Rafinha (Note: Due to translation problems, I used to call him Rafinha, even though I thought it was awkward. Today, a book friend pointed out the mistake. The correct way to call him is one more word than mine. I'm happy to accept this book friend's suggestion! The purchase of "Rafinha" was a morale-boosting transfer. Although fans rarely paid attention to the Bundesliga, Tang En and the people in the football world knew that there were many geniuses in the Bundesliga, and Rafinha was one of them. His arrival strengthened the team's strength on the right side. Rafinha could handle it both offensively and defensively.
After coming to Russia to report, Rafinha quickly threw himself into the team's daily training. Tang En was not worried about how the Brazilians in the team would integrate into the team. With Pepe, a fellow Brazilian, there should not be a problem.
At this point, the players on Tang En's list were basically all brought in. There were players of comparable strength in the forwards, midfielders, and rear defensive line, whether they were main players or substitutes. There was only one problem that had always troubled Tang En to solve — the problem of George Wood's substitute.
Last season, Tang En used Sun Jihai as Wood's substitute. His performance conformed to the norm, but that was all. Sun Jihai tried his best, but the difference in strength was too great. His performance was not so reassuring when he played against a strong team. Moreover, as he grew older, Sun Jihai's economic status and physical functions were declining. Sun Jihai was also troubled by injuries last season. It was not a serious injury, but it was enough to sound the alarm for Tang En.
He did not sell Sun Jihai because he recognized Sun Jihai's sportsmanship and his "jack-of-all-trades" attribute of being able to play multiple positions. If he sold Sun Jihai, he might need to bring in a similar substitute for the right back, defensive midfielder, left back, right midfielder and other positions.
After all, Sun Jihai was not a professional defensive midfielder. Tang En still decided to bring in a regular midfielder to strengthen the team's strength. This midfielder had to meet several requirements at the same time:
1. He had to be able to accept his fate as a substitute and not lose his temper with the coaching staff just because he sat on the bench for a few days.
2. Although he was playing as a substitute, he could not be weak. He had to be strong enough to be a substitute in the Forest team. At the very least, he had to be a main force in a mid-table team in the Premier League.
3. His salary requirement would not be high, and his value would not be high. It would not increase the financial burden of the team. Moreover, once Tang En decided to give up, he would not be criticized for losing too much money.
4. It would be best if the player was English so that it would be easier for the team to register for the Champions League. At the same time, it also showed that he had passed the Premier League's level test and adapted to this kind of league.
Tang En was very strict with these four points and did not give in at all. After all, this player's substitute position was the team's "waist", the most important position in the team, more important than the striker and goalkeeper. He would rather have nothing than have something substandard.
As a result, the team had not been able to find a suitable candidate.
Until the end of last season.
If anyone still remembered when George Wood represented Nottingham Forest's First Team and who his opponent was, they would not be unfamiliar with this candidate.
In the second half of the 03-04 season, in the English Football League First Division (later the English Football League Championship), George Wood was transferred to the First Team by Tang En and made his first appearance in the match against Reading. At the time, he wore the number 33 jersey.
Reading was a team that had left a deep impression on Tang En during his coaching career. Putting aside the fact that they had played against Forest many times in the First Division and the personal feud between their manager, Steve Coppell, and Tang En, just the "football violence scandal" that shocked the world in September last season had caused the two teams to form a deep enmity. When the two teams met for the second time in the Premier League, the police in charge of the stadium's order acted as if they were facing a formidable enemy, and the English Football Association's Referees Committee members were sent to supervise the referee's enforcement. Normally, only two people would be sent to each game.
Against such a background, the substitute that Tang En had his eyes on was a Reading player.
Steven Sidwell, a former product of Arsenal's youth training, had never been put in an important position by Arsenal's manager, Wenger. He was always loaned out to teams in the lower leagues. In January 2003, Wenger officially decided to give up on the England U21 international and sold him to Reading at a low price. But no one thought that playing in the First Division would allow Sidwell to improve so quickly. Very quickly, he firmly conquered Reading's manager, Steve Coppell, and became the team's absolute main force in the midfield.
Do you still remember Wood's brilliant defense in his debut? At that time, the person he knocked to the ground was Steven Sidwell.
Poor Sidwell, because of his position on the field, would encounter the "monster" George Wood again and again as long as the Forest team and Reading team played. If the situation was good, he would lose the ball. If it was bad, he would be knocked to the ground and help the team get a free kick. If it was bad, he would be knocked to the ground and the referee would turn a blind eye to it because Wood did not commit a foul at all!
Of course, one could not judge Sidwell's ability based on the one-on-one between the two players. In fact, to be able to secure a main position in the Reading team, to appear in 35 games in Reading's first Premier League season, start all of them, and score dead balls was a remarkable result.
