Godfather Of Champions

The news of Liverpool having drawn a crucial match was wonderful for Nottingham Forest. Tang En was certain that there were a number of players who were also concerned and watched the match on TV. Before the commencement of afternoon training the next day, everyone was still discussing the previous night’s match.

Tang En was delighted. As he gathered the players for training, a smile stayed on his face the whole time. Looking at the players who were also beaming, his smile deepened. Finally, he could not resist and shouted, “Who watched yesterday’s match?”

A flurry of hands came up; nearly half of them.

“Does anyone remember what I said to you before Everton’s match?”

Tang En had his hands on his hips as he stood before the players, looking like a spirited general lecturing them.

“I said, Liverpool would definitely fall behind, definitely fall behind!” He waved his hands vigorously, pointing downwards. “Was I right?”

“Yes!”

“Hey, boss! Tell me the lottery numbers for next week!”

A burst of laughter erupted from the team.

Tang En waved his hands and said, “Nonsense! This isn’t foresight on my part. But what does it show? Liverpool is playing in more than one league. Giving up one of them is a certainty. To them, The UEFA Champions League is much more important than the Premier League. On the other hand, to us now, there is nothing more crucial than being in the top four of the Premier League and qualifying for next season’s Champions League. Some people have called us a new promotee, and they think the aim of a team like us for our first season should only be to avoid relegation. In their eyes, the best we can do is merely to avoid early relegation. Let us correct their mistaken assumptions! Who says a newly promoted team can’t participate in next season’s Champions League? This time, we are going to show them!”

※※※

April 10, the 32nd round of the Premier League. Nottingham Forest challenged Bolton Wanderers F.C. in an away match. Forest, with high spirits, launched their offense against Bolton Wanderers on the away grounds. The two teams scored a total of five goals with the final score being 3:2; Forest attained a risky victory.

Everton’s home match in the same round ended in 4:0 against Crystal Palace, a huge victory. They maintained a one-point lead over Forest.

In Liverpool’s rescheduled match three days before, Liverpool came to a draw against Newcastle. Originally, they had had the same number of points as Everton, 51 points, which was still slightly higher than Forest. However, perhaps because they had truly shifted their season’s aim to the Champions League, they lost 0:1 in an away match with Man City in the 32nd round of the Premier League.

The 32nd round of the League matches concluded. Everton had 54 points, Forest had 53, and Liverpool had 51.

April 17. The 33rd round of the Premier League. Nottingham and Everton’s matches were both delayed. Everton’s away match against Newcastle was rescheduled to May 11, while Nottingham Forest’s away match against Chelsea was changed to April 26.

There was no delay for Liverpool’s match, but they still failed to attain victory. In their home match, they drew with Tottenham Hotspur at a score of 2:2. As Forest Team and Everton were both missing a match, the accumulation of points and overtaking of ranks remained incomplete.

From the beginning of the 34th round on April 21, Forest’s opponents in turn were:

Manchester United, Forest playing as home team; Chelsea, with Forest as away team (the rescheduled match of the 33rd round); Liverpool, against Forest on their home grounds; Arsenal, with Forest as away team; Charlton, with Forest as away team; and finally, Birmingham City, with Forest playing on home grounds.

Such a schedule was ridiculous.

That was also the biggest reason why Moyes believed Everton would be able to maintain the fourth position.

In the remaining six matches, Forest could not afford to lose any.

※※※

At the end of the final day of training before the matches, the players came off the field and entered the locker room to find someone else already there. They were intending to shower and change, but found their manager busy in the locker room instead.

Tang En had put up an enlarged version of the match schedule in the locker room. On it, all of Forest’s opponents from the first to the 38th league match were written. Up to the 32nd round, each of their matches had the final score noted between the names of the two contending teams. There were wins, losses, and draws. Starting from the 33rd match against Chelsea, the area in the center that was meant for the score was blank. Those opponents were the ones Forest would be facing in the upcoming half of the month.

After carefully putting up the gigantic schedule sheet, Tang En hopped off the stool. As he dusted his hands, he turned around and noticed the players gathered at the door.

“What is it?” Tang En asked as he looked down at his pants, patting the dust away.

“Boss, this is…” The players were perplexed. They had already memorized the match schedule. Why was there still a need to put it up in the locker room?

“I’m just putting up the match table. It’s enlarged. You guys can see it clearly, right?” Tang En turned back and gave the match table a pat as he spoke.

“But… but we all know who our next opponents are…” One of the players said.

“Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal… Everyone knows that? Then that’s good. I’m sure I don’t need to say anything more about the abilities of our opponents.”

Tang En had not finished speaking before he was interrupted by Albertini.

