The most direct impact of the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers on the Nottingham Forest Football Club was that their new stadium construction project was in the predicament of a lack of funds.
Although Nottingham Forest's new stadium did not have an official name yet, it had become a construction project that attracted the attention of the United Kingdom. Because it was not as simple as building a stadium.
This was a huge real estate development plan. With Nottingham Forest's new stadium as the center, it radiated outward to form a commercial and residential circle, as well as facilities such as a football theme park, a national fitness park, green space and so on. With the rise of Nottingham Forest's reputation. Allan Adams also planned to open this place to the world as a tourist attraction. Just like Real Madrid's Bernabéu, Barcelona's Camp Nou, AC Milan's San Siro and Giuseppe Meazza … and other famous European clubs' stadiums, they were not just stadiums. Due to the glorious traditions of the teams, they had become sacred places for countless tourists and fans.
The plan was huge and the prospects were wonderful, but the cost was correspondingly much higher than repairing a single stadium.
Manchester City's new stadium, the City of Manchester Stadium, cost only 110 million pounds. Nottingham Forest Football Club's finances would not be a big problem if they only built one stadium. It would be enough to live frugally for a year.
However, Allen's plan would cost at least 600 million pounds, not including the part invested by the Nottingham City Council.
If they did not want to spend so much money, then the Forest Football Club would end up with the ownership of the stadium and would not be able to use other facilities to make money. In order to maximize the development of the club, Allan and Evan took the risk of taking a large share of the project investment. In return, they obtained the ownership and development rights of a stadium, a football theme park, and a commercial district.
At that time, the financial problems of the United States were already obvious, but who would have thought that the self-regulation ability of the market economy was so weak?
In just one year, Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States, went bankrupt …
Allen had become a lot more haggard during this period of time, flying around the world all day long. Evan Doughty's business in the United States had completely ended. Allan was now busy looking for follow-up funds for the new stadium project. Due to the global financial downturn, many banks refused to lend to Nottingham Forest Football Club.
Evan had no choice but to announce the temporary suspension of the new stadium and other construction projects. Otherwise, if they continued to invest money in this project, the entire Nottingham Forest Football Club would be dragged into this bottomless abyss sooner or later.
The news immediately made headlines in the British media. Everyone knew that the Nottingham Forest Football Club had finally run into trouble after its rapid expansion a few years ago, and it was a big one.
"… I admit that the owner of Nottingham Forest is very ambitious and very bold. However, excessive development would inevitably lead to a stall. The Nottingham Forest team was very popular in Europe, but their economic foundation did not keep up with the team's progress. The construction of the club did not match their results. Looking at the other powerhouse clubs, whether it was their results or the various conditions of the club, they were very much in line with their status. Only Nottingham Forest … is like a deformed child. He has a pair of fast feet, but does not have a body that can withstand the impact of this speed … "In the television station, various professionals were analyzing Nottingham Forest's current predicament. They believed that this was simply a typical negative case of how football clubs should survive and develop in the global economic downturn.
"I think the Nottingham Forest Football Club should reflect on their strategy of expanding everywhere. China, Japan, Southeast Asia, the United Kingdom, the United States, the world … Tony Twain's magic made his boss think that his team and club were omnipotent. To be honest, when I knew that the chairman and marketing manager of the Nottingham Forest Football Club were Americans who had never cared about football before, I was not surprised by the current situation at all. They neglected a very important point — football clubs are different from ordinary listed companies. In addition to abiding by the laws of the economy, they also have to abide by the laws of football. Tony Twain's magic has brought the team a very good foundation for development, but they still need to take it slowly and develop step by step. Evan Doughty once attended a reception in Nottingham and revealed that his goal was to make Nottingham Forest into a powerhouse club. But I have never heard of a powerhouse club that can be built in a short five or six years. Chelsea is very rich and has good results, but are they now a powerhouse club? I think the vast majority of people would not agree that they are a powerhouse club. "
"Nottingham Forest is one of the clubs that has been established for the longest time in the history of modern football in the world. It is also the only team that is still competing in the top league. But the impression this club gives everyone now is — young. From the club owner to their team manager, to the players, they are all very, very young. Young people will always make some errors in judgment and estimate the situation too well … "
"Now they know how bad the situation really is."
※ ※ ※
"There are wails everywhere." Evan sat in the wide boss chair in the office and rested his chin on his propped up hands. "It's like winter has come early."
He seemed to be talking to himself, but also seemed to be talking to Twain, who was sitting next to him.
Allan was not in the room. He was on his way to China. Those investment projects in China had also encountered the same funding problems that he needed to solve personally.
Twain looked down at the sweater inside his suit.
