During the afternoon training session the next day, his teammates curiously asked about the details of Albertini's farewell match. They were all football players, so they were very interested in those legendary football stars.
Albertini did not refuse to answer everyone's endless questions. For many of the current players in the Forest team, Balesi, Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard, Stoichkov, and the others were all considered legends.
He was happy to tell everyone the stories of these people.
Of course, under the premise that it did not affect the training, he always said these things during the training interval.
Tang En did not stop them. He felt that the stories of the legendary star players could inspire the determination of the young players to strive forward.
After the training, Albertini found Tang En and expressed his gratitude for his support yesterday. He then mentioned the text message.
"Thank you, boss, but I think I already have a very good farewell match. To be able to complete my final contract with the Forest team is my biggest wish now. " Albertini was such a down-to-earth and direct person. He straightforwardly put forward his thoughts.
Tang En, who was used to Albertini's way of doing things, was not angry. He looked at Albertini with a grin. "Are you satisfied? But I'm not satisfied yet, Demetrio. My captain, how could he only have such an insignificant farewell match? The best player in the world needs a special stage for his curtain call. An exhibition match? I don't think it suits you. "
"But …"
"Yesterday's game was just your farewell to AC Milan. You don't object to me saying that, do you?"
Albertini shook his head. He thought so too.
"You see, now we have no differences. Yesterday was just your farewell to AC Milan, but not your farewell to Nottingham Forest and the football field. So, the Nottingham Forest Football Club needs to prepare another farewell match for you. This is the Forest team's farewell ceremony to their captain. Don't refuse. "Tang En pointed to Albertini, who had just opened his mouth and closed it again. "There has never been such a rule. When a team's captain retires, the team has no expression at all."
Tang En looked at the silent Albertini and continued, "Is it because you can't hold any other team in your heart except AC Milan, Demetrio?"
This time, Albertini hurriedly explained, "No, boss. It's not like that … It's just that I feel like it's for me … "
"It's nothing, Demetrio. Do you think we'll go around the world looking for people to play an exhibition match that doesn't care about the result? "
Albertini tacitly agreed.
Tang En smiled.
"Didn't I tell you? I don't want to give you a farewell match like that. Don't worry, regarding your farewell match, it definitely won't be troublesome or difficult for all of us. Don't think about it. Just focus on training and competing. Farewell match … When that day comes, everything will be ready. That's the perfect stage for you … "
Albertini was speechless. Looking at Tang En's confident smile, he nodded. "Alright, I'll listen to you, Boss."
Tang En smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Go back, Demetrio. Let me think about this kind of thing. You just need to enjoy the last half of the season. "
After Albertini left, Tang En talked about the matter on the way home with Dunn. Dunn was also very interested in what kind of farewell match Tang En would give Albertini. He did not expect Tang En to be surprised when he asked the question.
"You don't know, Dunn? I thought you knew a lot. "
Dunn thought about it and understood. "Now I know. But if you're really so confident … Now you're giving gifts everywhere, to Albertini, to Beckham, to Kenny Burns, to the club chairman … Aren't you afraid that you'll mess it up in the end? "
"I have confidence in my team." Tang En put away the smile on his face and said seriously, "I think it's time to win the championship."
※ ※ ※
On January 13th, the Premier League reignited after a week of rest. In the 23rd round, Nottingham Forest faced Portsmouth at home. The opponent was not strong, and the Forest team, playing at home, won easily — 3: 0.
Manchester United was still strong in the Premier League, and because they won this game, the Forest team even had the chance to return to the second place in the Premier League. Now they were only one point away from Chelsea: Chelsea 51 points, Nottingham Forest 50 points.
This was a great piece of good news. Many people in the club were talking about which round they would catch up to Chelsea and pull this old enemy down.
But Tang En calmed down. He felt that this good news would be a trap for the team if it was not handled well. If the Forest team really wanted to catch up to Chelsea as their goal, then it was likely that they would spend too much energy before the Champions League knockout round. He needed to stabilize the team's rhythm.
So, after this round of the Premier League, Tang En specially called for an internal meeting of the coaching team to reiterate that the team's goal for this season was the Champions League. The Premier League was not in the plan, and there was no need to fight every game to surpass Chelsea. What if a few important players were injured? The team currently only had so few First Team players. One less would be a disaster.
With the team's current strength, it was impossible to advance at full speed on several fronts at the same time to compete for the championship.
Even the FA Cup, a competition with a long history, was given to the reserve team and the youth team to play.
After the coaching team had unified their opinions, Tang En emphasized it again among the players.
Due to the club's good partnership with the Royal Medical College of the University of Nottingham, the team's current injuries had been greatly controlled. Large-scale injuries rarely appeared. Even so, the problem that Tang En had been worried about still appeared in the next round of the Premier League.
Ever since he was injured from a tackle in the match against Reading F.C., the Brazilian defender Pepe — who had now become a Portuguese citizen and a member of the Portuguese national team — began to suffer from minor injuries.
Stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.
Coincidentally, Nottingham Forest's opponent in the 24th round of the Premier League was Reading F.C.
But this time, it was the Forest team's away game.
The English Football Association attached great importance to this match. They sent a number of game supervisors to rush to the scene to closely monitor several "dangerous players" such as George Wood and Hunter.
Because of the previous heavy penalty, the players on both sides of the match were much more well-behaved. But the Football Association could control the players, but not the fans. Playing in an away game, the Forest team was almost drowned out by Reading F.C.'s boos and curses. No matter who it was, as long as a Forest player received the ball, they would be greeted with an earth-shattering booing. Even the manager, Tony Twain, was not spared. Every time he walked out of the technical area and stood at the sidelines, there would be boos and curses from the stands behind the visiting team's technical area.
Tang En was unmoved. He stood proudly amidst the torrential boos, looking as cool as could be. Even the match commentator repeatedly mentioned that Tang En's mental fortitude was very good.
But only the people in the Forest team's technical area would know what was going on. Tang En carried an iPod with him, wore earplugs, and listened to the music of "German Chariot" with the volume turned up to the maximum. He could not hear what the people outside were cursing at him. Of course, he could not hear what he was saying either. He could only shout. But in such an environment, if he did not shout, others would not be able to hear what he was saying.
The result of this was that every time Kerslake saw Tang En posing on the sidelines with a serious face and heard the insults coming from behind the technical area, he wanted to laugh.
Tang En had the conditions to put headphones in his ears and listen to the loudest music. The players on the field did not have the conditions. Under the huge pressure of an away game, the Forest players did not play very well.
In the second half, Pepe twisted his knee when he was one-on-one with the opponent's forward because he turned too quickly and had to be replaced early.
At the time, Tang En did not take it to heart. After all, as mentioned earlier, Pepe had been constantly suffering from minor injuries. He replaced Pepe with Kompany and continued to stand on the sidelines as a target for the Reading fans to disperse the pressure on the players.
During the halftime interval, Tang En roared at the team, telling them that if they could not take down Reading in the away game, they would let down Paul Gerrard, who was still recuperating at home. They would also let everyone in Nottingham Forest be ridiculed by the Reading people. So, no matter how much pressure they faced, they had to win this game.
With the support of this spirit, Nottingham Forest finally took down Reading with great difficulty with a 2: 1 away game and ended their away trip amidst the long boos.
But on the way back to Nottingham, Tang En finally received bad news.
The team doctor, Fleming, told Tang En very clearly that Pepe needed to rest for at least three months. If he did not want it to become a chronic disease and relapse in the future, he had to undergo surgery immediately.
Tang En's face, which had been beaming from winning the game, immediately darkened.
Pepe was now the main defensive player. He and Piqué cooperated very well, especially since Pepe already had a maturity and experience that exceeded his actual age. His one-on-one ability had caused many English Premier League strikers to suffer. His outstanding explosive power and accurate judgment of where he would land allowed him to repeatedly take the lead when fighting for headers. Coupled with his decent speed, as a center back, there was almost no fault to be found. Tang En had said more than once in front of the media that Pepe had all the qualities to become a world-class center back. All he needed now was the accumulation of game experience and one or two weighty championships.
He did not expect Pepe to become a "glass man" after the battle with Reading FC. This time, it was a complete and utter failure.
As the manager, how could Tang En not be angry?
"Damn it, Reading …" He cursed in a low voice. "Is there no other way besides surgery?" After scolding Reading, Tang En asked Fleming.
"Without surgery, the slow recovery may take a longer time, and it will often relapse in the future. At that time, he may not even be able to play ten games in a season."
"Alright, surgery it is. I need him to return before May."
"If everything goes well — if the surgery and post-surgery recovery are smooth — I think there won't be a problem."
After ending the conversation with Fleming, Tang En began to sit alone in his seat, thinking about how to make use of the winter transfer window to replenish the team's defenders.
There were not many center backs who could be bought at this time who were not weak. Tang En searched carefully in his mind for a while and finally decided on a candidate.
Roberto Ayala, an Argentinian veteran who was currently unhappy in Valencia, was playing for the Argentine national team.
Although he was almost 34 years old, there was no doubt about his strength as an experienced center back. In the recent season, he had been banished due to a conflict with Valencia's manager, Carboni. Ayala had long wanted to leave Valencia for a change of environment.
At this time, whether it was a transfer or a loan, it was very easy to negotiate.
Tang En decided to return to Nottingham and let the club contact the Valencia club. If the price was right, they would buy him directly. If the price could not be negotiated, they would loan him for half a season. In any case, Ayala basically could not play in any games over at Valencia.
With the Forest team's current influence, Ayala would not refuse this opportunity.
The only regret was that Ayala could not represent the Forest team in the UEFA Champions League, because he had already played for Valencia in this season's Champions League.
