Tang En stood in the shady Wilford Lane, the constant chirping of cicadas above his head. To his north was the youth team training base, and to his south was the adult team training base. Currently, both training bases were quiet and deserted.
He knew that the adult team would only officially start training the next day, and the youth team was still on holiday. Apart from the staff, there would be no one else in the two training bases. For them, the long and beautiful holiday was not over yet.
Tang En walked into the youth team training base. There was not a single car in the parking lot, and the office building doors were tightly shut. The afternoon sun shone on the asphalt road, and his feet felt hot as he walked on it. Today was perhaps the hottest day of the year.
He walked around the two-story building to the side of the number one field. Indeed, it was empty. The number one and number three fields were connected, separated by a seven-meter-high barbed wire fence. Tang En looked from afar and saw that there was no one in the number three field. It looked like the youth team was still on holiday.
Tang En stood on the empty training ground. If he chose to stay, this would become his territory, and Kerslake would become his assistant again. But what was there to bring in a youth team competition? Tang En felt a little depressed. In his eyes, the sense of accomplishment that a youth team victory brought him was not even a third of that of the adult team. He was used to being the center of attention. So what if he led the youth team to win the FA Youth Cup?
He looked at the field and decided to leave.
Coming out from the main entrance of the number one field was a fork in the road. If he walked straight, he would return to the main entrance. If he turned right, it would lead to the number two field, which was the northernmost. The quality of the turf in the number two field was not good, and very few people used it.
Tang En had a completely different feeling for the number two field than the others. He had only been to the number two field once after coaching the Forest team. That experience occupied a very important place in his memory. He met the adorable Gavin here, and George Wood also gained his first fan.
That was where Tang En was heartbroken. The great joy and sorrow of the second half of the 02-03 season began there.
Standing at the fork in the road, Tang En felt like he was facing a choice: go forward, leave this training base, leave this sleeping forest; go right … What did going right mean?
Tang En looked at the small path that stretched all the way to the front. After a moment of hesitation, he chose to go to the second field to take a look.
When he got closer, he found a man on the field, running back and forth between two cones.
George Wood!
Twain did not expect to see him here. Had time turned back? Was it March 21st instead of June 27th? Well, there were still some differences. For example, Wood did not have that coach by his side, and Twain did not have Michael and his son, Gavin by his side.
He stood outside the barbed wire and quietly watched Wood train. Wood did not notice his presence and continued to immerse himself in the most basic exercises.
Tang En stood and watched for about 15 minutes before George Wood finally changed his training program. He placed the two cone-shaped symbols together, with a distance of about half a meter between them. Then, he stood five meters away and kicked the ball at the cone-shaped symbols. Tang En did not understand what he was practicing. He had not seen such a training program in Kerslake's youth team training or Walker's adult team training. He had originally planned to leave quietly, but he changed his mind and stayed behind. He wanted to see what was going on.
Wood kicked the ball ten times. It was obvious that he was not practicing shooting because he was deliberately suppressing the speed and strength of his shots. Instead, he was very concerned about accuracy. If the ball rolled between or outside the two symbols, he would shake his head. If it hit the symbols, he would clench his fists.
Then, Wood changed his angle and stood at a forty-five degree angle from the symbols. He repeated the ten times. Just like before, most of the balls rolled past the symbols. The number of times he managed to hit the targets was few and far between.
Tang En looked at the distance between the two symbols and then lowered his head to look at his legs. He separated them slightly. The distance of about half a meter was exactly the length of a standing person's legs apart.
This kid was thinking of ways to practice his passing!
It was the end of June, the hottest time of the year in Nottingham. On the empty training ground, only George Wood was still immersed in training. The hot season, the terrible weather, and the relaxing holidays had nothing to do with him. Furthermore, the base would not specially provide lunch for him during the holidays. He had to travel back and forth between the training ground and his home several times a day. His training shirt was drenched in sweat many times. Every time he started training, he would take off his shirt and hang it on the crossbar of the goal. Then, he would train with his upper body bare. His taut muscles seemed to contain an extremely explosive power. It was released with every movement Wood made. Sweat flowed down his well-defined body, and his whole body radiated a dazzling light under the scorching sun.
