Godfather Of Champions

Twain did not expect Juventus’ sudden campaign for Anelka. He recalled that there had been no previous information about Juventus’ interest in Anelka, and that Anelka’s agent-brothers did not appear to be in touch with Juventus.

Naturally, if Juventus really intended to pay that much money to purchase Anelka, Twain was delighted to accept it. On one hand, their purchase price of Anelka was higher than his previous sale. On the other hand, it was Juventus. Anelka would not have any excuse not to go, would he?

He immediately approved this transfer deal, allowing Juventus to speak to Anelka’s agents about the details of their personal contract.

As for the other transfer request…

Twain wondered why Manchester City was at their doorstep. Did they think that they had a chance because he had three players on the left flank now? Twain was not surprised that Thaksin Shinawatra took ownership of Manchester City, because all kinds of rumors like that circled every day. The Thai’s interest in the English Premier League was long-standing. The English Premier League had a huge following in Southeast Asia. It was not shocking news that the rich and powerful former Thai prime minister bought a Premier League club.

The foreign invasion of the English Premier League had become a common phenomenon.

Thaksin became the owner of Manchester City, and another Premier League football club, Birmingham City, also changed hands. Its owner was a Chinese — Carson Yeung, a wealthy Hong Kong businessman.

At the same time, the powerhouse club, Arsenal was divided into two factions, fighting all day on whether to accept the funds of a rich American businessman and even caused the club’s internal seismic change in personnel — the vice chairman David Dein had resigned in anger because of his disagreement with the chairman. Dein had enjoyed a high prestige in Arsenal. The current manager, Wenger, was brought back from Japan by Dein, and was also the chairman of Europe’s G-14. His departure was a major blow to the Arsenal club.

The full invasion of foreign capital had left many English clubs in an atmosphere of anxiety and excitement. The coexistence was in a state of flux.

In March, the Liverpool F.C. issued a statement, which confirmed the long-awaited speculation that two Americans, George Gillett and Tom Hicks, had completed the purchase of shares in Liverpool. The two men, who had obtained 98.6% percent of Liverpool’s shares, had become the indisputable major shareholder in Liverpool. Following that, the two American bosses then re-registered Liverpool as a club and made Liverpool a private limited company.

This move was exactly the same as when Evan Doughty became the owner of Nottingham Forest.

Fewer clubs in the current English football still maintained a pure pedigree. Most teams in the Premier League were tied with foreign investments.

Manchester United’s big boss was the American, Glazer, the Chelsea boss was the Russian oligarch, Abramovich, the Liverpool boss were the Americans Hicks and Gillett, the Nottingham Forest boss was the British with an American passport, Evan Doughty, the Manchester City boss was the Thai, Thaksin, the Birmingham City boss was the Chinese, Carson Yeung, the West Ham United boss was the Icelandic, Eggert Magnússon, the Portsmouth owner was the French-Israeli, Alexandre Gaydamak, the Aston Villa owner was the American, Randy Lerner. The forerunner of foreign investment in the Premier League was Fulham’s current boss, the Egyptian Mohamed Al-Fayed, who first became the owner of the Fulham club in 1997. At the time, Fulham was an unknown Football League Second Division team. Four years later in 2001, they rose to the English Premier League and had stayed there ever since.

At the present, Arsenal was divided as to whether they would accept the foreign investment or not. If Arsenal decided to accept the American capital, there would no longer be a pure English club in the Premier League’s top five clubs. If truth be told, Arsenal was no longer viewed as an English club because they had too many foreign players. The Gunners were often hated in their country because of the overwhelming French influence.

The present circumstances were truly a great irony in a country steeped in traditions that paid particular attention to pedigree and origins.

Moreover, the summer of 2007 was the busiest summer in the Premier League for foreign investment. It was understood that this summer would not be peaceful.

In order to win favor with the Manchester City fans, Thaksin was quite liberal with money and purchased players everywhere. He pledged to be another Abramovich.

The Brazilian, Elano, and the Italian, Rolando Bianchi, had both joined Manchester City. Now, they had their eye on the brilliant right midfielder, Ashley Young, who had been with the Forest team in the Premier League and European arena for two seasons.

