Godfather Of Champions

Chapter 41: Don’t Underestimate… Football Part 1

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

The issue with George Wood was deemed as settled. Tang En found out that he had made a big mistake before. He had not looked at Wood’s physical condition at all and considered which technical characteristics were suitable for which position. It was entirely based on the position that Wood said he wanted to play, and they had arranged the position accordingly. And it wasn’t just a football rookie situation. Some professional players who have trained from their youth, did not know which positions they would excel in.

For example, Didier “the Dragon” Drogba, the Ivorian player who later squeezed Andriy Shevchenko onto the bench at Chelsea, originally played the fullback position. The Portuguese striker, Nuno Gomes, had changed his field positions several times, from fullback to midfielder and again from midfielder to striker. The Brazilian national team captain, Cafu, and center back, Lúcio, all played as strikers when they made their debut. They later changed to playing as fullbacks and even became successful and famous. The world-famous striker, Gabriel “Batigol” Batistuta, even changed from playing basketball to playing football because playing football could make more money than playing basketball. And then due to the freak combination of factors, a brilliant celebrated striker was made in the history of Argentina and even the history of football in the world. But Batistuta also admitted that he did not like football at all. Outside of the training ground and football field, he and his friends talked more about basketball at home.

These successful facts gave Tang En confidence, and he thought it would be wise and successful to switch George Wood to become a defensive midfielder. Wood did not have the talent to play a striker. He did not know how to seize opportunities in matches and had no position awareness to place himself between the gaps at the exact moment his teammates were ready to pass the ball. He did not know how to stay calm when he was facing the goalkeeper alone, and to choose the method to shoot.

Some things could be done through training, and some things could only be realized by oneself. If one’s talent was not enough, then one could waste an entire career on an unsuitable position.

Luckily, I had the impulse to go watch the youth team’s match, otherwise how long would Wood have to keep going down the wrong path? Who knows, maybe two months, maybe four months even? He may have had no potential and been abandoned by the team.

The next day, in an inconspicuous section, the Nottingham Evening Post reported that West Ham United youth team striker, Freddy Eastwood, was injured in an FA Youth Cup match with Nottingham Forest. The post-match diagnosis stated that his right calf was fractured, and he would be absent for the entire season. His recovery time was expected to be as long as 10 months.

A young player’s future might be ruined, but no one was worried about this. As long as there had been the sport of football, such things often happened, as common as car accidents.

Professional football was so brutal and callous.

It was match day on March 11th.

Nottingham Forest, which already had a five-match winning streak, would face the previously bottom-ranked Grimsby Town on its home ground.

“Thirty-five matches, won seven matches, drew for eight matches, and lost …” Tang En looked at the statistics report in his hands and mumbled to himself. “Twenty matches. Scored 39 goals and lost 70 goals. So, this is our opponent.” He could not help but whistle, attracting a lot of players’ attention on the bus.

“Tony, don’t underestimate your opponents,” Walker cautioned, which sounded more like a routine reminder.

“I know, I know…” He was in a good mood, having just settled Wood’s future. He was also very relaxed because they were up against a bottom-ranked team in the league. The team already had five consecutive wins, their morale was high, and it was home ground. Going up against such a lousy opponent, what reason would there be for them not to continue winning?

He got up and turned back to the players on the bus and said, “Our opponents are very powerful!”

There was a sudden burst of laughter on the bus.

“You shouldn’t slack off.” Tang En did not smile when he said this, and the response to him was naturally even more laughter.

“Destroy them!”

“Yeah!!”

Looking at the high-spirited players, Tang En sat down again and shrugged to Walker. “The threat is eliminated.” After that, he turned his head and looked out the window. He could see more and more Forest fans on the roadside as they were getting closer and closer to the stadium.

When the Forest team’s red bus passed them, these fans would raise their hands up high and wave their scarves and flags to greet them. Tang En even saw a poster with a slogan singing his praises among the crowd. Two pretty young blondes wrote, “Tony, we love you!” on their poster.

Tang En waved to them from the window, and the two of them blew kisses at him. He gave a whistle and turned to stare at them until he could not see them anymore. Turning back, Tang En closed his eyes and was still intoxicated.

Hot and pliable chicks, ah, foreign women are open-minded…

The media coverage for this match was clearly a lot more than any previous matches. Nottingham Forest already had a five-match winning streak in the League Championship and had been unbeaten in seven matches after being eliminated from the FA Cup by West Ham. Of course, these were not all the reasons that attracted the media. Twain’s peculiar experience was also an important factor in attracting the public’s attention. Everyone wanted to see the February best manager, who had been struck by one of his players, and what other thrilling performance he would give. In the second half of the West Ham match and the Wimbledon match, his direction during both matches, was considered by many critics to be quite representative of his work.