At the same time, he also attracted the attention of various English club teams because of his performance. Nottingham Forest was one of them.
Although the first game against the Forest team this season resulted in very bad consequences, Sidwell did not directly participate in the entire conflict. Tang En was not afraid that Sidwell would be isolated by the locker room after he bought him.
It was not uncommon in the professional football world to buy players from the enemy's side.
When Luis Figo played for Barcelona, he was the captain of Barcelona and the leading figure against Real Madrid. He broke through Real Madrid's goal several times and was a hero in the eyes of the Barcelona fans.
Remember what happened after Barcelona regained the league title under Rijkaard's leadership a few years later? At Barcelona's championship celebration, the striker from Real Madrid's youth camp, Eto 'o, shouted in front of tens of thousands of people, "Real Madrid bastards, cowards, come and pay tribute to the champions!"
These words angered many Real Madrid people, but in fact, it was Luis Figo who first shouted them.
While Eto 'o was just imitating his predecessors, Luis Figo had already turned to the embrace of Barcelona's arch-rival, Real Madrid, in 2001.
Earlier than Figo, the former Real Madrid midfielder, Luis Enrique, had thrown himself into the arms of Barcelona's arch-rival, Real Madrid.
Tang En was not worried about Sidwell's Reading background. Moreover, it was precisely because he was a Reading player that he had to find a way to get him.
Why did he say snatch him?
Because Sidwell's contract with Reading had expired at the end of the 06-07 season. His agent did not renew the contract with Reading, waiting to find a team with more development prospects than Reading for Sidwell.
Chelsea was the first to express their appreciation for Sidwell. Because Mourinho's relationship with Abramovich continued to deteriorate, Abramovich did not want to continue investing in the transfer market, forcing the Portuguese coach to look for free players. Sidwell was one of them.
After Tang En heard that Chelsea wanted to snatch Sidwell, he immediately contacted Sidwell's agent and expressed Nottingham Forest's interest in the 25-year-old midfielder.
At that time, Arteta had not yet left, and the Forest team had not gone all out to operate Sidwell's introduction.
Now the situation was different. Arteta's departure left the team short of an excellent player who could be a substitute in the defensive midfielder position. Sidwell was very suitable for Tang En's series of requirements, and the Forest team also sped up the pace of contacting his agent.
If the Forest team had not intervened, Chelsea and Sidwell might have already signed individual contracts. But the addition of the UEFA Champions League gave Sidwell's agent the right to have a good talk with the clubs pursuing his player.
Sidwell himself was a clear-headed professional player who knew what he was pursuing. When he first heard that Chelsea was interested in him, he excitedly told his agent that he would go to Stamford Bridge no matter what because it was a powerhouse club with the best group of players on the planet.
However, when he learned that the Forest team, which had just won the Champions League title, was also interested in him, he immediately changed his mind. Going to Nottingham Forest was also a good choice.
Nottingham Forest, which had just won the Champions League, was no longer the rural team that had been looked down upon a few years ago. It was completely regarded as a powerhouse club.
Franck Ribéry, Ruud van Nistelrooy, David Beckham, Edwin van der Sar, George Wood … Which one of these players was not one of the best players in their respective positions?
Coupled with the results that the team had just achieved, it was really difficult to make people not interested in him.
The agent did not immediately reply to the several teams pursuing Sidwell. He only said that he would give an answer after the vacation ended. In fact, the situation was obvious. In front of Chelsea and Nottingham Forest, the other competing clubs were not attractive enough. Now it was just a matter of choosing Chelsea or Nottingham Forest.
The Forest team left early for Moscow for training. Someone in the club continued to be responsible for contacting Sidwell's agent and negotiating a contract that both sides were satisfied with.
Chelsea agreed to do it again, but none of them knew whether the other side's conditions could satisfy Sidwell. They could only wait for Sidwell to say it.
On July 13th, Sidwell's agent officially announced that his client, the former Reading team's main midfielder, Stephen Sidwell, had accepted a contract with a weekly salary of sixty thousand pounds from Nottingham Forest. He would become a member of Nottingham Forest in the new season. He had flown to Moscow for a physical examination and then trained with the team.
The Forest team's final weekly salary to Sidwell was sixty thousand, while Chelsea's offer was fifty thousand. The ten thousand became the decisive factor. Sidwell hoped to make more money while receiving high-level football training. Nottingham Forest fulfilled his wish, so he chose the Forest team and refused Chelsea.