During the two seasons, Ashley Young had always firmly occupied the Premier League’s “king of assists” throne. Even though it had something to do with the Forest team carrying out tactics and coordination which emphasized and valued the offense on the flanks, it was inseparable from Ashley Young’s own ability.

There was no doubt that Lennon was a very talented player, but he could not easily squeeze Ashley Young onto the bench. It showed Young’s ability. He was different from Ribéry. Although both of them were fast and good at breakthroughs, Ribéry preferred to cut inside to shoot, and Young preferred to pass, which was one of the reasons why he had more assists than Ribéry.

In the first half of the year, a famous sports brand and a famous sports analytics company, Opta Sports, collaborated to release a statistical report with a very imposing name: “Premier League’s top ten speedsters.” As the name suggested, it was the ten fastest players.

Once this list was published, Nottingham Forest become the most conspicuous club. In the column after the speedsters’ names, Nottingham Forest’s name was the most frequently named team — four times in total.

The fifth to eighth places were occupied by the Forest players. Fifth place belonged to Ashley Young. His speed without the ball was 11.2 seconds but when he pursued the ball, he ran even faster — 10.97 seconds.

The rest of the four players were the sixth-place Aaron Lennon and George Wood, as well as Franck Ribéry.

The list also indirectly helped Ashley Young increased his value.

Thaksin’s initial offer was already fifteen million pounds. How much did Nottingham Forest spend to purchase the talented right winger from Watford in the first place?

700,000 pounds!

Three years later, the price had shot up to fifteen million pounds.

Was Twain satisfied?

No. Twain thought it was too low.

How was it possible that the main player who won the UEFA Champions League, chosen in the best lineup of last season’s Champions League, nominated as the king of assists for two consecutive Premier League seasons be worth a mere fifteen million pounds?

The Nottingham Forest Football Club swiftly responded to Manchester City. The official line was: “Ashley Young is not for sale. His impact on the team’s right flank is great and he is an important contributing factor to the Forest team winning the Champions League title. Manager Tony Twain will not sell a player who contributed so much.”

If it had been said a week ago, it might have been convincing. However, people were going to read between the lines.

Arteta had left. Was there any important player on the Forest team that could not be sold?

That was how Manchester City understood it. Forest felt that the money was too little. Why else would they emphasize how important Ashley Young was to the Forest team? These things did not require them to repeat, everyone on Earth knew.

Twain wanted them to understand that, too.

He had wanted to keep Arteta, but he was not concerned about Ashley Young at all.

Out of his preference for Gareth Bale and Aaron Lennon, Twain had little affection for Ashley Young, who had taken them both to visit a prostitute.

While Ashley Young was the first pick for the right midfielder position in the team, it was just “work is work” to Twain. Outside of work, Twain had little interaction with the young man he had unearthed from Watford. He could chat amiably with Bale’s father, talk to Lennon about the ideals of life or something similar, joke around with Eastwood, who did his warm-ups on horseback, teach his most valued George Wood with a straight face, and even talk to van Nistelrooy about Ferguson as a man. He just did not have any contact with Ashley Young outside of the work.

Truthfully, it was not like this before. It was only after that incident that his relationship with Ashley Young had cooled rapidly. Twain still brooded about that incident.

Ashley Young brought Bale and Lennon to a brothel. He was certain that Bale and Lennon slept with the prostitutes, but when he asked Young, he did not hesitate to answer that they did not.

From that moment on, Twain lost interest in the young man. He knew that Young had lied and he was so comfortable and calm that Twain was convinced that it was not the first he had lied.

Compared to the old man, Ferguson, Twain was not a manager who interfered with his players’ private lives. He did not mind young people taking detours in their private lives, nor did he mind that they spent money on women to meet their physical needs. As long as it did not affect their condition on the field, they were free to do what they wanted.

But he could not allow his players to deceive him and treat him like an ignorant three-year-old.

Why did he not turn hostile and argue right away? Because Twain thought Lennon was still too young and needed to continue to be honed. It would have been hasty of him to let him play as the main force. Lennon was like Bale; Twain had a complete plan for their development, and he did not want to spoil things by being too eager. So many young geniuses had been blown out in the world. Twain did not want such a situation to happen to his men. Another reason was that Ashley Young’s performance in the games was still very stable. He was still useful to the team. Therefore, Twain suppressed the matter within. He only expressed his displeasure to Dunn at home and did not mention it to anyone else. It was as if he had forgotten this incident.

