Tottenham Hotspur's acceptance of Nottingham Forest's offer for Michael Dawson, the Nottingham Evening Post, which had just been published this morning and was still smelling of ink, as well as Martin O 'Neill's letter of resignation. These three things were placed on Evan Doughty's desk, and his brain did not react for a while.
The fax was sent to him by his secretary, Miss Lucy, along with a morning kiss, a very intimate contact that went beyond the relationship between the club chairman and the secretary. The Evening Post was later brought to him by his old friend, Allan Adams, and the letter of resignation was personally presented by Martin O 'Neill. The man who wanted to resign was still standing in the room waiting for the club chairman's approval.
Only two days had passed since the day O 'Neill and Evan Doughty flew into a rage.
Signing a deal with Tottenham Hotspur to buy Dawson was part of Doughty's plan. They bought a center back who was in his prime for a small amount of money. Evan Doughty felt that the deal was a good deal and was happy about it. At the same time, his hands were not being honest with Miss Lucy. Allan knocked on his office door with the newspaper, which gave him quite a fright. If his wife found out about him and Lucy, then his family would be finished.
When Lucy tidied up her clothes and opened the door for Allan, Allan was still very interested in watching the back of the figure walking away with her hips swaying. Then he handed the newspaper to Evan without saying a word.
Evan saw a photo of O 'Neill and an interview on it. The title was very eye-catching, and it also explained why Allan would risk bumping into the two of them having an affair to knock on his door.
Martin O 'Neill: I'm not happy here!
Before Evan could understand why he was unhappy, O 'Neill also knocked on his office door.
Evan was about to ask O 'Neill what the interview meant, but the other party had already put the thing in his hand on Evan's desk.
"Resign?"
Evan thought he had seen wrong. He picked it up and looked at it again. Then he looked up at the Northern Irishman standing in front of him.
O 'Neill stood in front of Evan and said very seriously, "I don't think I can implement my plans and ambitions here at all. I don't get enough respect here, and you don't seem to need a manager. So I think breaking up is the best solution. "
"You can't do this!" Evan roared. He didn't expect O 'Neal to do this. Resign? He really dared! He has only been in office for two months and he wants to resign … What does he take me as the club chairman for?
"Of course I can do that." As an "old manager" who had been in British football for more than 20 years, O 'Neill was not stupid. "In the contract we signed, you didn't write how much money you would have to pay me if you fired me, so I don't have to pay you money even if I resign, Mr. Chairman. That's fair. "
Since he did not have to pay the penalty fee, O 'Neal had nothing to worry about.
In fact, he had made the decision to resign after he had a big argument with Evan Doughty that day. That was why he revealed the shocking news during the interview — I'm going to leave anyway, why would I care what you think of me? What should be said and what should not be said have been said, this can also be considered as me venting my anger!
"This … this isn't about money, Mr. O 'Neal. You're the manager of the team, and the league tournament is about to start. If you resign now … "
"Resigning now is for the sake of the team. At this time, you still have time to find another manager. If you wait until the league tournament starts, I'm afraid it'll be difficult, Mr. Chairman. " O 'Neill said "Mr. Chairman," but it sounded more like he was slapping Evan Doughty, the club chairman, in the face.
Evan Doughty was completely frightened by the determination shown by Martin O 'Neill. He held the resignation letter in his hand and looked at O' Neill with his mouth wide open. He did not know what to say. Allan Adams sat on the sofa without saying a word, as if he was a bystander watching a show.
"I hope the club agrees to my resignation." O 'Neill reiterated his intention of looking for Evan. "There is no possibility of continuing to work together between us."
Now, what could Evan do even if he did not agree? He finally paid the price for his arbitrary behavior — the manager he had worked hard to find actually resigned on his own, giving him a resounding slap in the face. In two months, he had lost two managers in a row. Perhaps he should think about whether it was because the managers were too keen on power or because he was too stupid?
After a moment of silence, Evan stood up and extended his hand to O 'Neill, "Thank you for everything you've done for the club, Mr. O' Neal. I agree to your resignation. "
O 'Neill smiled, "Goodbye, Mr. Chairman." With that, he did not look at Allan Adams sitting next to him, turned around and walked out of the office.
After watching O 'Neill walk out, Evan Doughty slowly sat down and looked at Allan Adams sitting on the sofa without saying a word.
"Who should we find to be the manager now?" Allan asked as he spread his hands.
"Only God knows," Evan muttered weakly. This morning had really dealt a heavy blow to him.
"There are not many successful managers who are idle at home. This is not a good time to find a manager …"
"Then go and poach one!" Evan suddenly became excited, "Poach me one from the other clubs!" He crumpled O 'Neill's resignation letter into a ball and threw it into the trash can.
※ ※ ※
The players and coaches were even more surprised than Evan Doughty. When O 'Neill stood in front of them with a smile on his face and announced his decision to resign, everyone looked at him in disbelief. They thought he was joking, but the problem was that Mr. O 'Neill was not a person who liked to joke. He was different from Tony Twain.
