Martin O 'Neill's nightmare did not come true. When he lay in bed and opened his eyes the next day, he was not woken up by the incessant ringing of the phone, which made him feel a little more at ease. Because it meant that the club did not sell the main players on a large scale, otherwise his phone would be blown up by the media and the players' agents.
The Northern Irishman, who was exhausted by the recent transfer rumors and the team's top brass who always liked to meddle in the team's affairs, lay in bed for a while before he got up to wash up and enjoy the breakfast his wife made for him.
When he picked up the milk and picked up the sports page of The Sun that his wife had folded for him, he was stunned.
The most striking thing in the newspaper was a phalanx of four photos put together. It was obvious that the photos were taken secretly. The pixels were not high and the image was not clear, but O 'Neill still recognized Allan Adams' baby face. It was in a restaurant, and Allan was talking to someone. The photographer tried several angles, but could not get a complete picture of the face of the man who was talking to Allan Adams. In the last photo, the man walked out of the hotel door, and the camera finally caught his face — — Michael Dawson!
O 'Neill quickly threw the photo down to read the article.
"… The reporter took this set of photos at De Lima restaurant in North London yesterday. The photos show Nottingham Forest's commercial director, Allan Adams, secretly meeting Tottenham Hotspur's center back, Michael Dawson. The meeting between the two of them confirmed the newspaper's previous speculation — — Nottingham Forest is interested in letting Dawson return. And Dawson himself wants to leave Tottenham Hotspur and join his hometown team. He has been injured frequently in recent seasons. Not only did he lose his position in the England national team, but his position in Tottenham Hotspur is also in jeopardy. He is about to turn 31 and hopes to start over in a different environment. It is reported that the amount involved in this transfer should not be too high … "
※ ※ ※
"Bang!" A newspaper was thrown on the table in front of Evan Doughty.
Evan looked at the photo of Allan that was secretly taken in the newspaper, and then looked up at the angry Martin O 'Neill.
"When Pepe was sold by you, you promised to sign a good center back. I only have one requirement — — young enough! Michael Dawson will be 31 years old soon, and he has been injured this season. I don't know why you decided to buy him! "In the chairman's office, O 'Neill shouted without hesitation.
"Michael is indeed a high-quality center back …" Evan glanced at the silent Allan sitting on the sofa and then explained to O 'Neill.
To be honest, he was not mentally prepared for O 'Neal to suddenly question him in such an exposed manner. His head was still dizzy — how did O 'Neal, who had always been easy to talk to, suddenly turn into a violent warrior?
"What I want is a young, high-quality center back, not a center back who is about to turn 31 years old and has just recovered from an injury. He has been seriously injured three times in four seasons!" O 'Neill vowed not to give in this time. He must make the other party give him an explanation.
"More importantly, when you decided to contact Dawson, did anyone ask for my opinion?" This was the reason why O 'Neal was the most furious. To be honest, it was not that Michael Dawson could not be used. At least he still had his strength. It would not be a problem for him to recover and play in the game.
O 'Neill thought of Pepe's transfer again. New hatred and old hatred intertwined. He felt that he, the manager, was completely a puppet. The other two people in the room were the ones who decided everything about the team. One sat behind the boss's table and looked at him in surprise, and the other sat on the sofa in silence as if watching the show.
"I am the manager of this team. Gentlemen, in the United Kingdom, the head coach is called 'manager'. His title is different from the 'coach' in La Liga and Serie A, and his duties are also different. "O 'Neill vaguely criticized the two Americans for not understanding the United Kingdom's national conditions. "It is my right and my duty to decide who to buy and who to sell to the team. You pay me to work here, so I will exercise all the rights that I should exercise." O 'Neill looked at his boss, his immediate superior, with eyes full of unyielding determination.
He was indeed a person with a completely different temperament from Tony Twain. Even if he was angry, he still would not explode with vulgarities like Twain and go crazy hysterically. He was still very calm. His words were reasonable and well-organized. But it was also because of this that every word he said made Evan Doughty feel particularly uncomfortable. He originally thought that after sending away the god of plague, Tony Twain, O 'Neill would be easy to talk to and would be a pushover. He did not expect the honest man to be even more difficult to deal with when he flew into a rage.
He was silent for a very short few seconds, calculating in his mind how to deal with it.
"Don't be nervous, Martin … Of course we know that you are the manager of this team. But what Allan did can be considered as paving the way for you in advance. If everything has to be done by the manager himself, then wouldn't you be exhausted to death?" Evan laughed. He wanted to ease the atmosphere, but he realized that the other two people in the room were not laughing except for him. So after laughing twice, he also somewhat awkwardly shut his mouth.
