Tang En walked out of the bar, but he did not know where to go. He did not want to go back to that dark and cold "home." He decided to walk around and digest.
The wind from Sherwood Forest blew against Tang En's hair and clothes, taking away the heat of the day.
He stood at the entrance of a bar he had been to before, looking at the brightly lit streets and listening to the laughter coming from inside. He pursed his lips. Robin Hood Bar. He had unknowingly walked here again.
He turned around and looked at the crosswalk signal light on the opposite side of the street. He stood quietly, waiting to cross the street.
Just then, his cell phone rang. It was Yang Yan.
"Mr. Tang En, are you not home?"
Tang En looked around. "I'm not home. What's the matter?"
"Sir … Don't you remember? I'm in class. I'm in class."
"Ah, I remember. But … "The signal light turned green, but Tang En sat down on the side of the road." But I don't feel like learning today. Can you chat with me for a while? "
"Where are you? On the phone? "
Tang En grunted. "Where are you?"
Yang Yan looked up at the door of Tang En's house and said, "School. I was just about to come out."
"Then let's talk on the phone. I don't feel like leaving either. Just talk about something you're interested in or hate … anything will do. "Tang En leaned his body under the pole of the signal light and looked up at the sky. "For example, did you meet any interesting classmates in secondary school …"
Britain had already entered daylight saving time. It was six o 'clock in the evening in May, and the night had not completely fallen. The eastern sky and the western sky presented two completely different sceneries. The night sky dotted with stars and the afterglow of the setting sun, which was as misty as gauze, intersected in the middle of the sky. It was like a fantasy world, mesmerizing Tang En.
Yang Yan's soft whispers rang in his ears. It was so comfortable that it felt like she was massaging his ears. Tang En sat on the side of the road and chatted with Yang Yan, who was sitting in front of his house. His depressed heart, which had almost stopped beating, came back to life.
The next morning, a flock of birds were startled in the woods near the Nottingham Forest Wilford training base.
Tang En's hoarse and loud voice rang out again. "Keep your spirits up! Look at how useless you are now! Train, train! "
"Michael! You're the captain. If you continue to be so listless, I'll fire you! "
Although Tang En still did not quite understand the details of the training and could only watch from the sidelines, this did not prevent him from giving some hints or occasionally shouting a few words to boost morale.
Michael Dawson shrugged at Coach Walker. Walker looked back at Tang En, who was baring his fangs and brandishing his claws on the sidelines, and smiled.
Then he said to Dawson, "Tony's right. You can't be captain if you're not serious, Michael."
"Wow! I understand now! Brothers, keep your spirits up! "
Tang En pursed his lips tightly as he watched the team regain their morale.
What kind of joke was this? He couldn't make it to the Premier League?
Going to the Premier League is my promise to Michael and Gavin. I won't let that happen.
Before the match, Lawrenson had mentioned the match and even wanted to bet his beloved beard with Hansen. Therefore, the League One Promotion to Premier League play-off that no one paid much attention to had attracted the attention of many media outlets.
John Motson was in charge of commentating the game, and the one sitting next to him was Mark Lawrenson. The game had not yet started. The players on both sides had just finished warming up and left. Now they should be making their final arrangements in the locker room.
Taking advantage of the time when he was not working, Motson joked with his BBC colleague, Lawrenson. In front of Lawrenson, Motson was an out-and-out senior. When Lawrenson was still playing for Liverpool, Motson began to commentate on his games.
"Mark, you know …" John Motson looked at Mark Lawrenson's face and said with a grin, "I also agree with Gary's words. You look better without a beard."
Lawrenson stroked his beard. "John, do you also think highly of Tang En?"
Motson shook his head. "I just think you'll look better if you shave off your beard … Ah, I'm joking. As for Tony Twain … I don't know if I think highly of him. Don't you think he's strange? He's magical at one moment and lowly the next. I think there might be only one person in the world who will always think highly of him. "
"Who?"
"Tony Twain."
"Himself?"
