Chapter 57: The Visiting Team, Millwall Part 1
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
On April 21st, at their 44th match of the League Champions.h.i.+p, the Nottingham Forest team played in a home match against the Burnley team.
"There are three rounds left in the League Champions.h.i.+p, and the top six rankings in the league points table have changed since the last match. After the fourth-ranked Reading lost a home match to the Forest team, they had been overtaken by the Wolfhampton Wanderers and dropped to the fifth spot. The acc.u.mulated points of the fourth to sixth rankings are 71, 70 and 69 respectively. Look at these points! There"s a lot of antic.i.p.ation for the remaining three rounds of the League Champions.h.i.+p! After two consecutive away matches, Tony Twain and his team return to City Ground. What will be the score on the electronic scoreboard after 90 minutes?"
Ninety minutes later, Tang En, who was in high spirits and with a bright smile on his face, stood on the sidelines with the visiting team manager to exchange a courtesy handshake. The electronic scoreboard above the stand to his side, displayed the final score that had been fixed at 2:0 since the first half of the match.
The Nottingham Forest team had secured their second consecutive victory. Even though the top two ranking teams had won matches and the league points table had not changed, it did not dampen Tang En"s good mood. Because his team had already locked in for the playoffs two matches ago.
On April 26th, at their 45th match of the League Champions.h.i.+p, which was the penultimate match, Nottingham Forest challenged Rotherham United in an away match.
Like Burnley, the Forest team"s previous opponent, Rotherham United was ranked in the middle with no worry of a relegation and no hope of a promotion. They lacked the will to fight in their last few matches in the League Champions.h.i.+p. Perhaps these players were now preoccupied with where to go for their vacations, or how to take advantage of the summer transfer period to join a team with better benefits. With such a team as Nottingham Forest"s opponent, it was like playing against a pizza delivery boy.
The hungry Forest team played a beautiful 2:0 away match against Rotherham United. The team"s top striker, Marlon Harewood, raised his number of goals in the League Champions.h.i.+p for the season to 24, and his forward partner, David Johnson, scored his 20th personal goal.
The final stage of the League Champions.h.i.+p was perfect for Tang En, and there was only one opponent left now...
He looked at the calendar. Below the red circle around May 4th, which was eight days later, there was a line of small print, and it was their opponent"s name: Millwall.
On May 4th, 2:57 p.m., at City Ground, a fan was waving the flag of a lifelike roaring lion with his front paws raised high, looking as if it would leap out from the blue flag at any time and tear its prey apart.
About a hundred visiting fans had gathered outside the stadium and were slowly making their way toward City Ground. Most ordinary Forest fans would consciously detour around this blue phalanx when they saw it. Therefore, they created no hindrance along the way.
Of course, they were not afraid. On both sides of the Millwall fans, there were also about 100 Forest fans wearing red jerseys, shouting, cursing, and making many rude gestures at the Millwall fans. The Millwall fans in the phalanx also fought back with words and gestures. But neither side charged at each other to fight.
That was because there were many British policemen wearing bright yellow vests in between these two groups of fans. They were fully armed and stared vigilantly at the fans on both sides.
For the City of Nottingham, today was the time of the year where their police patrol force was its weakest and most stressed. Because the Millwall fans had arrived.
A Football Club like Millwall might be one of the few clubs in the world where its fans were more famous than the club itself. As a small team in the south of London, they did not have many achievements and honors to show off, and they did not have any big-name stars. But they had the most fearless group of fans in the U.K., and even in the world.
Millwall had the most notorious football hooligans in the U.K.
At an intersection, this legion of Lions stopped and the police surrounded them. They needed to wait here for the Forest bus to pa.s.s through. Even though they had stopped, they were still on the outside periphery of the abusive and frenzied Forest fans.
A horn blared three times in the front of them, and a red bus slowly moved into the view of these people.
Suddenly the blue Millwall fans ignored the Forest fans on the outside periphery and aimed their barbs at the Forest players sitting in the bus. There were even excited fans who wanted to bend down and look for bricks to smash the bus. The two rows of policemen surrounding them played their part, pus.h.i.+ng back those fans who wanted to cross the line.
Even though the bus"s tightly-closed windows had excellent soundproofing, Tang En could still hear the voices of the Millwall fans outside. With their puckered lips, he could make out the "F" words like "f*ck" this and "f*ck" that. They looked vicious and kept putting up their middle fingers. Having led his team for half of the season"s matches, this was the first time Tang En had seen such ferocious fans. He felt that they were not here to see the match, but to pick a fight.
To fight against the Millwall fans, the Forest fans who had gathered together also began to hit back loudly with foul language, which caught Tang En"s attention. He easily found a familiar face in the crowd, Mark Hodge.
This usually polite, middle-aged man had become red in neck due to the rush of blood. He looked fierce and was snarling at the other side like an angry bulldog.
"Football hooligans," Tang En whispered the words that Walker had told him that night at the bar.
Sitting beside him, Walker saw that Twain had noticed the situation outside. He lifted his head and looked. Apparently, he was accustomed to it. "Tony, this is kids" stuff. When we reach the field, just wait till the match begins. I guarantee it"s going to be an eye-opener for you."
Tang En looked at him.
"At that time, we will need to yell to communicate in this way." Walker smiled, using his hands to compare the distance between the two of them. "And we will be yelling close into each other"s ears."
During their conversation, the bus had left that intersection with all the pent-up turmoil and turned into the team"s exclusive parking lot. Tang En looked back and only saw a few waving flags and blurred figures of red and blue. The Forest fans" singing had stopped, and Tang En knew that these groups of people must be abusing each other again.
Tang En felt that after his brief contact with Mark Hodge, he could now, more or less understand the beliefs of these football hooligans: to abuse the opponents for their favorite team, to fight against the opposing fans for their favorite team. They would even die... for their favorite team.