Tang En was delighted to learn that Sidwell had become his man. The signing could be said to have killed three birds with one stone. Not only did it not cost a penny to expand the strength of the team and increase the thickness of the midfield bench, but it also poached Coppell's most valued player from the Reading team, which dealt a severe blow to Coppell's arrogance. Finally, this time, Tang En defeated his old rival, Mourinho's Chelsea, in the transfer market.
There was no better result than this.
※ ※ ※
Sidwell arrived at the Forest team's training base on the outskirts of Moscow with some trepidation. The whole world knew about the feud between the two teams last season. He did not know what his new teammates would think of him, a man who came out of the Reading team.
Because George Wood was always publicized by the media as a simple-minded, strong-tempered "villain" who would only commit frequent fouls and be sent off, Sidwell did not know if he would be isolated by Captain Wood and his men in the locker room.
As a result, when they arrived at the training ground, Tang En routinely introduced Sidwell to the team. Wood took over and introduced Sidwell to his new teammates in a tone that he always tried his best to appear calm, but was actually a little cold.
No one talked about the feud between the two teams last season. People as enthusiastic as Ribéry and Eastwood joked with Sidwell as soon as they met, which made Sidwell breathe a sigh of relief. Sidwell still had some admiration for the team that won the UEFA Champions League. He did not want to be isolated here because of some things about his former team.
The team's biggest star, Beckham, was also very approachable. He did not put on any airs in front of Sidwell, and looking at his conversation with the others, they all got along very well. Sidwell was completely at ease.
The only person who did not look well was Pepe. He had been injured twice in the games against the Reading team. The second injury had almost prevented him from playing in the Champions League final. How could he forget such a "painful experience?" He just shook hands with Sidwell and said nothing else.
Sidwell did not care. It was impossible to get along with everyone on a team. There would always be teammates who were particularly good and not so good. He was mentally prepared for this.
※ ※ ※
Sidwell's signing did not cost the team a penny. The Forest team, which had a lot of money left, decided not to continue looking for new players. Tang En told Evan and Allan that the Forest team's current lineup was enough. Besides, they already had a tacit understanding with each other and did not need to make any major adjustments. In Tang En's words, "This is the base of a championship-level team."
Next, Tang En began to renew the contracts of the players on the team. After winning the Champions League, the Forest team had the conditions to raise the players' salaries. Sidwell, who played as a substitute for the Forest team, had a weekly salary of 60,000 pounds. The Forest team's main players could not possibly live on the previous salary standard, could they?
Franck Ribéry, Eastwood, Pepe, Piqué, Bale, Baines, Chimbonda, and the others all received a new contract. Everyone was satisfied with the salary package, so they signed it one after another.
The Forest team that had won the Champions League was no longer the poor kids of the past. Tang En also knew that he had to give these players a new contract that satisfied them. Otherwise, even the most loyal players could be poached away by their opponents with high salaries.
The large-scale contract renewal was actually Tang En's response to the transfer rumors that were flying around.
Following the Forest team's success in the Champions League, the team's players had also become a high-profile target in the transfer market. Tang En did not want his team to be carved up by the powerhouses who were eyeing it covetously. To the outside world, his method of dealing with all kinds of transfer rumors was simple and crude — "not for sale."
He had just said that there was no such thing as "not for sale" in the world, and he had made his entire team "not for sale."
There was indeed no good way to deal with such a rogue. He insisted on not selling, and the club stood behind him. The players' relationship with the manager was like that of a newlywed couple. They were inseparable. How could they possibly go back on their word? No matter how one looked at it, the Forest team was now at its best. They still had a chance to create new achievements that were even more brilliant than last season.
That was what Tang En told his players, and that was what his players believed.
One Champions League title was not enough. After all, they had not won the Premier League title, nor had they touched the FA Cup title.
Continuing to use honor to provoke them was one of the methods Tang En used internally. The other method was naturally the large-scale contract renewal that he had just mentioned.
Glory would become a fleeting cloud in the future. Only contracts were the most effective method.
After confirming all the members of the First Team for the new season, the Forest team's team training officially kicked off. After all the new players had a close look at the legendary "originator of the madmen," Brian Clough's successor, Tony Twain, they threw themselves into the training of the Forest team's overall tactics. Defense was still the most important. This was the Forest team's "reserved program," but the team also placed more emphasis on the team's offensive tactics when encountering positional battles.
Next season, as the defending champions of the Champions League, the opponents that the Forest team faced, whether in the European arena or in the Premier League, would likely choose to defend and counterattack against them.
When that time came, how to break through the tight defense and how to deal with the opponent's quick counterattack after stabilizing the defense were all problems that Tang En and his coaching team needed to solve.
But Tang En did not have a headache. He had confidence in his team and the entire team behind him. Now that the team was in high spirits, nothing could stop the Forest team's advance.
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