Godfather Of Champions

Chapter 672: New Capital, New Season

After they won the FA Community s.h.i.+eld and with only five days to go until the start of the new season, something shocking happened in the English football world.

When this shocking incident first occurred, it was only a minor shock, and not many people took it seriously. But its impact gradually spread over time, and everyone suddenly woke up overnight—this could perhaps be a shock that would change the Premier League structure!

On August 11th, United Arab Emirates’ Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment announced that it had formally acquired Thaksin’s Manchester City Football Club under his name. Thaksin s.h.i.+nawatra, the former club chairman would become the honorary president and did not have any real power. Like Abramovich’s acquisition of Chelsea, Bates continued to act as the chairman of the club for some time before his departure.

This piece of news came so suddenly that many people had not yet reacted.

While everyone knew that the Manchester City boss, Thaksin s.h.i.+nawatra had a difficult time in the recent months and that his fortune had plummeted as a result of the investigations in Thailand, no one thought he would really just sell the club he held for a year!

Just over a year ago, when he took owners.h.i.+p of the Manchester City Football Club, the Manchester City fans did not express much dissatisfaction because they were eager for champions.h.i.+p t.i.tles—Chelsea’s success had made many other English teams’ fans aware that a huge influx of foreign a.s.sets was the new impetus for a team’s redevelopment. Thaksin had injected more than half a billion pounds into his new team. Manchester City was even at the top of the league table at one point in the first part of the season. Therefore, the local media exclaimed: Manchester City is about to usher in “Thaksin’s Era!”

While these words still rang in one’s ears, the Manchester City boss had changed.

The Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment was headquartered in Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates, which was a city made up of more than a dozen islands. It was now the richest place in the United Arab Emirates and the world, with a per capita wealth of up to seventeen million US dollars. Their investments abroad reached almost one trillion US dollars!

The secret to their success laid with the fact that a quarter of the world’s oil was at their feet, and the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment dealt in oil explorations and investments. On top of that, Abu Dhabi’s behind the scenes supporter was the United Arab Emirates’ royal family.

The British tabloids immediately dug up the news behind the club’s change of hands. They claimed that after their investigations, the Abu Dhabi consortium, led by the oil trader, Al-Fahim, had ten times as much wealth as Abramovich. This news shocked the whole of England.

Abramovich was scary enough when he first came to England. Over the past two years Abramovich’s investments gradually leaned toward rational, but everyone still remembered the storm he set off when he first arrived in 2003 and the impact could still be felt till now… Now that there was the richer Abu Dhabi consortium, all the clubs had to be careful that the core players of their teams being poached.

The statement did not indicate how much money was involved in the deal, with the number coming out of the tabloids listing it at two hundred million pounds. Thaksin made a small profit, and it could be seen from this that the reason he fled Manchester City was simply he was disappointed that Manchester City did not win the t.i.tle, or because he now had no money and needed to sell the club to cash in.

Some media said that August 11th, 2008 would be the most memorable day for this 130-year-old club since its birth. It was enough to be compared to the birth of the team. The subtext was that the Manchester City Football Club could take advantage of this opportunity to be reborn. Chelsea’s yesterday was their present and Chelsea’s today would be their tomorrow. The todays of Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan, Inter Milan and other powerhouse clubs would be their tomorrow. However, in fact, their nearest goal that should be the goal most likely to achieve would be to become the next Nottingham Forest …

As the team’s manager, Mark Hughes indicated his welcome of the arrival of the new boss on behalf of his team.

“… I know that money is not everything, but this is still something we can look forward to—we now have enough money to be used in the transfer market to find the players we need… You know, what that’s like. I mean, I feel good now that we have the prerequisites to be a successful team. Maybe I should set a target for my team to enter next season’s Champions League?”

Look, Mark Hughes, who had never been so rich, was so happy that he talked without rhyme or reason…

※※※

Twain only learned the news when he read the newspaper at breakfast. Although it was not new news that foreign investment had been flowing into the English Premier League since a few years ago, perhaps the combined a.s.sets of those foreign bosses together could not be compared to the Abu Dhabi consortium…

He held the fork in his mouth as he stared in a daze at the picture of Al-Fahim in the newspaper.

He wondered what kind of impact the arrival of the new boss would have on Nottingham Forest.

He first thought of Ribéry. He was never at ease with the player with a rotten agent. With the transfer deal to Real Madrid fallen through, would this agent, who was unwilling to be left out of the action, pull another stunt again and flirt with the wealthy Manchester City club? And encouraged Ribéry to move to Manchester City?