O 'Neill did not leave the chairman any face this time. He responded with a straight face, "Yes, wait until you have reached an agreement with the other club and the player himself in private before you inform me. Just like Pepe, isn't it? "
Allan raised his head and looked at the two men who were confronting each other across the desk.
Evan's expression changed. He glanced at Allan and turned back to look at O 'Neill. He realized that O 'Neill was also looking at him … No, it might be more appropriate to say that he was glaring at him.
O 'Neill was right. He was the manager of this team. He should be responsible for all transfers and exercise his authority. But Evan Doughty had been suppressed by Twain for so many years, and he had long been unable to suppress his desire to control this team. In his view, he was the owner of the club. He should also be able to express his opinion on the team's affairs, and even directly intervene … Otherwise, he could not be said to have gone overboard. There were so many club chairmen in this world who liked to intervene in the team's affairs, even the English Premier League was no exception. Why could he not do anything?
No matter how good the manager was, he was still working for me. I was the real boss here. Did you guys figure this out?
He suddenly did not want to smile at an employee anymore. Sometimes, he also had to show the dignity of the club chairman.
"Well, you know about this now, Mr. O 'Neill."
Evan Doughty put on a posture as if he was going to see his guest off.
O 'Neill stood in front of him and stared at him for a while before turning and walking away. He did not say another word to Evan Doughty because he felt there was no need to say it.
※ ※ ※
There were fewer and fewer speculations and hype about why Tony Twain left Nottingham Forest at the peak of his career. Some people even optimistically thought that, just like Shankly's sudden resignation from Liverpool when he should have been able to shine, Nottingham Forest would also have a more brilliant future like Paisley's Liverpool after a short period of turmoil. After all, Twain had already consolidated the foundation.
There was no point in continuing to speculate about the people who had already left. It was better to focus on the new manager, Martin O 'Neill.
But there was one person who disagreed with this idea.
When he first found out that Twain did not renew his contract with the club, Pierce Brosnan, like everyone else, was surrounded by emotions of shock, anger, disappointment, and doubt. As a reporter, his curiosity gradually surpassed several other emotions and settled in the days that followed. Since the Forest team played a friendly match against England last week, the doubts that had accumulated in the depths of his heart gradually surfaced. His interest in "why Tony Twain did not renew his contract" grew stronger and stronger. Even if there were no longer any media investigating this matter, he still decided to get to the bottom of it.
But he wanted to investigate, but he did not know where to start. Although he followed the Forest team many times for interviews, he still did not know much about the Forest team's top brass. On the one hand, he always hung out with Tony Twain. On the other hand, Evan Doughty really kept a low profile at that time. When Twain and Evan were together, they always looked happy and harmonious, which made others envious of them. He collected information everywhere, but he could not find any information on the two most crucial aspects.
Tony Twain kept his mouth shut and Nottingham Forest also seemed to have forgotten that they once had such a manager. There was no more news about Twain.
Nottingham Forest was now Evan Doughty's club alone. It was much more convenient for him to control the club than the board of directors.
These days, Brosnan was busy collecting relevant information everywhere. Fortunately, his boss supported him, because they all knew that Twain's resignation was not a simple matter. There must be some inside information that he did not want others to know, otherwise the person involved would not have kept his mouth shut.
And once the truth was revealed, it would certainly become big news that would shake the English football world. Therefore, this matter must be done.
Brosnan was so busy that he almost forgot that he had to interview O 'Neill. This was Martin O' Neill's first interview since becoming the Nottingham Forest manager. His team building policy and his goals for leading the team would all be discussed in this interview, and it could also be considered an important interview task.
It was only when a colleague in the office saw that he was so obsessed with the game of hide-and-seek with Tony Twain that he remembered to call O 'Neill to confirm the interview.
No matter how Tony Twain left his job, and no matter what the story behind the club that Evan Doughty was in charge of, Pierce Brosnan put away his curiosity at this moment, straightened his clothes, and knocked on the door of the Forest manager.
Martin O 'Neill was in his seat waiting for the visit of the influential local reporter in Nottingham.
"Hello, Mr. O 'Neill. I hope I'm not interrupting your work. "Brosnan put down the interview bag and got up to shake O 'Neill's hand.
"No, Mr. Brosnan. My work is done." O 'Neill smiled warmly.
Brosnan sat down and began to interview the new manager who had always been considered or in Twain's shadow. However, the interview did not go according to the steps that Brosnan had planned. He first asked a question, "How do you feel after being the manager of Nottingham Forest for two months, Mr. O 'Neill?"
Under normal circumstances, O 'Neill should have nodded and said, "I feel very good, everyone is very supportive of my work, I have a lot of support …"
But O 'Neill hesitated and shook his head. "It's harder than I thought."
