Translator:
Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor:
Nyoi-Bo Studio
Tang En thought about it for a long time. There were plenty of good strikers and front field players, but good center backs were pitifully few. The defenders he was familiar with could not be bought with the Forest team’s current league rankings, prestige, and financial resources.
He could only dig from the Forest team’s opponents in the English Football League Championship. Tang En sighed. He somewhat missed the scouting tool in FM. After all, the manpower was limited and not as convenient and fast like the computer system. Thinking about it, Tang En suddenly had a flash of inspiration in his head. Why not imitate the Football Manager and Championship Manager games and build a scouting data system? The information of the players visited by the club scouts could be entered into the computer system. It could be as detailed as the player’s name, age, place of birth, position, all the clubs he had played for, his technical characteristics, game videos, related media reports… all of the information. It would be updated once a year. When a manager required a player in a certain position, he could find one directly in the computer database system. Wouldn’t that be a lot easier? It could also save a lot of manpower and resources.
With this in mind, Tang En decided to mention this plan to Doughty some other time and spend money to commission a programming company to develop a database like this and apply for a patent. If the result was good, they might also be able to promote this to the other clubs. It was always a bonus to make some money.
Walker and the coaching team were fully in charge of the training. Besides having a meeting with the coaching team every morning, Tang En would review the training program and schedule for the day and basically that was the extent of him interfering with the team’s training.
At first, those players who had just joined the team that season were still a little uncomfortable with it. How could the team manager not care about the training? But soon those old players who had been in the Forest team since last season told them:
The chief is such a manager, as long as he can win the game, does it matter whether he’s personally overseeing the drills during the training time, or just impeccably dressed in a suit, watching from the sidelines?
Yes, there were many types of managers. Some managers did not like to personally drill the team. They usually systematically developed the training plan, and then handed it over to the assistant manager to execute, like the former Barcelona manager, the Dutchman van Gaal. And some managers had no training programs and liked to participate in the training. They might adjust their training ideas at any time, such as the former Barcelona manager, now Newcastle manager, Sir Bobby Robson.
Tang En was clearly somewhere between them, but as his experience grew, his approach to the training gradually became closer to Louis van Gaal, even though he did not quite like this Dutch manager.
※※※
The days when the sun could be seen in the sky were gradually becoming a lot less. The weather was now usually damp with continuous rain, and the wetlands were wetter. Visible white mist could be seen coming out of one’s mouth when breathing and talking. The temperature was dropping every day, and the sense of the year’s end was becoming stronger.
Christmas was coming. This was the most important festival in the Western culture, equivalent to the Lunar New Year in China. Nottingham City was brimming with the thick festive atmosphere and had lights and decorations everywhere. A more than 10-meter-high Christmas tree was erected in front of the Victoria Center in the city center. With lights hanging high, the brilliant lights on the Christmas tree could be seen from afar when the lights were on at night. The city lights almost lighted up half the sky. Such a scene would only appear in the ancient city of Nottingham during Christmas.
A small Christmas tree was also placed at the club’s training ground, and the base of the tree was filled with the small gifts that the club had prepared for the players. Tang En did not know whether the Forest club had such a tradition before, but from the players’ expressions of pleasant surprise, he guessed it was part of what Allan Adams said about
public relations with the team.
Every present had a player’s name on the gift packaging. Everyone from the First Team to the youth team had a gift. And all the coaches’ gifts were sent directly to their offices and placed on their desks.
In the first building lobby of the training ground, the players were happily rummaging around the Christmas tree to look for their gifts. Whenever someone found his, he would lift it up and let out a cheer. And he could not wait to open it. There were not many variety of gifts. It was basically a small gadget attached with a greeting card, and not too expensive. But the club’s kind intentions still made a lot of people feel warmth in their hearts.
Tang En looked at these players who were
celebrating the Chinese New Year
and chuckled while he stood at the main entrance. He did not hurry them to the training ground. No matter how much their weekly salaries were, most of them were still kids, and sometimes they should loosen up when it was time to unwind.
Today was December 24th, Christmas Eve, the last day before Christmas. The team would only train in the morning and the afternoon would be a half-day holiday. The team would be on leave until the day after Christmas when the players returned to gather in the afternoon. They would then get ready to play against Norwich City in an away game, which was the match in the 25th round of the English Football League Championship.