"Thank you for your support over the past two months." O 'Neill smiled and said goodbye to the players, "Although my relationship with the club's top management is not very good, it was a pleasure to get along with you. You're all very lovely, and I'm proud to have coached such a team, even if it was only for a short two months. "
"I'm sorry that I can't continue to lead you. I wish you all the best."
Then he hugged the assistant manager, fitness coach, goalkeeper coach, and first team coach one by one to say goodbye.
Kerslake was still a little confused. Tony is gone, and Martin is also leaving. What's going on? They're all gone. What are we going to do? What about Nottingham Forest? Is a team that has just won the Treble going to disappear from this time?
When he hugged O 'Neill, he asked a question, "Is your resignation because of Tony, Mr. O' Neill?"
He was worried that Tony's influence was too great, and O 'Neill could not work freely here.
O 'Neill shook his head and cleared his "grievance." "It has nothing to do with him. I don't have a good relationship with the club chairman and the business director, David. They have their position, and I have mine. It's a pity that our positions are not the same. You're a good assistant manager and can become an excellent manager in the future. Thank you for your help, David. The new manager is here, help him like you helped me and Tony. I hope he can work here … a little longer. "He looked into the distance and sighed softly.
After waving goodbye for the last time, O 'Neill turned and left the dumbfounded team.
The reporters who heard the news had already blocked the gate of the Wilford base so tightly that not even a drop of water could trickle through. This group of dogs had really good noses. He had just laid his cards on the table with the club, and they all knew. It was as if there were no secrets in front of them.
When the reporters saw O 'Neill coming out from inside, they struggled to push past the security guards and rushed up.
Countless microphones were almost in O 'Neill's mouth, and the cameras were all aimed at him.
"Mr. O 'Neill, I heard you resigned? May I ask if this is true? "
"Manager O 'Neill, can you tell us the reason for your sudden resignation? This is so surprising … You've only been here for two months! "
"Hey, Martin! Martin! I heard you have a conflict with the club's top management? Can you reveal what kind of conflict it is? "
"Is it Pepe's transfer that led to this resignation?"
"Maybe it's Michael Dawson … Don't you like Dawson?"
"Tony Twain also resigned suddenly. Have the two of you been in contact? Does he have anything to do with your resignation? "
"Can you reveal where your next stop is?"
"Is it true that the Nottingham Forest Club's top management seriously interfered with the manager's signing work as you said in the interview?"
"Can you comment on Evan Doughty?"
"Has your resignation been approved by the club?"
Apart from the reporters' loud questions and the sound of the camera shutters, nothing else could be heard at the scene. Everyone shouted at the top of their lungs, for fear that O 'Neill in the middle of the crowd could not hear them.
But O 'Neill was not in the mood to answer their questions. He stopped in front of his car door, turned around and said to the enthusiastic reporters, "My resignation has been approved, and I have nothing to say about it. I'm very grateful to the people who have helped me during the two months I've been coaching the Forest team. In addition, I want to clarify that this has nothing to do with Tony Twain. My resignation is my own decision, and it has nothing to do with anyone. If you want to ask anything else, please save it for the club. I believe they will announce a press conference soon. "
With that, he opened the car door and got in. He rolled up the window and started the car. Surrounded and blocked by the reporters, he slowly drove out of the main gate.
The reporters chased after him for a few steps before they stopped. Just as O 'Neill said, the club would definitely hold a press conference. They would save their questions for then.
Pierce Brosnan did not expect O 'Neill to make such a firm decision to resign. He looked at the black car driving away from the crowd and did not know where Nottingham Forest's future lay.
How did things turn out like this? A team that had shaken Europe and established its reputation around the world had changed in just two months. It had changed so much that it could not be recognized.
If he wanted to trace the source … it seemed that he could not avoid one person.
He took out his cell phone and dialed Tony Twain's number.
※ ※ ※
When Twain's cell phone rang in the dining room downstairs, he was studying the list of English players from all the English Premier League teams in the study upstairs. One of the two 24-inch monitors connected to the computer was playing a video of the game. He needed to use the computer to edit the video and make it into a compilation that he needed. Then he would burn it into a CD, label it, and put it in the cabinet according to category. He would not be like a headless fly looking for it.
Staring at the TV screen to study the game video for a long time, or reading books and notes had made Twain slightly nearsighted. He wore black-rimmed glasses and stuck his head out to observe the performance of a few target players. When he needed special attention, he would press the pause button and then lower his head to record the time in his notebook with a pen to facilitate subsequent editing.
He watched so intently that he did not hear it at all when the cell phone rang downstairs for the first time.
When the sound disappeared, he suddenly realized that there was something ringing just now …
He tilted his head to listen but did not hear anything. Just as he shook his head, thinking that he had been so busy recently that he was hearing things, and was about to continue working, the phone rang again.
