champion godfather

Chapter 5 This is Professional Football

That night, Tang En suffered from insomnia again.Since he came to Nottingham, he fell into insomnia for three consecutive nights. The first two times were caused by a little panic about the unpredictability of the future, but this time the insomnia had nothing to do with those boring things.When the night passed, he was about to face his first professional game in real coaching.

An ordinary football fan who used to be excited to watch other people play in front of the TV, a poor nerd who can only vent his passion for football through computer games, and a man who has no womanhood so he can only pin all his energy on football The pitiful virgin, unexpectedly also has the opportunity to stand on the professional football field and command the game of professional players who usually look amazing and awesome.Enjoying the tsunami-like cheers at the scene, accepting interviews from many media after the game, no matter what you say, it will form an influence among the public...

To Tang En, this kind of thing seemed like a dream. This was not FM or CM. It was a miracle that really happened to him!Thinking of tomorrow's game, he was so nervous and excited that he couldn't sleep.He just stared wide-eyed, fixed on the ceiling, and then fantasized about how he would behave himself tomorrow.

He doesn't know what time he fell asleep, but he knows that he didn't get enough sleep. He has been yawning since he got up, dressing, washing, and breakfast, and walking to the training base. hit.

It was the third time that Ian McDonald, the guard at Wilford Training Base, was surprised to see the team's head coach early in the morning: "Tony..." He opened his mouth, but Twain interrupted him.

"I know that the competition will be held in the afternoon, and there will be no training in the morning. I just want to start my work from now on, can't it—heh—!" Tang En yawned again.

"Uh, of course." McDonald came out and opened the iron gate.

When Tang En passed by him, he heard him say: "Good luck, Tony." So he stopped and looked back at MacDonald.

This gray-haired old man has a stable source of income-the benefits provided by the government after retirement, but he still comes here to work, insisting on a symbolic monthly salary of one hundred pounds.He didn't even take that hundred pounds anymore after the club's financial crisis.He does this just because he loves the club and the team, so he regards working in the club as an honor.He was courteous to everyone and always watched with respect the players and coaches who came in and out of the place every day, and the occasional Mr. Chairman.Even if the team's performance is poor, no one has heard him complain and sigh.

McDonald was frightened by Tang En's eyes now.Although the former Tony Twain was taciturn, he was very gentle to everyone. He always looked at your face politely first, then bowed his head slightly to say hello, and then turned and left.How could it be like now... staring at you with very hot eyes that make people feel a little uneasy?
Macdonald didn't know that when he was in China, Tang En was despised by others because he always looked at others with such "very impolite" eyes.But Tang En never thought of changing his virtue.

Just when MacDonald was a little embarrassed by Tang En's gaze, Tang En suddenly grinned: "Ian, do you like victory?"

Macdonald froze for a moment, then realized, he nodded and said, "Of course, no one likes to lose, right?"

Tang En's smile became brighter, and the corners of his mouth seemed to reach to the ears.He said, "Me too. Where do you watch the game?"

Macdonald pointed to the guard room behind him: "I'm listening to the radio here, just like in the city stadium."

Tang En nodded: "I hope you can keep hearing the news of our goals on the radio. Goodbye, and good luck to you, Ian."

"Goodbye..." Looking at Tang En's back as he turned and left, MacDonald froze in place.He hadn't recovered from the conversation just now. He had never seen Tony Twain so talkative, so full of energy, with such an obvious smile on his face.

Is it really possible to get hit here and cause a big change in personality?Confused, he reached out and stroked the back of his head.

Although the last league game had just experienced a three-goal defeat, the Forest fans still showed great enthusiasm for this FA Cup.The game will not start until after three o'clock in the afternoon. After lunch, people have begun to gather from all directions to the City Stadium on Trent.On the opposite side of the City Stadium, there is also a stadium across the river from them. It is the Meadow Lane Stadium (Meadow Lane), the home stadium of the Forest team's arch rival Notts County. The distance between the two stadiums is only [-] yards. The nearest two rival stadiums in the same city.

Like most cities in England, Nottingham has two professional football teams.And these two teams are quite famous in history.Forest (founded in 1865) and their rival Notts County Football Club in Nottingham (NottsCountyFootballClub, founded in 1862) are recognized as one of the four oldest teams in the world, the other two being Stoke City ( 1863) and Chesterfield (1866).

By the way, the jerseys of Juventus and Arsenal, which are famous in football today, originated from these two teams in Nottingham respectively.Juventus' black and white sword shirt is because Notts County donated their team's jersey to the Italian team.And Arsenal has been closely related to Nottingham Forest since the day it was established-their club founders are two players from the Forest team: Freddie Beardsley and Maurice Bates.Before the team's official game, Beardsley used his relationship to ask Nottingham Forest for a batch of jerseys, so the main color of Arsenal's jerseys was red, the same as Nottingham Forest.It was not until 1925 that they changed to the current classic style of red shirt and white sleeves.