It looked like the Champions League could only depend on the youngsters.
Speaking of the Champions League, Tang En was about to attend the draw ceremony. He was very much looking forward to this draw.
※ ※ ※
Back in Nottingham, Tang En checked the information and found that things were not quite what he had imagined, but it was not a big problem.
Ayala's contract with Valencia was considered to have expired at the end of this season. A year ago, Ayala had expressed his desire to renew his contract with Valencia and end his career in this club. But after the World Cup, the news that he waited for was that Valencia did not intend to renew his contract with the 33-year-old, which made him very disappointed, and thus led to a conflict with Carboni.
At present, there were not many teams interested in Ayala. After all, his age was there for all to see. His agent had once contacted Villarreal, and that was last June. At that time, Valencia had rejected the deal. They did not want Ayala to continue to stay in Spain. If he wanted to transfer, he would go abroad to develop his career. Any Spanish club that wanted to woo Ayala would make Valencia very unhappy.
This was not good news for Ayala, but it was great news for Tony Twain.
A foreign club? Nottingham Forest was one!
Now that the New Year had passed, Valencia finally could not continue to obstruct. Ayala's agent was in contact with Real Zaragoza, hoping that Ayala could only transfer to this team. If nothing unexpected happened, it was believed that Ayala would belong to this club.
But now, something unexpected had happened.
After getting the cell phone number of Ayala's agent, Mascardi, Twain could not wait to make the call. First, he needed to know what the player's opinion was about a transfer to an English team. If there were no objections, he would immediately talk to Valencia — of course, not about a transfer, but a loan. Twain did not want to spend millions of transfer fees for a player who was destined to be free.
The conversation with Mascardi was confidential and could not be known by the Valencia club. Otherwise, it would be difficult to handle.
During the phone call, he fully expressed Nottingham Forest's need for Ayala and his personal appreciation for the former Argentina national team captain to Mascardi, hoping that Mascardi could convey this transfer invitation to Ayala.
There was no suspense in the matter. Valencia did not want Ayala to stay in Spain, and several big domestic teams had no interest in the old and frail Ayala. The few clubs that Mascardi had no choice but to choose were not strong enough. If it was not because there was no other choice, who would be willing to go to a lower-tier team like Real Zaragoza that could not even play in the UEFA Europa League?
Under such circumstances, there was a team that was not only foreign, but also not weak, that had expressed their appreciation for Ayala. What was there to hesitate about?
Mascardi flew to Nottingham the next day and began to discuss Ayala's personal contract with the Nottingham Forest Football Club.
Ayala hoped to end his career at his last club, so Mascardi's condition for Forest was that he had to sign a three-year contract. For this, the annual salary requirement could be lowered appropriately.
Three years later, Ayala would be 37 years old, which was also the age of retirement. Even though Allan Adams did not agree to pay another year's salary for a 36-year-old man, Tang En still agreed to it without hesitation. Twain was the general manager of the sports department. Allan could do nothing but be dissatisfied.
The length of the contract was the biggest problem. Once this was settled, everything else was simple.
After the personal contract was discussed, the Forest team began to make a loan request to Valencia for Ayala.
As long as it was not a domestic club that wanted Ayala, Valencia was happy. The Forest team's loan request quickly received a positive response. Valencia agreed to loan Ayala to the Forest team, but they needed them to pay 50% of his salary.
That would not do. Allan negotiated with Valencia and finally succeeded in persuading them to change the 50% to 20%.
Twain also knew that the current Forest team's rear defensive line was too young. In the long run, there would be problems. After Hierro, he needed an experienced veteran to hold the fort and at the same time impart his valuable experience to the young defenders. Ayala fit his requirements very well: old, experienced, and still at the same level. At the same time, because of his age, his physical strength would decline and he would not be able to play a full Premier League season — the Premier League was known for its intense competition — so he could give the young players more opportunities to play. Then, after a few years of retirement, the young players he had once taught would also grow up. It was a perfect transition.
Whether it was Hierro, Albertini, van Nistelrooy, Beckham, or Ayala. Twain fully considered all of these when he bought them. When he took over, the Forest team had nothing. Without qualified, skilled, and influential veterans, what would they do with the young players? They could only rely on their foresight to buy these veterans over and help the young players in the team one by one, just like a relay race.
After Hierro's retirement, there was still Albertini. After Albertini was van Nistelrooy, Beckham, and now there was Ayala.
Fully squeezing out their remaining value was the little tail hidden behind Twain's buttocks.
Three days later, Nottingham Forest's official website announced that the Forest team would loan Ayala for half a season. The press release did not say a word about their intention to buy the Argentine defender.
After settling Ayala's loan and free transfer, Twain set off with Dunn to Nyon, Switzerland, ready to participate in the draw for the UEFA Champions League round of 16 finals. (Note 1)
Who was waiting for him in the picturesque Switzerland?
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