Chapter 895: Nottingham Forest and England
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Twain’s heart was not calm when he learned that his first game was against Nottingham Forest. Similarly, the Nottingham Forest players were stuck in in turmoil knowing they had to go against someone who was once their master.
Freddy Eastwood still remembered how he reacted when he found out his head coach had retired. He was still pouring coffee into his own cup and reading the newspaper on the table. When he saw that Tony Twain’s 11-year relations.h.i.+p with Nottingham Forest had officially ended, he forgot what he had been doing and could not wait to continue reading the main text. He was in a trance until the hot coffee spilled over the brim of the cup and dripped down to his pants. He threw aside the empty coffee maker and looked down at his wet pants, then at the mess on his table. His mood then was much like the current situation: extremely messy.
He could not believe or accept this reality. The man who once smiled and said to him, “You’re going to be a legendary shooter and I’m going to be a legendary coach.” just upped and left his home ground which he defended for eleven years.
Fortunately, he was not the same person which needed the head coach whenever he needed to overcome difficulties. He could draw on his own strength and he wanted to live for himself and not for someone else.
He accepted the fact a little faster than the rest, within a day, but his former teammates were not as accepting as he was.
Gareth Bale had been on vacation when he heard the news. As a result, the well-planned vacation in Hawaii was filled with constant complaints from his girlfriend, saying that he did not actually love her and he was not even focused when he was out playing with her. The girlfriend even interrogated him, asking if it was her or Tony Twain that he loved. In the end, the girlfriend suggested a breakup with Bale and flew back to the United Kingdoms by herself. Bale stayed in Hawaii in a daze for another day, then he went home afterwards.
Bale’s form was also worrying after the team started training. After not seeing the cool-headed head coach in sungla.s.ses at the edge of the training ground, he did not know what to do. Twain was like a father figure to him, and now his father is gone, his core was gone as well. He had no idea what he was going to do next. His father, too, was his agent asking about his intentions, and he just shook his head. Last season, Twain initiated the renewing of new contracts for most of the team’s key players, improving their treatment and updating their contract terms. Bale now had three years left on his contract with the club before he could leave the club but before that, he needed to continue staying here.
It was already July when he decided to stay. He had feelings for his head coach, but he also had feelings for Nottingham Forest as well. As a professional footballer he had to be clear about one thing — he was playing for himself and not for a coach. It sounded a little ruthless, but that was the truth.
Pepe’s reaction was the strongest among the players. The day after the news of Twain’s departure broke, he informed his agent, Mendes, that he would follow Twain if he went to coach at another club. All of a sudden, he forgot his hatred for Ribery. Maybe he hated Ribery not because he betrayed the team, but because he betrayed the head coach.
Now that the head coach had gone to coach the England national team, Pepe could not follow. He was so disappointed that he would choose to leave whenever he had that chance. Now that he was the player most speculated would leave, a lot of clubs had intentions to invite the world-cla.s.s center over, but Martin O’Neill did not want to let this Portuguese leave.
Fortunately, Twain did not quietly leave without any greetings. All the Nottingham Forest players received a postcard from Twain when he was in Brazil. The postcard did not mention the reason why he did not renew the contract nor any expectations of the players, it only contained greetings and apologies – apologizing for not informing them first-hand and keeping them out of the loop.
Twain did not say what he was doing was inexplicable. Nor did he ask everyone to forgive him and understand him. It was not something he could do, and if anyone in the players still resented him after reading the postcard there was nothing he could do about that. He was still what he was in the past, not willing to let other people in easily, not willing to show others anything other than his glamourous side]. Even if he was leaving, he still wanted to do it in style.
He never mentioned Nottingham Forest on any occasion after returning back to the public eye, and when asked by a reporter about Nottingham Forest, he would choose to be silent or to look at him. Some people thought it was cold and heartless, so people like Bill would be angry and have a lot of resentment towards Twain. But in fact it was just a botched ploy for people who did not know how to hide their emotions better. He did not want the players to miss him because it would not be good for the new manager and Nottingham Forest should not be “Tony Twain’s Nottingham Forest”, whether was wishful thinking or not, he thought about this when he had his heart disease. A mature team should be able to maintain a high standard even if it changes its manager. Then, and only then, can it be called an “elite” team. Like Barcelona. Nottingham Forest will never be able to shake off the stigma of an “upstart” if it was relying on him.