In the early history of English football, these two Nottingham teams were very successful, and they both won the FA Cup.However, in the later development, the trajectories of the two teams gradually deviated. Notts County, which is rooted in the miners, has always been in a downturn due to the lack of a lot of economic support.As a representative of the urban middle class, Nottingham Forest ushered in the most glorious page of their club in the late 70s.

Under the leadership of legendary coach Brian Clough, the team experienced a rocket-like leap.

The myth of Kaiserslautern is awesome, right?The team won the first league championship in the first year when it was promoted from the second division to the first division.Clough's team did such a thing 20 years ago. They were promoted to the first division (the highest level in England at the time, equivalent to the current Premier League) with the third place in the second division, and then began to dominate the English football. altar legend.In the first season of being promoted to the First Division, the Forest team scored 25 points with 64 wins, [-] draws and only three losses in the whole season (at that time, world football was still in the era of the two-point system. One point in one game, zero points in losses) became the champion of the league with an impressive record.

The hegemony of English football and European football in the 70s belonged to Liverpool. At that time, the only one who was qualified to challenge Liverpool, the only team that could beat Liverpool three times in one year, and the only team that could scare Liverpool was the same red Nottingham Forest.After successfully winning the First Division Championship, the Forest team defeated the defending champion Liverpool in the first game of the Champions League in the following season. In the end, they defeated the dark horse Malmö, Sweden, which was coached by Horton, and became the champion of that season. King of Europe. In the 1979-1980 season, the Forest team successfully defended the European championship again. This time they defeated the German Hamburg team in the final, which had Kevin Keegan, the European Footballer of the Year and England's top scorer.

在此期间，更令人咂舌的是：从1977年11月26日0：0战平西布罗姆维奇队开始，一直到1978年12月9日0：2输给利物浦为止，克劳夫的森林队创造了连续42场英格兰顶级联赛不败纪录。这项纪录直到26年后的新世纪才被温格的阿森纳49场不败打破。

Of course, history is always glorious, especially the birthplace of modern football like England, it is not surprising how glorious history it has.Compared with the glorious past, the current situation of the Forest team and Notts County can only be described as "heartache".Notts County has faced economic crises many times, and even experienced the dark years of being in trust for eighteen months at the beginning of the new century. The last consortium and an FA Cup game against Chelsea saved the team-before that game Chelsea have agreed to give all of their ticket sales to Notts County to save the world's oldest football club.The Forest team is a bit better than their rivals in the same city, but the team's past history is too brilliant, and the fans will always have illusions about the fact that the past glory is now down. The low-level leagues are as depraved as Notts County.

Today's Forest team seems to lack confidence when facing West Ham. You must know that West Ham's historical achievements are far less than that of the Forest team.

This is a game in the third round of the FA Cup. It was not originally planned for live TV broadcast, but because the current situation of the participating teams is not very good and they all urgently need a victory, so the BBC chose to broadcast live. They think There's enough heat in this game.Tony Twain is of course also one of the hot spots, because he has just become the first head coach in the history of English football to be injured by a player of his own team during a game.

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Today's weather is good, the sun is so bright that people don't feel that this is winter, which is the complete opposite of the rainy weather in the previous two days.When Tang En got off the team bus, seeing the bright sunlight outside, he couldn't help squinting his eyes, which was a bit dazzling.

As the head coach, he was the second to jump out of the car, and the first assistant coach Des Walker was warmly welcomed by the surrounding fans, who chanted Walker's name and applauded him.Walker has played for Nottingham Forest for many years and was also one of the witnesses of Nottingham's last glory. It is understandable that he is respected by the fans.

But when Tang En's feet just landed on the ground, he was greeted by ear-piercing boos.He looked up and found that the people who took the lead in booing him were very familiar—the middle-aged men who had confronted him head-on in the Burns bar.He can recognize it at a glance because their leader has a piece of gauze on his forehead, which looks funny and is very eye-catching.

Walker obviously didn't expect the head coach to face such a situation, and he stood there a little at a loss.Just as bewildered as he was, the team member Michael Dawson was about to get off the car. He stuck out the car door with one foot and hung in the air when he heard the sudden boos. He looked up at the fans in astonishment. He thought he was booed.

It was Tang En who reached out and pulled him out of the car. Seeing the team's new hope, the boos stopped abruptly.Then there was an embarrassing split among the fans—Michael Dawson was the team's future hope, he was very popular among the fans, and such a player must and should be cheered and applauded.But the person who pulled him was the acting head coach Twain they had just booed. If they cheered, would it be considered a compliment to Twain?
Tang En was very satisfied with the performance of the fans, he knew it would be like this.He patted Dawson on the shoulder and motioned him to the locker room.Seeing that Dawson had finally left Twain, the fans were ready to boo Twain who was still in front of the car door.At this time, Tang En stepped into the car and pulled down another person, Andy Reid, a young talent like Dawson, and the same hopeful star of the team.They had just put their hands in their mouths and had to put them down again.

