Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Forest team had achieved their first victory of the season, which was considered a big story in Nottingham. For several days in a row, the new reports had revolved around the game with Manchester City. Keegan’s days were getting tougher, but Tang En could not care less. The pressure on him was temporarily removed, and now the team’s internal and external environments were both perfect.
With peace of mind, he could prepare for the September 16 UEFA Europa League qualifying match against Ostrava, their first round of competition.
If it was not for the UEFA Europa League qualifying round, Tang En might not have tried to get to know the Ostrava team. After gaining some understanding of the team, Tang En did not think that they would cause any trouble to the Forest team; not to mention, they were playing on their home ground.
The team was in high spirits now, and if they had difficulty playing a Czech Republic team on their home ground, then they could forget about accomplishing anything in the UEFA Europa League.
As it turned out, it made sense for Tang En to feel confident.
The Nottingham Forest team easily defeated the visiting Ostrava with a score of 3:0. Although their opponents were quite weak, the City Ground was full again as this was the Forest team’s
opening battle
after their return to the European tournament after eight years. The Premier League had begun more than a month ago, and the City Ground stadium was officially counted as having the highest rate of seat attendance: a full house, 100%!
It was evident that the supporters of Nottingham Forest were anxious about being able to make it to the top league tournament. They were releasing all the emotions which they had suppressed for eight years. They were clearly felt throughout England.
After their victory over Ostrava, the people of Nottingham were still soaking in joy, and it seemed almost certain that the team would be able to qualify in the next round of away matches.
Having won their first match in the league with a three-goal advantage from their first UEFA Europa League qualifying round, it looked like the Forest team was doing well. However, on the September 18, in an away challenge against Fulham F.C., the Forest team wasted three good chances to score, and finally only drew with the opponents at 1:1.
In the overall plan of the season that Twain had drawn up for the team, for those teams which were ranked below the tenth spot, Twain had asked that they must try to get the three points however possible, regardless of whether it was a home or an away game. As a newly promoted team, the Forest team could only grab points from teams with similar strength to them. If they conceded too many points to these teams, then the Forest team would really have to fight just to remain in the league.
The result of such a game clearly would not satisfy Twain, but for the sake of the team, he still had to smile to lessen the young men’s unease.
The pressure that he felt should not be transferred to the players. It should be borne by the manager alone. This was a principle that Twain insisted on.
At a news conference after the game, a reporter asked why the Forest team’s performance was always up and down; when everyone thought that they could win the game, they did not.
In this regard, Twain thought that since the Forest team was a relatively young team, it was normal for their performance to still be unsteady, and there was no need to make a fuss.
Despite what he said, Twain was not going to be tolerant of the group of players who were unstable. On the day when the game ended, when the Forest team was on the bus back to Nottingham, even though the next game was four days later on September 22, Twain announced the cancellation of the next day’s break.
At that point, the players, who had watched the news media reports and thought that Twain was not angry, were now aware that the boss was quite dissatisfied with the team’s current instability.
Six rounds had already come and gone in the Premier League, and the Forest team had obtained one victory, four draws, and one concession. With a score of seven points, they had the same score as Liverpool. As a newly promoted team, they should be satisfied with such a start. But Twain was a man who was not willing to stay with the status quo. He was playing under the banner of a newly promoted team, and yet he had a plan to compete against the top six teams in the league. How could he hope to close the gap between them at the start?
With five wins and one draw, Arsenal had accumulated sixteen points, which put them at the top of the list. They were followed closely by Mourinho’s Chelsea with their four wins and two draws. And in the third place was Manager Moyes’s Everton, with four wins, one draw, and one concede. Twain believed that if the Forest team had won the game against Fulham, they would have accumulated nine points by now, which would have at least put them in the second tier, between seventh and ninth place. However, the Forest team was currently ranked 13th.
In that week’s segment of BBC Match of the Day, Gary Lineker and Mark Lawrenson talked about the Forest team Tony Twain. Lawrenson, who had shaved off his moustache, seemed to be determined to act the role of someone who disliked Twain. On the show, he said that Tony Twain claimed to be in pursuit of victory in the Football League First Division, and the results of his leadership were consistent with his claim; the Forest team had had a high victory rate, and was ranked first in League One. But when they had reached the Premier League, Twain no longer talked about
the pursuit of victory.
Obviously, he had learned his lesson and knew that the Premier League was not the same as the lower level leagues. He would not be able to obtain a good ranking with a just few arrogant remarks.
Twain had not made any comments on this yet, and the local media in Nottingham did not release any articles on it either. Pierce Brosnan wrote a rebuttal article to Lawrenson’s nonsense, and argued that Lawrenson’s unfair comments about Twain and the Forest team were due to a grudge over his lost bet, and that he was just waiting for his chance to retaliate.
The Premier League had never lacked such lively scenes.
Since Brosnan had helped him out, Twain was disinclined to waste any energy on the media. He was concentrating on training for the next round. In the seventh round of the tournament, Nottingham Forest would be playing at home against Chelsea. It would definitely be a tough battle!
※※※
On September 20, an ordinary Monday morning, the sun was shining brightly. Twain was leading the team in training as usual. He suddenly saw the club chairman, Evan Doughty, who had not made an appearance for a long time, on the sidelines of the training ground.
If the Chairman was there, it must have had something to do with Twain. Twain signaled to David to continue the training and turned to walk off the training ground.
Evan, I rarely see you around here. If you’re here, it must be something important!
Twain joked as he walked towards Evan. Despite the team’s current average performance, Twain always acted optimistic in front of Evan.
Well, it is something big… Tony, I just got a call from the Derby City General Hospital.
Evan did not smile at Twain’s joke. He said with a grave expression,
Brian Clough has just passed away. Stomach cancer.
Twain froze for a moment. He thought that he had misheard him.
What did you say?
Mrs. Clough would like you to attend a private funeral tomorrow. I know the relationship between you and the Chief, Tony…
Evan patted Twain on the shoulder and without saying another word, he turned and left the training ground.
Twain stood on the sidelines alone, staring blankly at Evan’s back, and did not react for a long while.
Evan had just gone out of sight when Twain saw Pierce Brosnan stumble along outside the wire fence and gesticulate frantically to him, hoping that Twain would approach.
As Twain walked over, Brosnan asked wheezily,
Tony, I’ve tried to call you… Did you not receive it?
I don’t have my cell phone with me during training…
I just received the news, I’ve come to inform you: Clough… Brian Clough’s dead!
Brosnan said in alarm. To him, this was a huge moment in the history of Nottingham football. A momentous event. Twain’s reaction was not as intense than he had imagined.
Evan, the Chairman, just informed me. I’ve been invited to attend a private funeral tomorrow.
Twain pointed to the direction in which Evan had disappeared. His face was neither shocked nor sad when he said this.
Brosnan looked at Twain, then nodded,
In that case, I’m going to go off first and head to Derby to follow up on the story.
Bye, Mr. Reporter.
See you, Tony.
When Brosnan had also disappeared from his view, it seemed that Twain’s mind had just started to respond to the news.