He distanced himself from Nottingham Forest silently even though he often dreamed of returning to the City Stadium, returning to the moment when tens of thousands of people chanted his name. But when he was sober, his indifference was repulsive.
He was not a man who could be understood by just anyone.
※※※
Des Walker suddenly thought of something he was not entirely sure would be interesting. “Tony, when you return to Nottingham Forest, have you thought of the kind of treatment to get? ”
Twain pouted. “I don’t have time and effort to think about that.”
He was not lying. Today, he needed to think of how he was going to face the 23 people he was about to meet.
This time, a.r.s.enal’s Kearney training base was requisitioned as England’s training base for a day. Twain would meet his players here for the first time. The New England players were changing their uniforms in the locker room and talking about how their new head coach would look like.
Tony Twain’s roster did not even include a single former Nottingham Forest player — it was a completely fresh roster. These people did not know as much about Twain as compared to those smaller reporters, hence for this head coach with this type of personality, he had several rumours.
“Hey, I heard Ashley Young said Tony Twain is the type to bear grudges. If you’ve offended him he would definitely find an opportunity to find revenge, whether or not you did it intentionally.”The man who said this was Michael Johnson, who had played for Manchester City, thus he knew Ashley Young opinion of Twain.
“You still need to spread rumours about this? The whole England knows the type of coach he is.”
“To be honest, I used to hate him… I never thought I’d be playing under him now…”
“Ha, Joe. It’s just temporary anyway, it’s better this way than to let him be Chelsea manager, right?”
“Do you think he’s annoying? But I think he’s great, a team like Nottingham Forest could win so many t.i.tles under him… It would not only by swearing, wouldn’t it? ” Just as there were people who hated him, there were also people who liked him.
Tony Twain’s controversial side, even in the national team, was also displayed clearly.
“I heard he would yell at people in the dressing room. I don’t like to be scolded anyway. ”
“Ferguson would, too, and I don’t think anyone at Manchester United is disgusted.” The speaker glanced at Fraser Campbell.
Campbell heard Manchester United being mentioned, so he had to come out and say a few words. “Although he is a little grumpy, everyone would still feel as it was normal. He had so many honors, how would his little temper matter? Anyway, I think there is nothing wrong, as long as you do not make mistakes, he will not scold you. I don’t know if Coach Twain would be like this as well… It’s a pity that we do not have anyone that was from Nottingham Forest.”
“He, we have a match against them on the day after next, how can there be anyone here like them here?”
“Don’t blindly guess, guys.” The oldest here, Ashley Cole coughed, “If we don’t go out again, I’m sure all of us will be scolded badly.” He reminded people of the time, and if there is no accidents, he would be wearing the captain band in this practice match. He played his role beforehand.
None of the people were skeptical upon hearing, some of them shrunk their necks and start changing their clothes faster.
Ashley Cole was the first player to run out of the locker room and into the training ground. Unsurprisingly, he saw the entire coaching staff on the sidelines, including, of course, the legendary Tony Twain.
Twain stood in the green field in his sungla.s.ses, basking in the sunlight. He stood out even in that crowd and you could pick him out in just a glance.
Upon seeing Ashley Cole running out and looking over here, and he started to smile. Ashley Cole did not dare to confirm if the man was laughing because he was not able to see the man’s eyes.
“They must be in the dressing room, changing their training clothes while talking about what their new head coach is like. Otherwise the first person would not just appear now. “Des Walker was trying to joke about Twain.
Twain raised his wrist to look at his watch.
This move made Ashley Cole. It was a good thing he came out first; he was sure this devilish coach would not easily let them off if they were late. In fact, he did not know how early he had to come out to avoid being late because the former national team training time was not fixed.
Twain kept looking at the watch, as more and more players ran out of the dressing room and set foot on the training ground. They all moved quicker when they saw Twain’s particular action.
