While Tang En was building his youth team, Collymore and Evan Doughty were not idle either. Rebrov had spent two-thirds of Forest's transfer budget for this season, but the fans were willing to believe that this "expensive" Ukrainian could become the new hero of the City Ground Stadium and lead the team back to the Premier League.
Then, Collymore made a controversial decision. He sold last season's top striker in Forest, the League One Silver Boots, to West Ham United, who had been relegated from the English Premier League. In fact, what everyone was most dissatisfied with was not that the main striker was sold, but that Collymore was sold too cheaply. West Ham United had offered five hundred thousand, and he had hurriedly sold Harewood. It was as if he was afraid that his value would depreciate if he stayed a few more days.
Of course, there were also rumors that Harewood had contradicted Collymore on his way back to the locker room after a training session, and the two of them had gone from insulting each other to pushing and shoving each other. But who knew if the story was true or false when it happened in a corner where the media and the masses could not see?
Following that, Forest brought in Danny Sonner, a 31-year-old midfielder, from Walsall on a free transfer. This was already his third team in three years.
At the end of July, Forest brought in Brynjar Gunnarsson, an Icelandic defensive midfielder, on a free transfer from Stoke City. In addition to being a defensive midfielder, the tall and strong Icelander could also play as a center back.
Finally, Forest brought in Jacob Burns, an Australian player, from the financially troubled Leeds United on a free transfer. They defeated another club, Barnsley, who was interested in Burns.
When people came, people left. After Harewood left the team, last season's main center back, Dawson's partner, Jor-Olaf Harjeld's contract expired, Collymore told him that there was no place for him in his plans for the new season. The Norwegian had no choice but to leave. He made a free transfer to Korea's K League's Pusan Hyundai. The other center back, Christian Edwards, whom Tang En admired a lot, was loaned by Collymore to the Oxford team in League Three. Tang En sighed when he heard the news. Edwards was twenty-six years old this year. He could forget about improving if he went to play in that level of league now.
Ricardo Smeka, the team's main defensive midfielder last season, also chose to leave after his contract expired. Leicester City, who had just been promoted to the English Premier League, was interested in him. Jim Brennan also left on a free transfer and his next stop is fellow League One side Norwich City. The Forest team's loan from Marseille last season, Benjamin `Gavanon, had expired and returned to France.
The young defender, James Biggins, who scored the Forest team's own goal in the promotion play-offs and caused the team to lose, was sold by Collymore to Queens Park Rangers (QP.R.) in the English League Two for a very low price of 100,000 pounds. This poor young man, his career had not even begun, and it was already almost over …
Before the start of the English First Division, Collymore and the Forest team's gains in the transfer market were as follows:
The purchase of Rebrov from Tottenham Hotspur cost two million pounds. This was the most eye-catching transaction in the League One transfer market this summer. The signing of Danny Sauna on a free transfer. In terms of selling players, Malone Hailwood joined West Ham United for 500,000 pounds, and James Biggins went to Queens Park Rangers in League Two for 50,000 pounds. Hajard, Smeka, and Brennan left the Forest team on free transfers.
There were no changes in other aspects. The Forest team basically maintained the foundation of last season's players and even acquired strong reinforcements. On this basis, the transfer budget of three million pounds was finally left with 1.65 million pounds.
The Forest team's First Team roster for this season was also basically confirmed.
The two goalkeepers were the 29-year-old Welshman, Darren Ward, and the 21-year-old Irish youngster, Barry Roche. Ward's main position would not be a problem under either Tang En or Collymore.
The rear defensive line was led by the 20-year-old captain, Michael Dawson. The 27-year-old Belgian left-back, Davy Oyen, 22-year-old center-back, Chris Doig, 21-year-old right-back, John Thompson, 27-year-old French right-back, Mathieu Louis-Jean, and the 19-year-old Scottish left-back, Gregor Robertson.
The midfield included the new arrival, Brynjar Gunnarsson, the 20-year-old German youngster, Eugen Bopp, Danny Sonner, 21-year-old Gareth Williams, 20-year-old Brian Cash, 20-year-old Andy Reid, and the 32-year-old Eoin Jess.
At the front were the 26-year-old David Johnson, the 18-year-old Craig Westcarr, and the 29-year-old Serhiy Rebrov.