Thinking about it, Twain rejected this hypothesis. Even if Manchester City were able to offer a salary of five million pounds a week, Ribéry would not have gone to a team which could not even win an honor. He wanted to go to Real Madrid because on the one hand, Real Madrid could meet his salary requirements while on the other hand, Real Madrid itself was a world-renowned powerhouse club, where it was very likely for him to obtain the honors and received the world’s attention. But what would he accomplish if he went to Manchester City? No matter how rich this team was, could it become the champion of the Premier League and UEFA Champions League overnight?

Twain gave a derisive snort.

He did not make this judgment because he had a bad impression of Manchester City from the incident with Richards a while ago. It was because he really despised the strength of the Manchester City team. Mark Hughes was not a successful manager. Twain did not think he could lead Manchester City to achieve any accomplishments.

You think you can be arrogant just because you have money? Can you buy all the world’s heroes with money?

Dream on, Mark Hughes.

You may be able to afford the money, but it doesn’t mean my players will want to go!

※※※

In the days that followed, while nervously preparing for the new season and watching the oil daddy-backed Manchester City club made waves in the transfer market, and constantly hit the wall, all these became Twain’s life.

The whole world knew that Manchester United was in pursuit of Berbatov, and the world knew that Berbatov had long “given his heart” to Ferguson. And now the world was waiting for the Tottenham Hotspur boss Levy to nod his a.s.sent after he raised the price high enough.

If it was not for Twain’s satisfaction with his forward deployment, perhaps he would have gotten involved in Berbatov’s transfer.

Now his secret idea had been realized by Manchester City. The new owner announced the bid for Berbatov on the first day of his arrival.

As a pair of mortal enemies in the same city, Manchester City was happy to do whatever it took to make Manchester United uncomfortable. They might not really need Berbatov, but they definitely wanted to oppose Manchester United.

This infuriated Ferguson. He was just about to succeed when Manchester City’s bid raised Berbatov’s worth to twenty-nine million pounds. Levy, the sly and greedy fox, thought about it and rejected Manchester United’s offer. He pretended to hesitate whether to accept Manchester City’s offer.

Meanwhile, just as AC Milan and Barcelona were chasing after Adebayor, Manchester City made its move.

Despite knowing that Wenger would not agree to Adebayor’s departure, Manchester City still offered a high price of twenty-eight million pounds. Wenger took this opportunity to reject offers from AC Milan and Barcelona, while he offered Adebayor a new contract for a weekly fee of eighty thousand pounds which waited for his signature to take effect.

Mourinho finally ended his reclusive life at home and returned to his post. This time he landed at the Serie A powerhouse club, Inter Milan. Having just arrived at Inter Milan, there was news that he wanted to take Lampard and Drogba. On the other hand, Real Madrid also wanted to bring in a good center forward and was also keen on Drogba. This time it was Manchester City again who disrupted things and turned a transfer deal into a mess.

It was only the first day that Manchester City had given the whole of European football a glimpse of their style… which was annoying.

Twain did not know what Manchester City’s purpose was in doing so. Was it fun to antagonize everyone? Could it be they were putting on a performance art? Or was Abu Dhabi really an idiot who knew nothing about football and thought that anyone could be bought with money?

The results of these three transfer deals showed them.

When Berbatov saw that the despicable Levy wanted to go back on his word, he immediately came forward for an interview and publicly stated that “he must have Manchester United and no other team.” Manchester City wanted to buy him? Let them wait for the next life!

Manchester City’s offer scared away AC Milan and Barcelona. Adebayor was annoyed, and he would never condescend to go to a small place like Manchester City, even if he had to stay at a.r.s.enal! Consequently, he signed a new contract with Wenger.

As for Drogba? He did not even glance at Manchester City. Inter Milan and Real Madrid had an ambiguous att.i.tude and eventually he stayed at Chelsea.

This bitter fact proved Twain’s previous a.s.sumption that having money did not guarantee that a desired player could be bought. The world of football was not a world that money was invincible. A second-tier team like Manchester City had a long way to go to become a G.o.d.

Out of a mentality that hated the rich, Twain took delight in Manchester City’s encounter. He liked to see the rich people deflated because he was not rich…

※※※

Unable to purchase the players he was keen on in the transfer market for a while, Twain intended to take his energy back and focus on the league tournament which was about to start. Anyway, it was still half a month away from the close of the summer transfer window. He would play while he searched.