Looking at the embarrassing facial expressions of those people, Tang En grinned triumphantly.

Red next to him was a little strange. It was the first time he saw the head coach take them out of the car so enthusiastically, "Boss, what are you laughing at?"

Tang En looked at the fans next to him and said to him: "It's nothing, I think maybe we can win a victory."

This time he didn't leave Reid again, and the two walked into the narrow passage leading to the locker room together.Fans put their fingers to their mouths a few times and there was no way to boo them.

"This cunning fox!" Michael, the leader, lowered his hand angrily, and punched the iron railing in front of him.

Twain's performance in the last two days has been a bit abnormal, strictly speaking, the last four days - since he was knocked to the ground by David Johnson in the game on January [-]st, he has been very abnormal, and the taciturn and somewhat gloomy Tony before · Tang En was like a completely different person.The players are very worried about this, wondering if the brain nerves have been damaged, and if there will be any terrible sequelae, such as dementia, forgetfulness, schizophrenia...

So in the locker room, it was not the head coach who was talking about their tactics, but Des Walker, one of the assistant coaches, and everyone didn't find it strange.On the other hand, the silent old man, Ian Bowyer, who was more gloomy than Tony Twain, seemed more different. He usually did these things, but now it became the work of the junior Walker.Any fool could tell that Bowyer was disappointed after Tony Twain was promoted from the youth team to the head coach of the first team.

This is also normal. Although Bowyer has worked in the team for a long time, he is 51 years old this year and is the oldest in the coaching staff. He also played for the Forest team twice, making the Forest team win the European Champions Cup twice. main players.But he had very little contact with Tony Twain. Twain had been following Paul Hart before, leading the youth team to train and compete. After Paul Hart became the head coach of the first team, he became the director of the youth team.And Ian Bowyer has always been the assistant coach of the first team. He has assisted many coaches, Brian Clough's successor Frank Clark, Frank Clark's successor Stuart Pierce, Pierce's successor Dave Bassett, Lon Atkinson, David Platt, Paul Hart.There is no Tony Twain's name in it.

Although the two are in the same club, they are not in the same training ground. The training base of the youth team and the first team is separated by an alley less than five meters wide, but it seems to be separated by half of Nottingham City.The taciturn Tony Twain was not enthusiastic about all kinds of social and gathering activities. He and Bowyer hardly had any communication. At most, they would nod to each other when they met at the training ground, and then walked away.

Now in the locker room is such an atmosphere of being like a stranger.Tony Twain's right-hand man, Des Walker, was arranging the players for the next game, while another assistant coach, Ian Bowyer, was sitting by the wall to watch the fun.

Where is the real protagonist Tony Twain?

He's not in the locker room, he's in the bathroom.

In addition to the toilets in the two locker rooms, there are ten toilets of different sizes in the city stadium.Most of them are open to fans. There are two rest corridors outside the VIP box, and the smallest one is dedicated to the home team staff. The home team coach can smoke a cigarette here to relieve the pressure before the game.

Tang En is doing this now.

After a morning, he felt that he was not so nervous anymore.But when he saw the jerseys and shoes arranged by the staff in advance in the locker room, his heart began to beat uncontrollably.So he found an excuse to dump everything to Walker, and slipped here by himself.

The staff toilet is in a very remote corner under the main stand of the stadium, and few people come here.Through a glass window outside the bathroom, you can also see the stadium, the green turf that is shining in the sun, and the stands that are gradually filled with fans.

Tang En habitually took out a cigarette from his pocket, and stretched out his hand to grab an empty space before he remembered that this Tony Dunn neither smoked nor drank.

He grunted and leaned back against the wall.

This is not the Football Manager game he has played many times, not Champion Football Manager (CM), not Football Manager (FM)...it is a professional league and professional team that really exist on this planet.You can't reload a game after losing, and you can't add a new manager to defeat a tough opponent.If you lose, you lose, maybe the most important game of your life.In this game, you can't quit halfway, not even Alt+F4...

Isn't that what life is all about?Everyone always complains that "if I was what I was, I wouldn't be what I am now".Looking at it this way, Tang En still has to thank fate for giving him a chance to reload the file.Even though it's only been four years, and I read other people's archives.

But so what?Now that this body belongs to him, it's good to make an effort to stop wasting time.From another perspective, it is worthy of the former owner of this body.

At this time, there was a vague singing sound outside, which felt quite similar to what Tang En saw in the TV broadcast, except that the voice was a little softer.He decided to listen, to find out what they were singing.But the song was soon interrupted by boos.Tang En retracted his head and smiled helplessly.

So real, this is professional football.

He found that the tension in his heart had subsided unconsciously, and what was left was the expectation for the future.Taking another look at the pitch and stands, he turned and walked towards the team's locker room.

Professional football, here I come.

(End of this chapter)