“Boss, what are you trying to say? Are you worried that we’ll be unable to perform out of fear for our opponents?”

Tang En scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly. Albertini had hit the nail on the head; that was exactly what he was thinking.

Looking at the manager’s response, Albertini knew. He turned to his teammates and all of them started laughing.

“Such provocation isn’t going to work,” Ribéry said with a pout. “We’re already immune to it.”

Albertini said with a laugh, “You can stop worrying, Boss. We’re more eager than you in wanting to qualify for the Champions League. Ask anyone here. Is there anyone who doesn’t want to play in the Champions League?”

“The captain’s right!”

“Champions League! Just thinking about it excites me!”

The group of young men started getting fired up as they imagined what it would be like to participate in the Champions League next season.

“Eh, Matthew, who do you think we’ll meet then? AC Milan or Barcelona?”

“What’s the point of meeting with such strong teams? I’d rather we meet with all the weak ones. Without anyone noticing us, we’ll kill our way through the weak teams and get into the final 16.”

“You have no ambition! I’ll hope to be in the same group as the strongest teams in Europe. That way, I’ll be able to show the powerhouses how good we are!” Bendtner said, tossing his head of blonde hair.

Tang En watched the group’s enthusiastic discussion and shook his head, at a loss as to whether he should be crying or laughing.

“Alright, alright! Go take your showers, go on! Don’t be getting the flu now.” Tang En waved his hands at them, disrupting their daydreams.

Only after everyone ran into the locker room to start changing did Tang En turn to take his leave.

Although he restrained himself outwardly, Tang En was deeply elated. This group of kids turned out to be better than he imagined. He had nothing to worry about. Even if they had to face teams like Manchester United, Chelsea, and Arsenal, so what? If he had worry about the teams in their domestic league, even if they did break into the top four of the league as they hoped and passed the qualifiers for the Champions League, how could they hope to cope with the powerhouses in Europe? Were they going to surrender just from hearing their names? In that case, they might as well just give up now rather than shaming themselves all the way to Continental Europe in the next season.

Wasn’t it just the top three teams in the Premier League? What’s the big deal? They just had to give it their all!

Tang En abruptly slammed his fist into the wall. His expression turned stern as he gritted his teeth. With a ferocious look, he looked forwards and fixed his gaze on the light from where the exit was, as if that was the path of glory towards the Champions League.

After staring for a long while, Tang En exhaled. “Crap! This hurts! Damn it… what did I have to smash the wall for? I…” He quickly withdrew his fist and hugged it to himself, cursing quietly.

※※※

The next day was the beginning of the matches. Following the advancement into the final stages of the Premier League, the fight for their own goals also intensified to a fervor. Tony Twain’s team only needed to fight to be within the top four of the League, for the mere qualification to enter the qualifiers of the Champions League. Similarly, Manchester United hoped to get the qualifications to enter the Champions League. It was no longer possible for them to become the League Champions.

On the other hand, Arsenal and Chelsea were fighting for the title of League Champion. Despite Chelsea already having 82 points and ranking at the top, Arsenal was only 11 points away from them. The League had not ended yet. That point difference was not large enough to allow Chelsea an early claim on the title of Champion. This round would be key; Arsenal was matched up against Chelsea in an away match. To maintain their hopes of being champions, Arsenal must defeat Chelsea. If Arsenal lost, the gap between the two would become 14 points. With both teams having left 5 matches (one of which was the rescheduled match from the 33rd round) and a 14-point difference, Chelsea would have to lose all matches with Arsenal winning all of theirs for them to take the title. That condition seemed all but impossible…

So, if Wenger still intended on defending their title of Champion, the crucial step lay in taking down Chelsea in today’s away match. That would shrink the point difference between the two teams to only eight points. Furthermore, triumphing over the opponent in their home grounds would put enormous psychological pressure on Chelsea.

Everton’s opponent for the current round was Man City. They were also playing an away match against a difficult opponent; Man City had just defeated Liverpool. To participate in the UEFA Europa League, Man City would be happy to defeat Liverpool’s arch-rivals from the same city.

Liverpool’s match for the round was against Portsmouth. If there were no surprises, the three points were already in the bag.

Should Forest Team lose to Manchester United while playing on home ground, they not only run the risk of Everton expanding their point difference to four points, Liverpool would also catch up with them. After all, the difference between them and Liverpool now was only two points.

Even if Forest fought to a draw, Liverpool and Forest would both have 54 points. In the rankings, Liverpool would hold the advantage in the goal difference, ranking ahead of Forest.

With the situation at hand so clear, what they needed to do was beyond obvious.