George … If you can't succeed, then no one in this world can!
In order not to disturb Wood's training, he quietly left the remote training ground surrounded by trees. Looking up at the sky, Tang En decided to go to one last place.
Nottingham was a city built on the hills. The terrain was undulating and full of changes. The church in front of Tang En was built on a small hill. The small brick church was not as grand and exquisite as the famous St. Mary's Church in the city center. Like the surrounding buildings, it was dusty and unremarkable. However, under the clear blue sky, the small church standing on the green grass made people feel comfortable. Just looking at it from the outside made them feel at peace.
Tang En bypassed the church and followed a gravel path through the forest. He came to the cemetery surrounded by the forest.
What he did not expect was a man standing in front of Gavin Bernard's tombstone.
"Michael!" he shouted loudly, breaking the quiet atmosphere of the cemetery.
The man turned his head and was a little surprised to find that the person calling him was Tang En. "Tony? What are you doing here? "
Tang En walked forward and placed a bouquet of lilies in his hands in front of the tombstone. "I'm here for whatever you're doing here. It's been more than a month. How are you feeling? "
Michael shook his head, still in low spirits. "Tony, I just happened to run into you here. I was going to say goodbye to you … "
"Farewell?" Tang En sensed something amiss in the air. "What goodbye? Where are you going? "
"Los Angeles."
"America?!" Tang En exclaimed. "You're going so far … Why?"
Michael looked at his son's tombstone and then said slowly, "I forgot to tell you, my wife is American. She can't bear the pain of staying here and thinking of Gavin all the time. Now, Nottingham is a sad place for our family. Everything she sees reminds her of the dead Gavin. The house, the yard, the street outside the door, the neighbors, even the football matches … I don't want her to cry all day long. I think it might be better to leave here and go back to her hometown. "
Tang En frowned. "What about Gavin?"
"Gavin is different from us." Michael squatted down and wiped away a few fallen leaves on the tombstone. He then studied the golden name on the white marble tombstone. "I can change my feelings about football for the sake of my family. But he won't. He will always be a supporter of the Forest team, in life and in death. "
He stood up again and said to Tang En, "You must be very happy in your heart, right? You don't have to be afraid of people scolding you behind your back next season. "
Tang En smiled bitterly. "Michael, you don't even read reports about football anymore? I was fired by the new chairman of the Forest team. My contract as an agent has expired. "
Michael did not expect Tang En's answer to be this. He looked at Tang En in shock for a long time to make sure he was not joking. "Damn it … Then where else will you go? The youth team? Or … "
Tang En shook his head. "I've asked myself this question countless times in the past two days, but I still haven't gotten an answer."
"Are you here to find an answer?"
"I don't know …"
"Tony, do you want to hear the opinion of an old fan who has followed the Forest team for forty-four years?"
Tang En looked up at Michael.
"Even though I've decided to leave football, I want to recall the first half of my life. Other than Clough's time, the time I miss the most is the time you led the team for half a season. Both of you have some similarities. For example, both of you are passionate, both of you pay attention to the details, both of you are talented, and both of you possess many conditions for success. I still remember the day Clough came to the team was January 3, 1975. You were January 1, just two days apart. What a pity. Perhaps we've all missed out on a very legendary story … "Michael patted Tang En's shoulder and walked past him.
"Goodbye, Tony."
"… Goodbye, Michael." Tang En stared blankly at the man's back as he gradually disappeared into the distance.
After mysteriously arriving here, he had a fight with this man in the bar. After that, they became good friends. In this unfamiliar place, Michael had given him a lot of help that he could not express his thanks for. He had wanted to repay Michael's friendship with results, but … all of that had disappeared with that accident.
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