Tony Twain relished becoming a nation-wide celebrity. Starting from the moment he jumped down from the bus, the media interview microphones almost lined up to the door of the locker room. Everyone asked what the Forest team and he would do in this match, and Tang En just smiled and replied, “Everyone will know when the match is over!”

Everyone will know when the match is over…

This was a wonderful saying. It fully embodied the unpredictability of football matches and the accuracy of the old saying “the ball is round.”

City Ground slowly fell silent, but the match was not over yet. On the other hand, more than 1,000 Grimsby Town fans were excitedly looking at the scoreboard. They had enough reasons to celebrate at someone else’s home ground.

With four minutes left to the end of the match, it was now 1:2, and the visiting team, Grimsby Town, was leading.

Tang En sat at the technical area. He had already used up the quota for three substitutions. Now, besides siting here and waiting for the end, there was nothing else he could do.

Yes, he had become the focus of media attention, and he could even guess what the media would rant about tomorrow. The reporters on the sidelines were all aiming their cameras at him, and the sound of the shutter did not stop. But in fact, they were only able to take one shot since the 18th minute, because Twain had not changed his expression since then. He had no expression at all.

Currently, Tang En was trying his best to maintain this expressionless stance, but his heartbeat was accelerating inside his chest. It was not a big deal to lose a match, but he was unwilling to lose this match under such circumstances. Everyone thought they would win. Even he had no doubt about it with everyone singing and cheering for the good news of his six consecutive wins. And what was the result?

Damn it. Tang En could not help wanting to say the F word.

The Forest team was like a headless chicken on the field. Their offense and defense completely lacked organization. As time passed, the visiting team, Grimsby Town, however, became more and more cool-headed.

These Forest players certainly did not expect to play so badly in what should have been an easily-won match. It was like they were moving in quicksand the entire match. No matter how much strength they had, how beautiful their coordination was, how sharp their attacks were, they were completely unable to come to play.

Tang En cast a sideways glance at the other manager, who was directing the match on the sidelines.

Paul Groves was a 37-year-old center back and the manager of the Grimsby Town team. Another player-manager! But unlike McAllister, the Coventry City manager, Groves directed this match in the technical area from start to finish. When he did play, he was the center back and defensive midfielder, and most of the time he was at the backfield watching the matches. He had long learned to use his head to think about the course of the match, which was very helpful in his career switch to manager.

Tang En did not expect that he would be defeated by this part-time manager, but he had long forgotten that he was also a rookie manager with only seven matches of experience.

When this match started, the home fans were full of expectation. The Forest team scored a goal at the 13th minute, and everything was progressing favorably for Nottingham Forest. But at the last minute of the first half, Grimsby Town scored an equalizing goal. And then, three minutes into the second half, the Forest team was hit again, and Grimsby Town took the lead with another goal.

The subsequent time was filled with Forest team’s frantic counterattacks and Grimsby Town’s full defense. The Forest team had no way in with their goalmouth tightly defended. Now that the match had already reached 88 minutes, it looked like the hope of equalizing the score was fading, let alone any hope of winning.

“Eighty-eight minutes!” reminded John Motson. “We all still remember that scene at the Wimbledon match when the tenacious Forest team scored the winning goal in the match’s 90th minute. That was the starting point of their five-match winning streak. Now, can Tony Twain’s Forest team still produce a miracle?”

Kenny Burns shook his head in front of the television set. There was so much difference between the two matches. During that match, other than the period when Wimbledon scored two goals, the Forest team performed very well the rest of the time, and basically controlled the tempo of the match with their feet. But this match? When the Forest team scored at the 13th minute, the tempo of the match gradually fell into the opponent’s hands. The swift passing that the Forest team had displayed in the previous five matches did not materialize at all, and the result was? For the sole purpose of producing fast speed, the players frequently shot high balls. The success rate was so low that it was appalling to watch.

Watching the match with the eyes of a former professional player, Burns had already pronounced the death sentence for the Forest team in advance. But what surprised him was that Twain was able to see the same problems that he could see.

Why did he not make any adjustments when the team appeared to be shooting long balls to no avail? Why did he let the match continue to deteriorate?

The bar was dead quiet. The fans were all watching the match in the stands. In the last few minutes of the game, everyone wanted a miracle.