When the last player ran to the training ground, Twain finally put his arm down. Then he grinned at the players standing in front of him, revealing a mouth of white teeth.
“It’s good that you all just arrived before the time was up.” He said it with a smile, but some people felt a chill running down their spine. What would have happened if they had not arrived on time?
“Let me introduce myself. I’m Tony Twain, your head coach for the next two years if there aren’t any accidents.”
Some players bowed their heads and laughed. They all know what Twain meant. Poor performance by the team or a foul mouth would have a chance to lead to him being fired.
“I know you all were just talking about me in the locker room, and I don’t mind you talking privately about who I am. Actually, I get along very well, really. “At this point, Twain took off his sungla.s.ses and gave everyone a smile that was even brighter than the sun.
This time no one laughed along with him. It seemed like there were excessive number of rumours outside, everyone were precautious against this head coach.
But Twain did not force these people to accept himself, anyway, they were all marginal figures who could become the backbone of the future England team, but they still needed to be under observation.
“No matter what you’re now thinking in your hearts, in short, I’ve become your head coach. The day after the next, the game, to your opponents, might be just a show for your opponents to celebrate the opening of their new stadium, but I hope you know one thing. For you guys, it’s not just an irrelevant show match. You should know why I didn’t call for a main national team player this time? ” Twain stood in front of the players and began to show these foreign soccer players his style of talking.
“Let me tell you, you all are the so-called marginal figures of the national team, some of you are capable, but you don’t have a chance to go one tier higher. How do you guys feel after watching England losing to Brazil at home? Ever thought that if you were there, you’d let the tragedy be avoided? Now the opportunity has come. I’m the new coach and I don’t know anything about the former England team and I don’t want to know anything about it. My eyes are for looking forward, which is why they are on the front of my head. The day after tomorrow’s game would be a chance for you: if you perform well, there would be a position for you in my future England team. I don’t mind building an England team without any superstars at all, as long as you guys really have potential within you. You need not bother about what the media says, your jobs are simple, it’s just to properly play the match the day after tomorrow. ”
Twain then waved as he said, “Go and warm up, don’t get injured.”
After the players listened to the head coach’s promise, some felt a sense of hope and were super motivated, but many more were sceptical. In particular, Twain saying, “I don’t mind building an England team which don’t have any big-shots nor superstars at all” was just too hypocritical. That was going against the whole of England, not just the media, but even the Football a.s.sociation and the fans would never allow such an obnoxious act. So what if he was Tony Twain? Going against the whole world would have a very tragic outcome in the end.
During the warm-up run, a group of people gathered together and muttered, “Do you want to bet? I doubt Coach Twain would be here for a long time.”
“Just listen to the way he talks, it would be a miracle if he stayed for a long time. I don’t want to bet with you. ”
“He sounded so arrogant. The rumours are really true.”
“I’ve always thought it was a miracle that Mr Twain was able to survive in England for so long. He really does not act like an Englishman.”
“What is there to be surprised, what era is it now already. ”
“Cough, cough, he’s looking at us…”
※※※
Twain was observing the players, he knew it would not be easy to conquer this team and become England’s master. Maybe he needed to use a victory to start setting his foundation.
“Are you really going to go down?” said Walker.
“What?”
“Nottingham Forest.”
Twain turned his head and took a look at Walker.
“After all, you’ve been there for eleven years right?” Walker continued.
Twain shrugged, “It’s simple. I used to stand with them, and now I’m standing opposite them. ”
“I’m kind of curious about something all of a sudden…” said Walker, looking at the players who were warming up. “You’re not going to yell at them in the pre-match dressing room and tell them to tear up the Nottingham Forest b.a.s.t.a.r.ds completely. You used to always call your opponent that. ”
Twain’s eyebrows jumped by a little.
After a long while, he then muttered, “It’s just a friendly match…”
A month and twenty-seven days after leaving Nottingham Forest, he was finally going back. It is just that this time he was going back as an opponent. How would the people there welcome him? There was no way they would roll out the red carpet and announce “Long Live the Majesty”. He knew the fans and the team he brought up too well.
Treat comrades as warm as the spring breeze, treat the enemy as ruthless as the autumn wind sweeps leaves.