Tang En saw the figure of George Wood on the outer edge of the crowd. Ever since his return to the First Team, he had not had time to go back to the youth team to take a look. But he felt very gratified when he saw Wood was much more mature in every aspect. Kerslake valued Wood as much as he did. Under his care, he would not worry about the boy not playing in games.
George Wood did not squeeze with the players, instead he waited outside while he gazed around like he was looking for someone.
Tang En felt he must be looking for him, and sure enough, Wood walked straight to Tony when he saw him.
Hi, Merry Christmas, George.
Tang En waved his hand first to greet him.
Merry Christmas.
Wood wore the club’s standard issued winter sports jacket, which was thick when worn on him, but without the puffiness. On the contrary, he looked Herculean with his 1.86-meter height and after a year of professional training, he no longer merely
resembled
a professional player.
Do you have anything going on this evening?
Tang En spread opened his hands.
No. I’m by myself, I have nothing on.
… My mother invites you to our house for dinner tonight.
Wood hesitated for a moment before he told Twain his purpose of finding him.
Sophia? Upon hearing this, Tang En’s first thought was to think of the night when he was alone with Sophia. He immediately smiled and said,
Okay, tell your mother I’ll be there this evening.
But Wood did not walk away at once, instead he stood before Twain and continued to look at him.
Is there anything else, George?
Tang En asked him.
Wood then turned to the Christmas tree, where there were a few people now. He found his gift easily. Then he took his Christmas present, turned around to leave, and went back to the youth training ground.
Tang En looked at his back, shrugged his shoulders, and walked toward his office.
After he pushed the door open, he was startled by what he saw. His desk was piled with all kinds of gifts, big boxes and small boxes… There was even a potted Christmas tree tied with a ribbon!
Seeing this scene, the truth was that Tang En was very touched. For a manager, besides the scores, what else would give him a sense of accomplishment, make him feel that everything he had done was worthwhile and feel gratified? It was recognition and acknowledgement from the players, fans and club: you shoulder all our hopes, you are the manager of Nottingham Forest, and not some nobody who came from nowhere!
Looking at the table full of presents, Tang En knew that as the
new
coach who had led the team to play two matches, he had already gained the trust and support of the team. Was this simply because the team had won two consecutive victories? No, it was because of the incident in the London subway when he had stood in front of the team and faced the drunk Millwall fans. Tang En had not known how the players had regarded him when they were behind him.
It was a common occurrence in the brutal world of professional football to abandon the players for one’s own future. The managers were used to sacrificing the players for their own benefit. However, Tang En chose to bravely stand up to protect his players when faced with a potential life-threatening situation. Maybe he did it because of Gavin’s death, but in the players’ eyes, this man was a manager who deserved everything that they could do to help him gain victories and win success and recognition. If he said,
Guys, I need you to win this game.
Then no matter how powerful the opponents were, they would fight with confidence and resolution.
This pile of gifts came from the players, coaches, team doctors, the club chairman, and the marketing manager who had not officially started yet but had already started working. Most of them were just greeting cards, but Tang En still opened and looked at each one of them. He was as happy as if he had received a valentine card from a girl he liked when he was still at school.
Serhiy Rebrov: Thank you, sir, for helping me regain my confidence. I once regretted coming here and thought that I was just wasting my time. But now I’m very glad I’m playing under your guidance. Merry Christmas, I wish you happiness every day.
Des Walker: Merry Christmas, Tony! Although I’m leaving the team at the end of this season, working together with you during this period has been an invaluable experience, and I’ve learned a lot from you. Hopefully someday, we’ll still have an opportunity to work together again. Remember, we’re the best partners!
Edward Doughty: Tony, don’t forget our plan! Victory! Victory! We will become the best chairman and manager of the club. Also, Merry Christmas!
Allan Adams: Merry Christmas, Tony. I hope this time next year we will be spending it in the Premier League. By the way, your proposal to build a player database system is so exciting to Edward and me—it is such a great Christmas present. I’ll fly back to America after Christmas to handle it.
Tang En’s eyes misted over when he looked at these cards. He rubbed his eyes and continued reading. On this cold winter morning, the office door was opened, and the cold draft poured in from the corridor, but Tang En felt that the room was like a warm spring day.
