Godfather Of Champions

Chapter 671: Double “Wood” Is “Woods”, And Triple “Wood” Can Be Counted As “Forest”

Piqué’s departure gave Twain a clear look at the current situation—he thought the team was weak in the areas of the left and right backs, but now he suddenly discovered that his center back area was already a bit stretched. The team’s original main partners.h.i.+p was Pepe and Piqué, with Kompany and Ayala for the second set. Now, Piqué was gone, and Ayala was old. The real players who could play were Pepe and Piqué, while Morgan could only get a chance to play in the tournaments such as EFL Cup and English FA Cup. He could not be expected to play in the important tournaments.

In that case, he had to put aside the search for a full back and prioritize to solve the center back issue. The full back could be a little weak, but the center back could not be weak.

It was already August, less than half a month before the start of the new season. It was less than ten days from the FA Community s.h.i.+eld.

This summer, the team’s signing of new players had been slow. This was due to a number of reasons. First of all, because of their successes these two seasons, Twain believed that the structure of the team was very sound and did not want to adjust too much. So, he had decided not to buy a large number of new players. Secondly, most of the players whom Twain was interested were “already taken” and they were reluctant to leave their new clubs. Thirdly, the Nottingham Forest Football Club could not afford to take out too much to support Twain’s moves in the transfer market. Not only that, they also needed Twain to cough up with the money he earned from the sale of the players to “make up for the household expenses.”

For a UEFA Champions League winner to live like this, Nottingham Forest could be alone in that.

As for the full back position, Twain had drooled with desire for a player four years ago. He thought it would be a good time to make his move this summer, only to have another door shut in his face.

It was Manchester City’s Micah Richards. The tall player could play both center back and right back, which was very much in line with Twain’s desire for the players to be versatile.

When he had approached Stuart Pearce with an offer to buy him a few years ago, he was flatly turned down. Helplessly, he had to buy Sun Jihai. Now that Pearce had left Manchester City, the Manchester City club was in another different crisis. Twain thought this was a good time to buy Richards. With Nottingham Forest’s reputation as a Double Winner, would it not be easy to beckon Richards?

He was wrong.

The Manchester City club did have some difficulties at the moment. The Thai government had issued a notice to freeze Mr. Thaksin’s a.s.sets. It would be difficult for Thaksin, who had lost most of his fortune, to try to keep the Manchester City club running. With so much trouble around, who could care about a small football club? There were many rumors that a certain consortium was interested in Manchester City and wanted to buy it. But Mr. Thaksin himself denied it. He admitted that things were not going well, but the Manchester City club was still in his name and everything was under control.

Twain did not believe this Thai man’s words. The Manchester City club must be in trouble. He might be able to pry the players, such as Richards who usually could not be moved, at this time.

He jubilantly made an offer, but the Manchester City club directly rejected it without even hearing it—“Richards is not for sale.”

He raised the offer again only to hear that same answer—“Micah . . .Richards is not for sale.”

He tried again for the third time and this time it was slightly different. “We don’t want to sell Richards to a direct compet.i.tor.”

That infuriated Twain. How dare Manchester City label my team as “a direct compet.i.tor?” That’s an overestimation of themselves?! My team is a Double Winner which had won the UEFA Champions League t.i.tle for two years in a row. Where does your Manchester City team rank? I’m the only tough one here who reject other people’s offers. How dare that Mark Hughes act so arrogantly in front of me! (He had long since forgotten the fact that Hughes was older and more experienced than him…))

He did not make a fourth offer, as it would have made Nottingham Forest lowly in front of the pompous Manchester City. Twain did not want to bow to anyone. Sell to whomever you want to sell to! Even if it rots in your own mouth, it’s none of my business!

In this way, a seed of hatred against Manchester City was planted Twain’s heart. The friendly relations.h.i.+p between the two clubs during Pearce’s time remained in name but was lost in reality due to Richards.

As a result, the saying among the media that Twain was a narrow-minded person, was right…

With the deal and relations.h.i.+p gone, Twain could only continue to look for other candidates.

