was so bright that it did not feel like winter. It was the complete opposite of the gloomy and rainy weather from two days ago. When Twain alighted from the team's bus, he could not help but squint at the bright sunlight outside. It was a little dazzling.
As the manager, he was the second to alight from the bus. The first to alight was the assistant manager, Des Walker, who received a warm welcome from the surrounding fans. They chanted Walker's name and applauded him. Walker had played for Nottingham Forest for many years, and was also one of the witnesses to Nottingham's final glory. It was understandable that he received such respect from the fans.
But when Twain's feet touched the ground, he was greeted by ear-piercing boos. He raised his head and realized that the people who were booing him were very familiar — they were the middle-aged men who he had a direct confrontation with in Burns Bar. He could recognize them at a glance because their leader had a piece of gauze on his forehead. It looked very funny and very eye-catching.
Walker clearly did not expect the manager to be faced with such a situation. He stood there, somewhat at a loss. Like him, Michael Dawson, who was about to alight from the bus, was also at a loss. He had one foot out of the bus door and was suspended in mid-air when he heard the sudden boos. He raised his head to look at the fans in astonishment, thinking that he had been booed.
It was Twain who reached out and pulled him down from the bus. Seeing the team's new hope, the boos stopped abruptly. Then, an extremely awkward split occurred among the fans — Michael Dawson was the team's future hope and was rather popular among the fans. Such a player must and should receive cheers and applause when he appeared. But the person who pulled him down was the acting manager, Twain, whom they had just booed. If they cheered, would it be taken as a compliment to Twain?
Twain was very satisfied with the fans' performance. He knew it would turn out this way. He patted Dawson's shoulder and gestured for him to go to the changing room. Seeing that Dawson had finally left Twain, the fans prepared to boo Twain, who was still in front of the bus door. At that moment, Twain walked into the bus and pulled down another person, Andy Reid, who was a young talent like Dawson and also the team's star of hope. They had just put their hands into their mouths when they had no choice but to put them down again.
Twain looked at the awkward expressions on their faces and grinned smugly.
Reid, who was beside him, felt a little strange. It was the first time he had seen the manager so passionately personally take them down from the bus. "Boss, what are you laughing at?"
Twain looked at the fans beside him and said, "Nothing. I think we might be able to obtain a victory."
This time, he did not leave Reid's side. The two of them walked together into the narrow passageway leading to the changing room. The fans put their fingers to their mouths a few times, but in the end, they were unable to boo them out.
"This sly fox!" The leader, Michael, put down his hands in frustration and punched the metal railing in front of him.
Twain's behavior in the past two days had been a little abnormal. Strictly speaking, it was the past four days — ever since he was knocked to the ground by David Johnson on the first of January, he had been very abnormal. He was like a completely different person from the previously quiet and somewhat gloomy Tony Twain. The players were very worried about this. They did not know if the nerves in his brain had been damaged, or if there would be any terrifying sequelae, such as dementia, amnesia, schizophrenia …
So, in the changing room, the person who was endlessly lecturing them on tactics was not the manager, but one of the assistant managers, Des Walker. No one found it strange. Instead, it was the silent old man beside him, Ian Bowyer, who was even gloomier than Tony Twain. He appeared to be the odd one out. He was usually the one doing these things, but now it had become Walker's job. Even a fool could tell that Bowyer was very disappointed after Tony Twain was promoted from the youth team to the First Team manager.
That was normal. Bowyer had been working in the team for a long time, and was already 51 years old this year. He was the oldest in the coaching staff. He had also played for Forest twice, and was a key player in Forest's two UEFA Champions League titles. However, his interactions with Tony Twain were pitifully little. Twain had previously followed Paul Hart, leading the youth team to train and compete. After Paul Hart became the First Team manager, he became the youth team's manager. Ian Bowyer had always been the First Team's assistant manager. He had assisted many managers, including Brian Clough's successor, Frank Clark, Frank Clark's successor, Stuart Pearce, Pearce's successor, Dave Bassett, Aaron Atkinson, David Platt, and Paul Hart. However, Tony Twain's name was not among them.
Although the two of them were in the same club, they were not in the same training ground. The youth team and the First Team's training ground were separated by an alley less than five meters wide, but it was as if they were separated by half of Nottingham City. The taciturn Tony Twain was not enthusiastic about the various social activities and gatherings. He and Bowyer did not interact at all. At most, they would greet each other with a nod when they bumped into each other at the training ground, and then they would go their separate ways.
Right now, the atmosphere in the locker room was like that of strangers passing by each other. Tony Twain's right-hand man, Des Walker, was arranging the upcoming matches for the players, while the other assistant manager, Ian Bowyer, sat by the wall and watched the show.
Where was the real main character, Tony Twain?
He was not in the changing room. He was in the toilet.
Other than the toilets in the two changing rooms, there were ten toilets of different sizes in the City Ground stadium. Most of them were open to the fans, and there were two resting corridors outside the VIP boxes. The smallest one was reserved for the home team's staff. The home team's manager could smoke there and relieve his stress before the match.
That was what Twain was doing now.
Originally, after a morning, he felt that he was not as nervous anymore. However, when he saw the football jerseys and shoes arranged by the staff in the changing room in advance, his heart began to beat wildly uncontrollably. So, he found an excuse that he had to use the toilet, threw everything to Walker, and slipped here by himself.
The toilet reserved for the staff was in a very remote corner under the stadium's main stands, and people rarely came here. Through a glass window outside the toilet, he could see the stadium, the green grass that was shining under the sun, and the stands that were gradually filled with fans.
Out of habit, Twain took out a cigarette from his pocket. Only when he reached out to grab the empty space did he remember that Tony Twain did not smoke or drink.
He grumbled and leaned against the wall again.
This was not the Football Manager game that he had played many times. It was not Championship Football Manager (CM) or Football Manager (FM). It was a professional league and a professional team that truly existed on this planet. If he lost, he could not reload, and there was no way to win against a difficult opponent by adding a new manager. If he lost, so be it. He might even lose the most important match of his life. In this game, there was no way to quit midway, even if he pressed Alt + F4.
Actually, wasn't life always like that? Everyone would always complain, "If only I had done this and that, I wouldn't be like this and that now." From the looks of it, Twain had to thank fate for giving him a chance to reload. Even though he had only restarted four years ago, and he was reading someone else's file.
But so what? Since this body belonged to him now, he would work hard for once and not waste his time. From another perspective, he could be considered to have let down the previous owner of this body.
At that moment, there was a faint singing outside. It felt like what Twain had seen on the television broadcast, except that the voice was softer. He decided to listen carefully to find out what they were singing. However, the singing was soon interrupted by boos. Twain retracted his head and smiled helplessly.
It was so real. This was professional football.
He realized that the nervousness in his heart had unknowingly subsided, and what was left was anticipation for the future. After taking another look at the green field and the stands, he turned and walked towards the team's changing room.
Professional football, here I come.
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