"Winter is indeed not far away …"
After a 0: 0 draw with Middlesbrough, the team was disbanded again and the national team competition resumed. The players flew around the world to compete in the World Cup qualifiers in various continents. Some performed well, and some performed poorly. Most of the players who returned to the Forest team after two national team matches were not in a satisfactory state and stamina. Under such circumstances, Nottingham Forest lost to Liverpool in an away game and quickly fell to seventh place in the league. This was the first time in two years that Nottingham Forest was ranked seventh in the league. The last time they were seventh in the league was on October 14, 2006. After an away loss to Manchester City in the eighth round of the league, the team was ranked seventh after three rounds without a win.
2: 3. They worked hard, but a loss was a loss. Twain expressed concern about the fatigue of the Premier League players in the post-match press conference. He suggested that the Football Association seriously consider setting up a winter break to give the players a breather. But his voice sank into the sea and did not receive any response from the Football Association. The setting up of a winter break had been debated for so many years, but it was only the wishful thinking of the coaches and players. The Football Association and the League Committee would not agree because it was directly related to their income …
Now, he was about to lead the team to Italy to deal with a strong opponent — Juventus.
Before he went to Italy, Evan found him.
Twain knew why Evan was looking for him. Other than the team's recent poor results, what else could it be?
But he could not do anything about the current situation. The players' stamina had been greatly depleted in the club and national team matches. Two matches in a week gave them no time to rest and adjust their condition. The Forest lads had done very well to be able to play until the last five minutes of the game against Liverpool before Benítez overtook the score. But such a game also consumed a lot of stamina. After the game, the entire team was exhausted. He did not even know how to face Juventus.
He could not possibly have the money to buy players during the winter transfer window. He had to rely on these players to survive the season. But he had not given up. He was still instilling the goal of winning at least one title this season in the players. No matter how bad the situation was for them, the team could not lose confidence in themselves.
"I know what you're going to say, Evan. The team will win the game against Juventus. "He stood up and wanted to leave as soon as possible.
Evan smiled at him and did not ask him to stay.
※ ※ ※
Two days later, at the Stadio delle Alpi in Turin.
Nottingham Forest lost 0: 2 in the away game to Juventus, who had returned to the Champions League.
Twain sat in the technical area of the away team in Alpi. There was no anger on his face. He neither threw his suit nor kicked a water bottle. He just sat there with a helpless look on his face. In fact, just before the final whistle sounded, he was still angry like a bull that had seen a red bull. He flew into a rage at the team's performance on the sidelines.
He had sent out the strongest lineup he could currently send out. But his tactics were completely ineffective against Juventus. After all, his tactics were similar to what Juventus was best at. Ranieri knew how to deal with him.
In terms of defense, Juventus was not worse than Nottingham Forest. The Italian's blood had long been soaked with defensive instincts. No matter how the Forest team dispatched back and forth, no matter how fast and sudden the Forest team's counterattack, Juventus' rear defensive line was not chaotic. And they also used sneak attacks to score a goal each at the start of the first and second halves to defeat Nottingham Forest.
Tang En's set of tactics came from Juventus during Capello's time. Juventus' football was not good to look at, but it was stable and could achieve victory and championship titles. Now that they were facing a Juventus team that was more stable than them and full of hunger for victory, he could not take any advantage. On the other hand, the Forest players could not enter the game state for a long time, perhaps because the continuous campaigns had hollowed out their bodies. It was as if they had eaten too much and had not woken up yet. After Juventus scored the second goal, although there were still nearly 40 minutes, they could not see any desire to win — they were too tired. Players were also human beings, not machines. They would be tired, and after being tired, they would naturally slack off and develop some negative thoughts.
Twain was powerless to do anything about it. No matter how much he encouraged them in the locker room, the players did not have any energy. It was impossible for them to generate infinite power out of thin air just because they heard him roar a few words, "We must win!" and then use POWER MAX to blast their opponents. He could not think that just because he promised Evan Doughty that he would definitely win this match before he came to Turin, he would definitely win this match.
After winning the game, the Juventus players hugged each other excitedly. Kerslake, who could not stand the scene, snorted disdainfully, "It's not like they won the Champions League title. It's just a group stage victory. Is there a need to be so excited?"
"After all, after they returned to the Champions League, they defeated the defending champion …" Dunn explained. He thought this must be the reason why the Juventus players were so excited. Many of these players had experienced the tragedy of falling from Serie A to Serie B, had also experienced the years of struggling in Serie B for Serie A, and had also experienced the joy of returning to the Champions League after a successful promotion in one season.
Many of them had tasted the ups and downs of life, the joys and sorrows of life, right?
He looked at the Juventus captain, Del Piero, and thought to himself.