Motson nodded. "He's so confident that I find it incredible. He'll show confidence no matter what, but I don't know where that confidence comes from. I've studied him before, and his character is half a world away from his current one. The Royal Nottingham University Hospital concluded that it was caused by the impact to the brain … If that's the case, I have to say that God has played a big joke on all of us. "
Lawrenson habitually stroked the beard on his lips and ruminated over Motson's words in his heart.
Motson laughed. "What, you're starting to worry that you can't keep your beard?"
"I'm not …" Lawrenson blew his beard and glared at him again.
While the two men chatted in the commentator's box, Tony Twain looked at the silent players in the locker room.
The players, coaches, team doctors, and even Twain himself did not speak. The cheering songs for Sheffield United in the stands were clearly audible, which added to the oppressive atmosphere in the locker room.
Everyone was looking at Twain. Over the past half a season, he had established his prestige among them through his actions. This was a crucial game. At this time, everyone would choose to trust their manager, their boss, their "boss."
Twain finally spoke. His voice was not loud, but it drowned out the singing of the home fans outside.
"We've played against Sheffield United four times this season, and we lost the first three times. In the 17th round of the league tournament, we even lost 3: 0 in our home ground. In the first leg of the play-offs, we lost 1: 2 to them at home. Not only did we lose three points, but we also gave them two away goals. Now it looks like we're in deep trouble for this game. Everyone outside is saying that the third team to be promoted to the English Premier League after this season is Sheffield United, but I know they're talking nonsense. And I know you know it too. "
"Yes!" Someone could not help but respond aloud.
Twain glanced at Andy Reid, who had spoken. The lad's eyes were shining as he looked at him. He continued, "I admit that Sheffield United is stronger than us in terms of overall strength, but it's not just the strength of the two sides that decides the outcome of a game. There are other things as well … Uh, do you want to hear a story from me?"
No one knew why Twain suddenly wanted to tell everyone a story before such an important game, nor did they know what kind of story it was. But they knew that Twain must have his reasons for doing so, so they all nodded.
"It's said that a long, long time ago. It's so long that it's unverifiable. A war broke out between two countries. The war went on for a long time, and finally, it was time for the decisive battle. An army arrived on the battlefield, but the leader of the army told the soldiers to set up camp on the riverbank, with their backs to the fast-flowing river. His advisors were resolute in their opposition. They said to the general, 'Sir, the torrent is behind us. If we set up camp here, we won't have any way to retreat! If we're in a disadvantageous situation, we won't even have a way to escape! '"Twain seemed to be acting in a play. He imitated the speech of Han Xin's advisor. He adapted the story that most people in China knew and told it to this group of British people. They listened with great interest.
"The general told his men, 'This is the decisive battle. If there's even the slightest bit of momentum in the battle, our soldiers will scatter and flee. Do you expect stragglers to win the battle? I asked you to set up camp on the riverbank, with your backs to the river, in the hope of telling all the soldiers, 'They have no way out now! If you don't want to die, defeat the enemy and win this battle! 'Do you know what the result was? " Twain held up a finger. "The morale of the general's army was high. They all held the belief that it's either you die or I die. They defeated an enemy much stronger than them."
"Don't you think it's very similar to our current situation? Our situation can't get any worse. It's even worse than when I was knocked over by David on the sidelines and hit the back of my head on the ground! " Twain pointed to Johansson as he said this. Everyone laughed, and the tense atmosphere in the locker room eased slightly.
After a pause, when the players finished laughing and looked at him expectantly again, Twain continued with a straight face. "A strong opponent, an away game, Gavin's death … There's a lot of internal and external troubles. It's a hundred times more difficult than any moment we've faced before! But I firmly believe that we can win, because we've never been as strong as we are today! There's no way out for us to escape. In fact, I don't need to escape. Defeat Sheffield United and fight our way into the finals! Then … "Twain took a breath." … Then we go and participate in next season's Premier League. "
"We've been practicing all kinds of tactics over and over again this week. Why? Let me tell you, today we're fighting with our backs to the river. Either they die, or we die! If you don't want to die, go out and kill them!! "Twain strode to the door and pulled it open.
The singing and shouting from the stands at Barramore Lane flooded in like a tide, filling the small locker room in an instant.
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