He wanted to buy Carvalho but Scolari would not let him go. His reason was the same as Manchester City—“We don’t sell our important players to our direct compet.i.tors.” Twain was not angry that Chelsea said that, because Chelsea was indeed Nottingham Forest’s rival.

The Argentine, Garay was signed by Real Madrid; A. S. Roma would not let Juan go; Ronaldo was unwilling to leave Werder Bremen…

In the end, Twain could only cast his search back to England.

This time, Twain was not going to buy a young center back anymore. What mattered in the rear defensive line was experience, which was often proportional to age. Therefore, Twain plan to have a slightly younger center back.

He set his sights on Jonathan Woodgate who was still at Middlesbrough.

He played only nine games in the two years for Real Madrid due to frequent injuries and was called an “English patient” by the Spanish media. He even became an example of an injury-p.r.o.ne player in the football world. But he had done well at Middlesbrough in recent years, with his injuries seemingly long gone. Under the instruction of Southgate, the former well-known England defender, he had improved considerably and become the captain of Middlesbrough. With at least two chances to play against each other each season, Twain naturally paid attention to this former Real Madrid player. After he observed him for a few seasons, Twain discovered that Woodgate was the man the team needed. He decided to make a move.

Originally, Ramos was due to take this former England center back to White Hart Lane in January, but Tottenham Hotspur and Middlesbrough had not agreed on a transfer fee. Both parties officially announced the collapse of this transfer deal before the winter transfer window closed. Hence, Woodgate stayed at Middlesbrough.

The “English patient” who emerged from Real Madrid’s shadow regained his confidence at Middlesbrough and now was the time to look forward to a new future. The failure to join Tottenham Hotspur, which was eligible for the Champions League, frustrated Woodgate a little. However, it did not matter. He would soon know what the meaning of the Chinese idiom “to lose at sunrise but gain at sunset.”

Nottingham Forest made an eight million pounds offer to Middlesbrough in the hope of taking Woodgate away. Anyway, the money not spent also had to be returned to the club. Twain did not care about one or two million less at this point—Tottenham Hotspur’s offer to Middlesbrough was 6.5 million, which they finally increased to seven million and refused to increase further.

Eight million was the price that Middlesbrough wanted. And Southgate was already clear on one thing and that was—Woodgate’s heart was no longer at the Riverside Stadium. He was so happy when Tottenham Hotspur wanted to buy him. How could the twenty-eight-year-old center back not be tempted now that it was the higher-level Nottingham Forest?

Soon the Middlesbrough manager saw Woodgate’s statement in an interview with the local media in Nottingham in the newspapers: “I think it’s time to go to a bigger stage to pursue my dreams…”

Even though he hated to let him go, Southgate knew the limits of the club, and Middlesbrough would never be able to keep the players whom the big clubs were interested in.

In the end, Woodgate joined Nottingham Forest for eight million pounds and signed a three-year contract. The details were not disclosed to public, but it was said to be definitely higher than when he was at Middlesbrough.

His signing was dubbed by the English media as “Nottingham Forest has become a veritable forest, with a pile of wood in the team.” It referred to George Wood, Freddy Eastwood and the just joined Jonathan Woodgate. Moreover, it was a coincidence that these three “woods” formed the team’s central axis in terms of their positions—striker, midfielder and center back.

The Chinese media used their style to explain this interesting coincidence: “The two Woods make up the (Sher)wood and the three Woods now make up the Forest. They have the Woods and Forest. Nottingham Forest finally proves itself to be “The Forest.”

The Chinese media used their style to explain this interesting coincidence: “The double Woods make up ‘林’ and the three Woods now make up ‘森’. They have the ‘森’ and ‘林’. Nottingham Forest finally proves itself to be the ‘森林."”

Twain was in a good mood after he solved the center back problem. At the press conference for the signing and to welcome Woodgate, he joked with the reporters, “If a player has ‘Wood’ in his name, congratulations to that guy. He’ll have a good chance of joining us at Nottingham Forest!”