While the two men were talking, Twain stood up from his seat without saying a word and slowly walked to the tunnel. He did not want to see the Juventus players excited to the point of madness, because he felt it was the victors showing off to the losers and the losers' humiliation. He did not want to sit here and be treated like this.
At the post-match press conference, Ranieri appeared very excited, while Twain was silent. He did not answer if he could. Even if he had to answer questions, he tried to be as concise as possible.
"What do you think about losing this crucial game?"
"Nothing."
"Žigić, who replaced the injured van Nistelrooy in the starting lineup for this game, performed very badly. Do you think buying him was a mistake? "
"No."
"Will losing to Juventus affect the team's final qualification for the group stage?"
"No impact."
"Do you have any comments on Juventus' performance?"
"It has nothing to do with me."
The reporters saw that he was so uncooperative, and the questions were directed at him instead of the team or the game.
"Did losing the game make you in a bad mood?"
"Guess."
"Then why do you seem unwilling to answer the questions?"
"Don't want to talk."
"Why don't you want to talk?"
"Toothache," Twain answered with a straight face.
"… All right. Is the team's recent results related to the club's financial difficulties? "
"I can guarantee that the worldwide financial crisis has nothing to do with our team's results." This was the longest sentence Twain had said at the press conference.
The press conference ended on a sour note in such a cold atmosphere.
※ ※ ※
Twain, who had broken his promise, was in a bad mood. He did not even criticize the players' poor performance in Turin. After returning to Nottingham, the Forest team beat Aston Villa, who was ranked above them, by a difficult 1: 0 at home. With this hard-won victory, their ranking rose from seventh to fifth.
But in the Champions League, the Forest team encountered a big problem.
After returning to their home ground, Nottingham Forest, who had vowed to take revenge, was forced to a 1: 1 draw by Juventus, who were entrenched in defense and waiting for an opportunity to launch a sneak attack. With a draw and a loss against Juventus, it was no longer certain that the Forest team would advance out of the group stage. After the Champions League group stage situation came out, the experts were unanimously optimistic about Nottingham Forest, believing that it was normal for them to advance out of the group stage.
Now, Tony Twain, who liked to go against the media, had once again gone against them. But this time, it was not what he wanted. If possible, he would have liked to cater to the media's predictions this time.
Juventus had three wins and one draw, with ten points at the top; Nottingham Forest had two wins, one draw, and one loss, with seven points; Kyiv Dynamo, in third, was close behind with two wins and two losses, with six points; FC Borisov had lost all four games without a point and was basically declared out of the group in advance.
If there were no surprises, it would not be a problem for Juventus to advance out of the group stage. The problem now was Nottingham Forest and Kyiv Dynamo. The difference in points between the two teams was very small. No one knew which team would advance until the last moment.
The schedule for the last two rounds of the Champions League group stage was as follows: Real Madrid would challenge the Belarus team FC Borisov in an away game on November 26th, and face Kyiv Dynamo at home on December 11th.
The away game against FC Borisov would be crucial. If they lost in this game, then Nottingham Forest might bid farewell to this season's Champions League ahead of time. As for why this game was so important, it was not because FC Borisov had great strength, but because they would be far away in Belarus at that time. The impact of the harsh natural weather on the Forest team would be so great that it could not be ignored.
At the end of November, Belarus had already entered the cold winter. The worst-case scenario was that Nottingham Forest would have to use their home advantage in the world of ice and snow to battle against an opponent adapted to the ice and snow weather, in order to take the lead in the fight against Kyiv Dynamo to advance.
In that game, they not only had to compete with the FC Borisov team, but also had to fight against the cold weather in Belarus. And that period was often when the players were the most physically tired and the most vulnerable to injury.
To win, no one could be injured, and the players' fitness had to be guaranteed.
As soon as Twain thought of this condition, he felt as if a boulder was pressing on his chest, making him breathless.
It was early November, a morning in Nottingham. The fog from Sherwood Forest still enveloped the city, and the roads were wet and raining. The sun had long risen, but it was blocked by thick dark clouds, and the sun could not penetrate at all. The men who went to work huddled their bodies in their black coats and hurried along. The headlights of the cars were still on as they drove past on the road, splashing cold water.
Twain stood outside Wilford Lane and looked up at the training base in front of him hidden in the woods and white fog. He pulled the collar of his turtleneck sweater outwards, and the cold air took the opportunity to sneak in, making him shiver unsuspectingly. But fortunately, the feeling of shortness of breath had finally eased a little.
Just as he opened his mouth to take a deep breath, a gust of white air spurted out of his mouth and was torn apart by the cold in front of him. It dispersed into wisps of white smoke and gradually faded until it finally disappeared, merging with the white fog of this early winter morning.
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