His professional acumen allowed Brosnan to immediately catch the main point. He followed up on this sentence and changed the question that he had previously prepared at the last minute, "Is it because Tony Twain's influence is too great?"
O 'Neill continued to shake his head, "No." He seemed to be very talkative today, and Brosnan did not interrupt, only guiding him to continue.
"Sometimes when you're outside, you can't see clearly, and you think it's wonderful. But when you walk in, you realize that your thinking is very wrong. " O 'Neill's words were very mysterious, "I used to think that I was already mentally prepared and had a wealth of experience, but now I still feel that my initial judgment was wrong."
Brosnan listened to this inexplicable remark, and his brain was working at high speed, trying to guess what O 'Neill meant. Then he asked tentatively, "Are you referring to Pepe's transfer?"
He was right.
O 'Neill shrugged, "When you found out that Pepe might be leaving, you found out that he was already confirmed to be traded to AC Milan. What did you think?"
Brosnan's heart skipped a beat. He seemed to have grasped something, and the fog that had been troubling him before was slowly dissipating.
"I'm sorry, Mr. O 'Neill. I remember that you're the manager of the team. How could you be the last to be informed of such a thing? "Brosnan continued to press on.
"I don't know why, but that's the truth. I was kept in the dark. Everyone knew that Pepe had already reached an agreement with AC Milan, but I didn't know. I also went to talk to Pepe once, and was rightfully rejected. I couldn't reverse the situation. Now that the season is about to start, we've lost our most important center back. I don't even know who else we're going to lose. "O 'Neill finally found an outlet to vent his resentment. "Look at the transfer rumors about the Forest players in the media now. I really have to thank God that they're still here."
"Have you read the report on the meeting between Mr. Allan Adams and Michael Dawson, Mr. Brosnan?"
Brosnan nodded. As a sports reporter, he certainly had to pay attention to the sports news that happened every day.
"Did you only find out about it through that report?"
Brosnan froze for a moment, then shook his head, "I have my own reporter friend, Mr. O 'Neill. You know, we'll help each other out … "
Martin O 'Neill grinned when he heard such an answer, "That's great. Even a reporter knows our team's signing targets before me, the manager. Maybe I should hire some reporters to be scouts? "
There's a big problem.
Brosnan thought so in his heart. If a manager only knew what kind of players the team was going to bring in at the last moment, then it was a big problem. He was completely bypassed, so who was it that bypassed him …
He suddenly thought of last summer, also around this time, the Forest team's right midfielder, Aaron Lennon, was sold to Inter Milan. At that time, Tony Twain was furious, and even the whole of England could hear his roars and swear words. He was scolding Allan Adams for reaching an agreement with Inter Milan without asking for his consent and handing over Lennon on a silver platter. For this, he even suspended the contract renewal negotiations with the team. At that time, there was an uproar, but later there was no sound. The three of them together did not look different on the surface.
"Football is a sport that requires detailed arrangements and planning. I signed a four-year contract with the club. I have a long-term plan, and everyone must get my consent before they can buy or sell. But the situation now is that my requirements before signing the contract have not been fulfilled … "
While Brosnan was in a daze, O 'Neill continued to speak, and Brosnan's voice recorder faithfully recorded it.
"I want stability in the defense, and they sold Pepe in the end. I want a young potential center back, and they went to get in touch with Dawson. They did not even look at the players I recommended … "
Brosnan had to interrupt O 'Neill, "I'm sorry, Mr. O' Neill. Who do you mean by 'they'? "
"The club chairman and the commercial director, who else could it be? Maybe now I know why Tony left when he was at his most glorious … "
The last piece of fog in his heart finally dispersed. Brosnan was sure he had grasped the crux of all the problems.
"I chose Nottingham Forest because I came from here, and I wanted to continue the glory of the Forest team. But now it seems that I thought too well of everything. "
There was a deep sense of exhaustion in his words. Although it had only been two months, Martin O 'Neill had been tortured to the point of exhaustion.
There was no need to ask any more questions. The questions prepared in advance were worthless in the face of such an explosive topic. Pierce Brosnan was so shocked by the ideas in his mind that he was not in the mood to continue the interview. He got up to say goodbye to O 'Neill and was ready to rush back to write the interview that was bound to cause a sensation.
"The Nottingham Forest manager blasted the club's top brass!"
"Martin O 'Neill: I've been ostracized!"
"The shady dealings of Pepe's deal!"
There was still a lot of information that he needed to gather around, but it was different this time. He had a direction and knew where to look.
"Goodbye. I'm glad you accepted my interview, Mr. O 'Neill. Good luck. "
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