When Twain announced that the Forest team had signed Beckham, everyone was worried about the Forest’s overcrowded right flank for the next season. Only Dunn knew that the man was not really concerned at all. Even without the generous owner, Thaksin, Twain would have tried to put Ashley Young on sale. Many people were interested in the king of assists.

However, since Thaksin was resolved to play a foolishly rich man, Twain did not mind benefitting from it in the process.

You want to buy the European champion, Nottingham Forest’s main force in the right flank, the new right winger of England national team and the two-consecutive king of assists for the Premier League for fifteen million pounds? Are you just trying to beat off a beggar, Prime minister Thaksin?

Twain and Allan carefully analyzed the background behind the player’s takeover and thought that there was room for negotiation.

They were not afraid to force a buyer away because Ashley Young was not short of buyers at all. It was just a question of price.

Although it was now a general trend for foreign investment to be in the Premier League clubs, the vast majority of English fans still had strong resistance and were conflicted about the development. The resistance was even stronger against Thaksin, who was from a small Southeast Asian nation.

Thaksin was well aware of it, so he could not wait to announce the team’s signing of the former England manager, Eriksson, just to pacify popular sentiments. At the same time, he promised that he would put out at least fifty million pounds to buy strong players and increase the strength of the team.

So far, the transfers to fill in the areas lacking in the team already included the Brazilian midfielder, Elano, and the Italian striker, Bianchi.

The two players had no influence at all in the minds of the English fans. Thaksin would suffer greatly if he intended to appease the hearts and minds of the people by relying on those two players. Thaksin knew it, too. Consequently, after he took care of the two deals, Manchester City immediately launched the chase in the transfer market.

This time, after his discussion with Eriksson, he set the goal of an important breakthrough on Ashley Young, the right winger for the Forest team and England national team. Eriksson was once the England manager and Ashley Young had played in the World Cup in Germany, so Eriksson was aware of Ashley Young’s ability.

Another reason was that Ashley Young was a local player whose fame and appeal at home in England was much higher than that of Elano and Bianchi. To increase his standing in the hearts of the Manchester City fans, it was not enough to rely on the two foreign aids or even to pay off Manchester City’s sixty million pounds of debt. The fans just wanted to see star players of enough weight join the team.

Accordingly, having just taken the Champions League title and won the king of assists for two consecutive years in England, Ashley Young had become an important piece in his campaign to win over the hearts of the people.

With this analysis, both Twain and Allan were determined to get the most out of this loaded man.

Fifteen million is not enough; show more money!

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Manchester City made a second offer, with the price increased to eighteen million pounds.

This time, Nottingham Forest seemed to hesitate for a bit before they refused again. The reason was still the same: “Ashley Young is an important part of the team. Tony Twain has no intention of selling a player who has contributed so much to the team…”

In the meantime, Twain went to Ashley Young for a discussion. He would not state that the team was trying to sell him. He just asked if the rampant rumors in the media about his transfer were true.

During this time, the media had reported that Eriksson had made contact with Ashley Young’s agent. After Manchester City was taken over by Thailand’s former prime minister, Manchester City also had the clout to give the players they were interested in packages to touch their hearts.

Therefore, Twain came to Ashley Young with a grim expression and looked ready to send punitive forces against him.

Young denied that his agent and Manchester City had made contact in private, and even said that he enjoyed playing in Nottingham Forest. He had just received an honor. How could he possibly leave? Even if the other party offered an extremely attractive package, he would not waver in his determination to be loyal.

After much had been said, both sides had a “satisfied” farewell.

The next day, Ashley Young’s agent sought out the Forest club in the hope of giving his player a raise. The agent’s reason was simple: You can see that my player is so red-hot recently. Countless clubs are keen on him. Since you said he is an important contributor to the team, then isn’t it unreasonable if you do not give him a higher salary? Furthermore, my player is utterly loyal to the team. That definitely goes without saying! He has remained unmoved even with so many clubs’ and even Manchester City’s pursuits. So, shouldn’t the team give Ashley Young a higher salary package to reward his loyalty?