Nottingham Forest took on West Ham United in the first round of the new season. The opening game was a.r.s.enal’s home game against West Bromwich Albion.

West Ham United was not a powerful opponent, but Twain attached importance to it because this was the first game of the new season after all.

The Chinese people paid particular attention to “The first step is always the hardest.” If the opening game was not good, Twain would think that it would bring negative impact to the whole season. From a superst.i.tious point of view, a bad beginning was really a little unlucky …

Accordingly, the entire main force was deployed to play.

Van der Sar, Pepe, Kompany, Gareth Bale, Rafinha, George Wood, Van der Vaart, Ribéry, Beckham, van Nistelrooy and Eastwood played.

Such a lineup was at the champions.h.i.+p level. Twain believed that this should fine for the away game.

As a result, the word “unlucky” came to his mind at the beginning of the game.

Van der Vaart was brutally shoveled to the ground by the West Ham United midfielder, Lee Bowyer after he took the ball in the midfield. When Bowyer shoveled van der Vaart down, he also made a “scissor legs” move and knocked van der Vaart’s left foot away. At the time, van der Vaart even made a gesture to request for a replacement as he laid on the ground. Only ten minutes had pa.s.sed since the start of the game…

“d.a.m.n it!” Twain jumped out of his seat and swore. It was not only van der Vaart’s injury that angered him, but more so because Bowyer, the culprit, only received a verbal warning from the referee and did not even get a yellow card. He simply patted his b.u.t.tocks and got up from the ground, pretending to come forward to comfort van der Vaart, but was pushed away by George Wood.

Bowyer covered his face and fell, sparking a clash between the players on both sides.

In the end, the referee gave George Wood a yellow card and also gave a yellow card to Behrami, who was active in the conflict, punis.h.i.+ng both players before the two teams were separated.

“This a.s.shole…” Twain certainly was not cursing George Wood. In actual fact, he was supportive of George Wood’s action. He was scolding Bowyer. After all these years, this sc.u.mbag still showed no sign of improvement. It did not look like this game at the JJB Stadium would be easy.

Van der Vaart was carried off on a stretcher and the team doctor, Fleming told Twain that he was absolutely not be able to play again in this game and had to be replaced. Şahin, who was still undergoing psychotherapy, did not come to London with the team. Twain had to bring on Petrov and let Ribéry go to the middle.

Van der Vaart’s injury disrupted the tactics and rhythm of Nottingham Forest. For some time, West Ham United dominated with its home advantage and bombarded Nottingham Forest’s penalty area.

Fortunately, George Wood was as consistent as ever and organized the defenders to put up two defensive areas in front of the goal. The West Ham United team had no better way to break through the Forest’s goal for a while.

But a good defense could still collapse in the face of an endless attack. At the end of the first half, the Welsh bad boy Bellamy forced his way through Rafinha using his speed and plugged into the penalty area from the side. He lifted his leg for a shot at a very narrow angle!

The football was pounced on by van der Sar for a bit before it hit the inside of the goalpost and bounced into the net…

“The defending champions entered a bitter fight in the away game! The West Ham United team informs the defending champion that the new season is definitely not going to be easy!”

Twain replaced Beckham with Lennon in the second half. With his excellent speed and breakthrough ability, Lennon did cause West Ham United a lot of trouble. His attack on the right flank was more penetrating than Beckham’s.

With this subst.i.tution adjustment, Nottingham Forest swept away the first-half slump. The score was equalized seventeen minutes into the second half. The goalscorer was van Nistelrooy. Lennon’s breakthrough resulted in a weak defense in the middle of the penalty area. The keen senses of the King of the Six-Yard Box helped him locate West Ham United’s fatal spot at the most crucial time.

Following which towards the end of the game, Nottingham Forest, which had not given up on the offense, scored another goal, which was scored by Ribéry. With a breakthrough from the middle and a long shot from top of the arc, the football shot into the West Ham United team’s goal like a sh.e.l.l. The commentator shouted “world-cla.s.s ball” continuously.

Twain also excitedly jumped from his seat. The last-minute reversal killed West Ham United!

Despite winning the game, Twain did not mean to let go of anyone in the post-match press conference. He lashed out at Lee Bowyer for his lack of sportsmans.h.i.+p and then “questioned” the referee’s decision on the foul. His doubts were certainly more bluntly put than what was generally said.

“I can’t figure out why Bowyer did not even get a yellow card with this foul. It was only a verbal warning for such a bad foul. Could it be that someone did not want us to win? I’m sorry, but we still won in the end.”