Godfather Of Champions

Forest beat Juventus 1:0 in an away game, and successfully got revenge against them after losing to them that year. At the same time, they also cemented their position at the top of the table for their group.

However, winning this particular match had an ever greater significance to Forest than the aforementioned points. Previously, the media made no special mention of Nottingham Forest’s victories over either Celtic F.C. or Atlético Madrid. When they won Juventus however, numerous media outlets printed the following in their titles:

“The Red Forest Makes Its Return to Europe!”

By right, Nottingham Forest had made its return a long time back. They had made their return ever since they qualified for next season’s Champions League in the last match of the Premier League last season. There was actually an additional meaning behind the media’s words. What they meant was that the invincible Nottingham Forest that once took Europe by storm was truly back.

By defeating a strong team like Juventus, Nottingham Forest proved that they weren’t a team that was just going to travel around Europe and then head back home. They were a team full of ambition, and they were intent on making a name for themselves in Europe. Defeating the seeded Juventus team was nothing more than a starting point for them. It was definitely not the end.

It can’t be helped that nobody believed Tony Twain when he showed humility, even though he rarely does so. It was just like the story of ‘The Boy Who Cried Wolf’. People would constantly think that you have an ulterior motive no matter what you did when the image of you being all egotistical has been deeply seared into their memories.

In truth, Twain was truly keeping a low-profile this time. He did not want to add too much pressure onto his team. The times have changed, and so has his team that he is leading right now. There are many new and young players in his current team. He wasn’t sure if, just like him, they all craved for a challenge and would also never get tired of being challenged.

Rebuilding a team is a process and it needs time. He cannot be too focused on instant gratification. This was a principle that he was very clear about.

Honestly, it was truly a blessing to be a player for Nottingham Forest. There isn’t much stress on the players besides the stress of trying to become champions.

When Ibišević failed to score goals, Tony Twain was there to shoulder the pressure with him. When Matías Fernández failed to assimilate himself into the team, Tony Twain tried his best to create chances for him to become one with the team.

Žigić is scoring too little goals? That’s okay. Tony assured him that as long as he makes a contribution to the team, he would not get upset with him even if he doesn’t score goals.

The media has the guts to question a particular Nottingham Forest player? Tony would have already fired back at the uneducated media with his big mouth before the players get to have an opinion about it.

The players have nothing to fret over as long as they are with their boss, Tony Twain. To the players who have followed Twain for several years, Nottingham Forest was Twain, and Twain was also Nottingham Forest.

Frankly, Twain does not really wish for his players to harbor such thoughts about him, because it would cause them to get infected with the ‘Reliance on Tony Twain’ illness.

Even though Twain has never considered leaving Nottingham Forest to work elsewhere, but that did not mean that accidents would not occur. For example, his heart…

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Nottingham Forest still have to face another challenge from Juventus at home after winning them in the away game.

Three matches have been played in the group stages so far. Juventus had won once, drew once and lost once, and they were ranked second with four points under their belt. Atlético Madrid drew twice and lost once, and they have two points. Celtic F.C. was the weakest team in the group. They lost twice and drew once, and were ranked last with only one point.

However, no one would say that Celtic F.C. has no chance of advancing into the next stage. Besides Nottingham Forest, who was way ahead of the pack with nine points, all three other teams in the group could miss out on clinching the final spot to qualify for the next stage.

If Juventus intends to put themselves in a favorable position to qualify for the next stage of the Champions League, then it is best for them to triumph over Forest at the City Ground stadium.

But, is Twain a man with a good heart?

He chose to employ a more defensive-oriented formation at the City Ground stadium once again and made use of several layers of defense to confine Juventus. The match had no highlights and was also not exciting to watch. Both teams put in sub-par performances, but in the end, Nottingham Forest beat Juventus 1:0 once again with a goal that was suspected to be offside.

After the match, the British media commented, “… Ranieri’s team were already on their way home before they even got to see what the City Ground stadium looked like. Juventus could only run around the periphery of the penalty box and they were never able to make their way into the penalty box because Tony Twain had focused heavily on defense for the match…”

On the other hand, the Turin media outlets expressed helplessness over the two 1:0 losses that Juventus suffered, “… Juventus were defeated by the playing style that they are good at… Nottingham Forest gained two ‘Italian-like victories’.”