The man who received the agent was Twain. He grinned and affirmed Ashley Young’s contribution to the team and thanked him for staying loyal to the team in the face of such rampant “rumors.” When the conversation came to this point, everyone had smiles on their faces. The atmosphere of the discussion was very friendly and harmonious.

But as soon as the subject of money came up, Twain’s smile remained unchanged, but his words were not what the agent wanted to hear.

“Salary? As you know, the club recently planned to build a new stadium. There is not ample funding… ”

His remark was euphemistic. After the agent repeatedly asked for his player to receive a salary equal to his contribution, Twain told him bluntly that the club would not talk to him about Ashley Young’s salary.

“Young still has a three-year contract with the club. We can talk about it when we have one more year left.”

This was equivalent to turning the guest out. When the agent heard Twain say so, he got up and said goodbye.

Although everyone was still smiling, both sides knew that all pretense of cordiality was shed.

One day after the agent left, Manchester City’s third offer came. This time they looked set to win, because the Manchester City club told the Forest club that if it disagreed, it would be the final offer, and City would not raise the offer on Ashley Young.

Ever since Stuart Pearce stepped down from the Manchester City manager’s position, the good relationship between the two clubs was over. Otherwise Manchester City would never have conducted business with such a harsh tone. When Pearce was there, only a phone call from both managers was needed, and the problem was solved.

This time, Thaksin seemed to harden his resolve — twenty-five million pounds!

Twain took the fax to Allan. The two men glanced at each other and laughed.

That afternoon, Manchester City received the Forest team’s response: They had agreed to the offer. Manchester City could carry out the negotiation with Ashley Young on his personal contract.

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In truth, Ashley Young did not really want to leave the Forest team at first. What he said to Twain was true, but he wanted to use the recent media hype to fight for a higher salary for himself in the team. The foolish Manchester City was very much in line with the requirements of a supporting actor.

However, Ashley Young and his agent did not expect that Manager Tony Twain, who had always valued him on the football field, to have plans to sell him from a season ago…

Twain took advantage of the situation and let Ashley Young walk away on his own.

Ashley Young was not foolishly loyal. Since he could not command a higher salary in the Forest team, he took advantage of the Champions League win and the big jump in his worth to transfer to a club that could offer a higher salary. There was nothing bad about it. Why did professional players train hard to prove themselves in the games to win the championship titles and suffer injuries? Was it really about taking the gold medal home and putting it in the cabinet for show? Was it really for the glory? If not for the money, who would choose to play football as a lifelong career?

Twain understood this, so he did not obstruct Ashley Young in his pursuit of the happiness that he wanted.

The Forest team’s second heavyweight transfer out of the new season was finalized, and at the same time, the most attention-grabbing transfer out so far.

Arteta’s departure could be explained away as just a substitute who could not play in games and wanted to go after a team that would put him in the main position, then Ashley Young’s departure made it hard for a lot of people to understand. Judging from the field, Ashley Young’s importance to the Forest team was self-evident. For the Forest team to be able to win the Champions League title, Ashley Young played an important part.

Perhaps this was to give Beckham a position, some media outlets guessed? Was it because Beckham’s sponsors put a lot of pressure on the Forest team? If that was the case, would it not indirectly cause Beckham to create a lot of enemies in the Forest team’s locker room? Twain had always said that he did not take fame into account when he picked the main players. He only saw their abilities and forms. If it was really to give Beckham a main position that he sold Ashley Young, then… the media reported in succession that they were not optimistic on David Beckham’s prospects in the Forest team locker room.

The case that they had built seemed to be strong: Beckham had been a famous star player for a long time, but he was, after all, an outsider on the Forest team. How was he going to get along with the people in the Forest team locker room? Moreover, there was no doubt that people would be jealous of what Beckham had gained and were thus biased… There were many people like that in the football world. How could there not be people like that on the Forest team? Would Ashley Young’s departure make the rest of the Forest team side with the ones in similar circumstances and feel themselves to be in danger? And then it would be followed by a solidarity in opposition to the same adversary?

In that case, would the arrival of the world-class superstar create any waves in the Forest team locker room, which had always been harmonious without any emergence of negative news?

Those readers who like such gossip have much to look forward! We, in the name of the tabloids and paparazzi in England, promise to dig deep into the inside story, to uncover the truth, and to cause pandemonium in the mysterious virgin land of Nottingham Forest’s locker room henceforth!