When Twain shuffled through the long corridor on the second floor, circled down the circular staircase, and then passed through the 80-square-meter living room to finally reach the dining room, the ringing stopped again.
"So impatient," Twain muttered as he picked up the cell phone to see who was calling.
The missed call on the screen showed the caller's name: 007.
Twain could not be bothered to type some people's names. English names were not as simple as Chinese names to him, so he would give many people alternate numbers. 007 referred to Pierce Brosnan because his name sounded very similar to the famous 007 who played Pierce Brosnan.
Twain did not know why the reporter from the Nottingham Evening Post would call him. Just as he was hesitating whether to call back to ask, the cell phone in his hand vibrated again while the music rang.
He finally pressed the answer button.
"Hello, Mr. Bond, why are you calling me at this time?" Twain asked lazily as he leaned on the sofa in the living room.
"I want to know the real reason why you suddenly decided to leave Nottingham Forest," Brosnan asked directly.
The question made Twain's face fall. He never answered such questions, not even to Brosnan. "I'm sorry, Mr. Reporter. I don't want to answer your question. If you want to interview me, please make an appointment in advance … "He was about to hang up when he finished speaking.
At this time, he heard Pierce Brosnan roar, "You coward, how long are you going to hide, Tony?!"
Tang En was so shocked by the sudden roar that his hand paused. The call was not hung up.
"Have you seen the news? Do you have a newspaper there? Is the TV on? "Brosnan continued to ask loudly after the roar.
"No." Twain looked around. The table was clean, and there was nothing on it. The TV was off, and the screen was dark.
"Then I'll send you a live report now!" Brosnan said fiercely. This was probably the first time he had used such a tone to speak to the king of Nottingham Forest since he became a reporter. "Martin O 'Neill has just handed in his resignation to the club, and I believe the club will definitely agree to his resignation this time!"
Twain was stunned by the news. He thought he was dreaming, and it was a very unreal dream.
Martin O 'Neill had only joined the team for two months. Why did he resign?
"If you still care about Nottingham Forest, you must know why! Evan Doughty and Allan Adams made an agreement with AC Milan to sell Pepe behind O 'Neill's back, and now they brought in Michael Dawson behind his back. Although the media called Dawson's arrival a' homecoming, 'it violated O' Neill's authority. So he resigned! It's that simple … Now, tell me why you decided not to renew your contract. Did you lose confidence in the club's top management like O 'Neill? Tell me, Tony! "
Twain was silent for a moment and did not answer.
"Well, I know what you're thinking. You're worried that it will cause unrest in the team after you say it, right? You're so stupid, Tony. The club is already like this. Isn't unrest completely foreseeable? Martin O 'Neill resigned, and Şahin is going to transfer to Bayern Munich. Do you think the team you spent so much effort to build can still be preserved? The players have already lost confidence in the club's top management. Doesn't Pepe's departure show the problem? He's the most loyal warrior! "
"Do you still love this team? Do you still miss every day and night of the past eleven years? Don't you feel heartache for how they treated you at the Crimson Stadium? Don't be silent, Tony. "
※ ※ ※
Pierce Brosnan leaned against his car outside the gates of Wilford and called Twain. The reporters around him had almost left. He shouted loudly into the phone, but no one paid attention to him. They just treated him as another ordinary reporter asking for enough space in the press.
"Don't be silent, Tony! Tony? Tony … Hello! Hello! "
Brosnan, who had been speaking passionately for a long time, found that the person on the other side had hung up.
"What the f * * k!" He was so angry that he kicked the wheel of his car. The car alarm kept blaring, scaring him.
"Bastard!" Brosnan fumbled for his keys and turned off the alarm in a flurry. He felt that today was the worst of the worst.
Logically speaking, he should not be thinking this way because he was a reporter. What happened today should have made his blood boil and made him want to rush back to write a draft immediately and publish the news before everyone else.
But now, as a loyal Nottingham Forest fan, he felt that it was simply terrible.
He leaned against the car and looked at the Nottingham Forest team emblem on the wall outside the gates of the Wilford training base in front of him.
※ ※ ※
Twain walked back to his study and looked at the frozen game video on the computer screen in a daze. Coincidentally, what he was watching was the video of Nottingham Forest's game from last season. The person in the video was Aaron Mitchell.
He found that he was in no mood to sit down and work. He suddenly wanted to listen to some music. At this time, perhaps only music could soothe his irritated heart.
He turned on the stereo and returned to the computer amid the music. The beautiful music still could not calm him down. There was something stuck in his chest that wanted to rush out.
He sat down and turned off the game video. Then, he opened a Word document. He remembered that he should write a column for the Evening Post. Since the World Cup, there had been no activity in his column.
But today, he wanted to write. He had a lot of things to write. He wanted to scold people, he wanted to satirize, he wanted to vent, he wanted to destroy some things. Only in this way could the future be rebuilt.
Amidst the continuous tapping of the keyboard, James Blunt's voice rang out:
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