Nottingham Forest were guaranteed of a spot in the next stage of the Champions League by winning all four matches and gaining 12 points. Twain decided to reduce the pressure on the team by performing squad rotation in the remaining two group stage matches. Joe Mattock would get to play his very first Champions League game in his professional footballing career.

In the Premier League, Nottingham Forest’s performance was evidently not as consistent as they had been in the previous two seasons, and it had its ups and downs. They could win Aston Villa by a whopping 4:0, and they could also lose 0:3 to Arsenal away.

Nottingham Forest has yet to fully regain its vitality after changing most of its players after all.

After playing in the match against Juventus in the Champions League group stage, Nottingham Forest subsequently played in 12 matches in the Premier League. They attained seven wins, three draws and two losses, and racked up a total of 24 points. They were only four points behind first place Arsenal.

This result was enough to please Twain.

It was already late November. The team would soon have to play frequent games during the Christmas period. Twain’s plan was to cling onto a top four position during this period of time and also to widen the gap between themselves and fifth place Chelsea.

The economic crisis had impacted Chelsea far more deeply than Nottingham Forest…

Abramovich’s assets had decreased by nearly 80 per cent during the economic crisis. During that time, he not only sacked 15 scouts, he also did not invest a single cent in the club. There were also lots of rumors floating around that he was planning to sell Chelsea for a symbolic fee of 1 euro.

Even though Abramovich eventually came out and dismissed the rumors and also said that Chelsea was still under his name, it was an undisputable fact that Chelsea was suffering from a dip in form.

Frank Rijkaard was a manager who was down on his luck. He was not assigned to manage Chelsea at a good time. The club that spent the most money during the summer this year was Manchester City, and the club that spent the least was a club that none of you could have guessed: Chelsea.

Abramovich demanded Rijkaard to work with the current squad, and he also wants him to attain at least one trophy throughout all the competitions. However, his demands are too much of a stretch. Rijkaard was not only unable to get the players that he wanted for the team, but the team’s star player, Florent Malouda, had transferred to Juventus as well.

Rijkaard had never once said that he wanted to give up on the Premier League. His only words so far with regards to Chelsea’s ranking in the league was that there were still quite a few games left to play, therefore nobody would know which team would become champions until the end.

However, deep in his heart, he was beginning to want to give up on the Premier League and focus his attention on winning other local competitions and the Europa League.

Tony Twain was not in the mood to wage a verbal war with Rijkaard after seeing the miserable state that he was in. He just couldn’t find it in him to bully a hapless guy.

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Based on the match schedule, Nottingham Forest has to play in numerous games during the period from Christmas till January. However, they were in luck, because none of those games would be against any of the top five sides.

To Twain, the difficult matches to play in would come before Christmas, and they would face two tough opponents consecutively. To make matters worse, both matches were away games for them. They were up against Manchester United on Matchday 16 and Liverpool on Matchday 17.

Nottingham Forest achieved two wins and one draw for the 3 matches between Matchday 12 and Matchday 16.

There was slight movement in the ranking table. They edged out Liverpool and rose up to third, and were only two points away from the second place Manchester United. If they could attain an away win over Manchester United on Matchday 16, then they would rise up to second place in the league, and be right on Arsenal’s trail.

Twain liked such matches whereby he could go head on with their rivals. It was one of the fastest and most effective ways to achieve what he desired.

He was not afraid of Manchester United, even if they were playing as the away team.

There was only one week left till the match.

During the post-match conference after their match against Middlesbrough, Twain took the initiative and discussed about Manchester United without the reporters prompting him to.

He tactfully expressed that it was time for Ferguson to retire. “Yes, I have a good relationship with him, which is why I’m saying these words out of consideration for his health. How old is he this year? He’s turning 70 in a few months’ time. I’m worried about his heart… As you all know, I’m also someone who has a heart disease. I have a deep understanding about it…”

Throughout the press conference, Twain displayed his care and concern towards Ferguson. It seemed like the two really had a ‘close’ relationship as he had claimed.