Woodgate also said, “I am very happy to join Nottingham Forest. I don’t mind people making fun of my name. This means I have a connection with Nottingham Forest. Coming here, I want to help the team win more champions.h.i.+ps. Injuries? That’s a thing of the past…”

These words were still ringing in everyone’s ears when Woodgate left training with an injury the next day…

It was a good thing that it was only a minor injury in a check-up after the game and would not affect the new season. It was just that a lot of injuries made Woodgate a little sensitive.

Twain could breathe sigh of relief, “Luckily it was nothing. Otherwise I’m going to be the laughingstock of the whole of England.”

“This was supposed to be a gamble. Woodgate was never a strong center back.” Dunn said, “Since you decide to buy him, you have to be able to withstand the psychological pressure he will bring you since his injury.”

“We rotate anyway.” Twain shrugged.

※※※

Four days after Woodgate arrived at Nottingham Forest, the team had their first game of the new season—the FA Community s.h.i.+eld held at the new Wembley Stadium against the English FA Cup winner, Portsmouth.

Although this was the first time that Twain and his team had played in the FA Community s.h.i.+eld, they displayed the strength of the Double Winner of Premier League and Champions League. Portsmouth simply could not withstand.

And the rotation for the new season had been put in place since the start of this game.

The newly joined Tiago replaced George Wood and appeared in the team’s starting lineup. Woodgate and Şahin sat in the stands and were not in the squad list.

Şahin was still undergoing psychological treatment, while Woodgate was injured the following day he joined the team.

Petrov replaced Ribéry’s position in the starting lineup. Van der Vaart was still the attacking midfielder while young Lennon was on the right. The strikers were Bendtner and Arshavin. Starting this season, Twain would continue to increase Bendtner’s chances for appearances, gradually making him the team’s leading striker.

The center back was a partners.h.i.+p between Ayala and Kompany, with Pepe on the bench after losing his regular partner. The left back was Bale and the right back was Sun Jihai. The goalkeeper was changed to Akinfeev.

Since the start of this season, the EFL Cup had made a major change. For many years, the EFL Cup’s subst.i.tutes’ bench was limited to five players, leaving many players without the chance to make it to the squad list. To some extent, this rule was not suitable for the development of English football, because the absence of two positions was equivalent to the lack of two opportunities to train players. Ferguson’s suggestion to the Football a.s.sociation last season to add the subst.i.tutes’ positions to the international standard of seven players was echoed by seven clubs immediately. And Tony Twain was the first manager to come forward to show his approval and support. Even Ferguson’s nemesis, Arsène Wenger, was on the same side as Ferguson this time.

Therefore, the English Football a.s.sociation readily accepted the suggestion and increased the number of bench places from five to seven at the start of the new season.

Now on the subst.i.tutes’ bench for Nottingham Forest were van der Sar, Pepe, Baines, George Wood, Ribéry, van Nistelrooy and Beckham. This was the absolute mainstay of the team last season.

More than half a season ago, when Twain challenged Portsmouth with a lineup that was similar to the current starting lineup, the Portsmouth people thought they had been insulted and that Nottingham Forest was too arrogant. Now, they would never thought so again because they had learned a very deep lesson…

Consequently, in this game, Portsmouth’s new manager, Tony Adams adopted the stance to cling fast to defense in an attempt to pull Nottingham Forest into a bitter fight.

This summer, Tony Twain had instructed the team to practice how to deal with the enemy’s intense defensive attack, especially the attacks from the middle. He was not surprised by Portsmouth’s approach. Today’s Nottingham Forest was attacked on all sides. Any team which played against them would not be foolish enough to rush up to attack. That would only cause their own demise faster.

Steady counterattack was the way. Just like how Nottingham Forest won…

However, they picked the wrong opponent.

Twain asked the team to strengthen the long shot and coordination in the middle to continue to attack in the middle. They might not be able to score immediately, but it could give the opponent a huge psychological pressure, while messing up their play at the same time. His arrangement paid off in the 21st minute when Nottingham Forest’s high pressing tactic left Portsmouth dizzy. The French defender, Distin did an own goal and Nottingham Forest took the lead with 1-0.