Evan Doughty claimed in an interview that he was very satisfied with the work of Manager Collymore because he did not take the three million pounds and squander it wantonly. He was fully considerate of the club, which had just recovered from a financial crisis.
The media also took pictures of Collymore personally demonstrating on the training ground. He was all smiles and seemed to be in a good mood. Maybe he was really ready to turn over a new leaf …
Of course, there was usually only one indicator to evaluate how a manager was doing — how well he led the team. A buyer could become an accountant to save money, and he could continue to be a player who would personally demonstrate the moves. Collymore looked good now, but it did not mean that he would be good in the future.
Brosnan stared at the photo of the Forest team's new manager for a while, and then threw it aside. He created a new folder on his laptop and set it to be hidden. Then he named the hidden folder — Collymore's Countdown to the End of Class.
On August 9th, the 03-04 English Football League First Division season officially kicked off. A day later, Collymore's Forest team welcomed their first opponent of the season at home, the "Black Cats" Sunderland.
For Collymore, this was his first big test. The previous warm-up games were all small games.
The result of the game satisfied Collymore and all the Forest supporters.
Just 19 minutes into the game, the Forest team's summer transfer "target king," Rebrov, scored his first goal since joining the Forest team, causing the City Ground Stadium to fall into jubilation.
Sitting in the audience, Tang En saw the Ukrainian and his teammates embrace each other and knew that the future had been irrevocably changed, and this change was slowly expanding with Nottingham as the center. It was like throwing a stone into a calm lake, causing ripples that pushed the fallen leaves on the surface of the lake and scared away the schools of fish in the water. When the ripples dissipated, the surface of the lake and the water were no longer the same as before.
In his memory, Rebrov had indeed come to play in England's second division, but that was with West Ham United a year later. He only played for one season before joining Ukraine's Dynamo Kyiv.
Tang En knew that this change was definitely because he was here, because it was all related to him. He was powerless to change this situation. He could only hope that it would not change too much … or that his memory would still be useful when he needed it.
In the 41st minute, the Frenchman, Mathieu Louis Jean, who had been thrown to the reserve team by Tang En last season but was heavily used by Collymore this season, scored his first goal for the Forest team.
Seeing this scene, Tang En shook his head. Would the media feel that it was the right decision for Collymore to replace him if someone else scored a goal for him?
Neither side scored in the second half of the game, and the score remained at 2: 0 until the end. Collymore and his Forest team got off to a good start.
When the audience around Tang En dispersed, they excitedly discussed what kind of future the new manager could bring to them, but Tang En had no interest in such topics. He squeezed out of the crowd and left the City Ground Stadium, not even thinking of turning back to look.
Three days later, Collymore's team defeated the home team, Port Vale, in an away game in the first round of the EFL Cup. Although they had successfully advanced, the game had been very difficult. Collymore did not expect Nottingham Forest, which was in the First Division, to be forced into a 0: 0 score by a Division Two team in 120 minutes, and finally win by penalty kicks. No wonder the local media were unconvinced after the game that Nottingham Forest had only advanced because they were lucky.
Although the victory in the second game was not so convincing, Stan Collymore, who had obtained two consecutive victories, still received praise. He had become a news figure in Nottingham. The fans and media were all looking forward to what kind of results he could achieve here. From the current start, it should not be too bad.
The media changed the words of praise that they had once used to praise Tang En and published them in the newspapers. But if anyone thought that Tang En hated being compared to Collymore and hated seeing all news reports about Collymore, then they could not be more wrong.
Not only had Tang En made up his mind to watch every home game of the Forest team in the future, but he also paid special attention to all news related to the Forest team and Collymore. He would not let go of any news related to the board of directors. He was preparing for the day when he would return to that position.
It was just like what he had said to Professor Constantine after he had been chosen as February's Manager of the Year. I, Tang En, was born to belong there. I was born to be a manager. I was born to pursue victory. My current dormancy is just for an explosion in the future. Evan was right about one thing. I am indeed not stable enough and mature enough. Otherwise, I would not have lost to that old fellow, Warnock, in Sheffield.
But … just wait. When I reappear in front of everyone, I guarantee that you will see a different Tony Twain.
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