For Nottingham Forest, the game was easier to play after the lead. The other side must press out to play so that the Forest could retreat to hit the opponent’s counterattack. That was the biggest headache for their opponent…

Trailing behind, Portsmouth was at its wit’s end as it faced Nottingham Forest which retreated to defend as it waited to strike their counterattack—they certainly could not put too much forces into the attack because they had to be wary of Forest’s counterattacks. But if they did not increase their attack, it would be a bit difficult to break through the Forest team’s iron wall with Portsmouth’s current strength… This became a paradox. If they did not attack, they could not score and equalize the score. If they could not equalize the score, they would lose the game; But if they attacked, they could continue to lose the ball which would still cause them to lose. If they dared not invest more players in the attack for fear of continuing to concede the goal, then they would still lose when they put in the forces for the offense …

Unlike the paradoxical Portsmouth, it was much easier for Nottingham Forest to pull the game into their familiar orbit after they got ahead. Portsmouth did not come out of this paradox until the end of the first half. Therefore, Nottingham Forest ended the first half with a 1-0 lead.

During the halftime interval, Manager Adams asked the team to show courage in the locker room and not to worry about this or that. They should equalize the score first. Furthermore, Tiago had just joined the Forest team not for long, so the team’s cooperation still had problems. Ayala was getting old and his reaction was not as good as before. His physical quality had also declined… As long as the Portsmouth players were willing to rush, they could certainly find a breakthrough from these two people!

With their fighting spirit and confidence restored, Portsmouth returned to the field with a spirited attempt to equalize the score. This time they found that the people standing in front of them had changed. Tiago, who still did not have a rapport with the team, was replaced by the captain, George Wood. The older Ayala who could not keep up with the pace, was replaced by the strong Pepe…

When George Wood stared at the Portsmouth players with a cold expression in his eyes, it sent s.h.i.+vers down the Pompey’s backs.

In the final stage of the game, Portsmouth launched a suicide attack. It was heroic and sad at the same time. Nottingham Forest, which had waited for the entire game, finally got their best chance to fight back. George Wood did a long pa.s.s from the backfield, and Bendtner leaned his body against the only center back to stop the ball and broke into the penalty area to volley a shot. After it was pounced on by the goalkeeper, Arshavin followed up with a shot. 2:0! Nottingham Forest locked in the victory to win their first t.i.tle of the new season.

“It looks like Nottingham Forest continued the good form from last season. Nottingham Forest controlled the pace of the game the entire time. Poor Portsmouth, the gap in their strength and experience caused them to lose the game…”

The television commentator summed up the game in this way.

※※※

This champions.h.i.+p t.i.tle had another meaning in addition to another new trophy that Twain had won. He had let the new players got the first taste of Nottingham Forest’s style and tradition—defensive counterattacks and the champions.h.i.+p trophies.

This would help them integrate quickly into the team and play their parts earlier.

In fact, the FA Community s.h.i.+eld Cup was not a big deal. In the early years, it was considered a terrible “curse” —whichever team that won this season’s FA Community s.h.i.+eld Cup, would surely lose the Premier League t.i.tle. Now that the spell was broken, no one took this champions.h.i.+p too seriously.

It was like how Tony Twain acted in this game—he rotated half of the main force and half of the subst.i.tutes which hinted strongly that he was training the players, as if it was still a summer friendly match. Only Portsmouth, lacking in honors, would take it seriously and really treat this game as a final to play. Unfortunately, they were somewhat inferior in strength and could only nurse their grievance as they returned.

For the Nottingham Forest fans who had experience the victories of major t.i.tles in two years, the FA Community s.h.i.+eld was only a minor victory. But it gave them a good reason to get together for a celebration.

No matter how lowly the t.i.tle was, they still lifted their gla.s.ses and roared:

“To the endless champions.h.i.+p t.i.tles! To the insufferable Tony! To our dearest Nottingham Forest… Cheers!!”