However, people who knew what the two of them were like would not view Twain’s concern as being genuine. All Twain was doing was nothing more than trying to start a psychological battle with Ferguson…

Ferguson took up Twain’s challenge proactively. “I am indeed at the age whereby I should be considering my retirement. However, that would only come after I have attained a trophy this year. What? You are asking who is the most suitable successor for me? Hmm… I believe if Tony Twain took up the job, he wouldn’t do a worse job than me.”

Ferguson beat Twain at his own game and made use of the topic of ‘recommending Twain as the new manager of Manchester United’ as a pretext to disrupt Forest’s morale.

The media has been hyping up the topic of Ferguson’s successor for decades, and all sorts of people have made their way onto the list, such as the manager for Portugal’s national team, Carlos Queiroz, or Roy Keane, the ex-United captain who is currently doing nothing at home, or David Moyes, who is doing a good job at Everton. Even the ‘madman’ José Mourinho, who currently manages Inter Milan, was also on the list.

Of course, how could the list not include Tony Twain, who is the best, young British manager in England for the past 10 years, and also has a striking personality just like Ferguson?

Moreover, the truth was that Twain had always been regarded as the favorite to become Ferguson’s successor. If one were to judge Twain based on the results he had achieved so far, then the only manager who came close to him was Mourinho.

However, results is definitely not the only criteria to judge who has the highest possibility of moving to Old Trafford. Most of the time, one has to see how likely a particular candidate would leave their current work position.

Both Queiroz and Moyes are doing a good job at their current clubs, while Mourinho had also expressed that he has no interest in becoming the manager of Manchester United. As for Roy Keane, he is too inexperienced.

Out of all of them, Tony Twain is the most suitable candidate. No one thinks that he would really stay as Nottingham Forest manager for 20 years, because ‘one cannot rear a big fish in a small pond’. As the Chinese saying goes, ‘a golden carp cannot stay in the pond forever’. Tony Twain’s current annual salary is the lowest out of all the managers who are managing the top five teams in the Premier League. It is hard to guarantee that Twain would never feel discontent towards his salary. If Manchester United were to offer Twain a high pay at a time when he is discontented with his salary, then it is possible for Twain to leave his post at Nottingham Forest for a bigger stage…

After all, Nottingham Forest is not regarded as a big club in the eyes of most people. Its appeal naturally cannot rival that of Manchester United’s, which has always been a rich and powerful club throughout history. Being the manager of Manchester United is a dream job for countless people. How many people in the world can reject an offer to become the manager for such a club?

Twain might be close to both Ferguson and Wenger, who are the two most influential managers in the Premier League, but between the two, Twain was more similar to Ferguson in terms of personality and management style. This is another reason why most people tip Twain to take over as Ferguson’s successor.

If Twain were to take over as Manchester United’s manager, then there would not exist any problems with regards to the continuity of Manchester United’s playing style as well as how well the new manager can adapt to the team. Ferguson would not need to worry that his current players in the squad would not get used to the new manager’s playing style, and this smooth transition between managers would aid in stabilizing the team and allowing them to achieve consistent results.

No matter how you looked at it, Tony Twain is the destined one to take over at Manchester United…

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Ferguson’s words brought the age-old topic of his successor back onto the table. The media hyped up the topic once again and things became lively. Both teams still needed to play in one Champions League group stage game before their match, but nobody really paid attention to that Champions League game anymore. The starting line-ups for both Nottingham Forest and Manchester United had already been decided.

Twain regarded Ferguson’s words as nothing more than his psychological tactic. He would definitely not make any sort of response to his words, because his words would only end up being further hyped up by the media. Not only that, he would also fall right into Ferguson’s psychological trap and be at the losing end of this battle if he were to make a response.

The smart way of handling this situation is to stir up the other party’s emotions and leave. This would cause the other party to feel a mixture of emotions: discomfort, excitement, dissatisfaction and emptiness. As a result, the other party would not be in the mood to prepare for the match.

Thus, Twain chose not to make any form of response to Ferguson’s words. He focused on preparing for the Champions League match and for the important battle between Forest and Manchester United.

Twain used a radically different team in the Champions League match against Celtic F.C. so that the players could get ample rest before that period of time where they have to play in frequent matches.

Twain did not go into the match expecting the team to achieve a particular result. He just wanted to make sure that not a single player got injured in the match.

Atlético Madrid is currently battling with Celtic F.C. to gain entrance into the Europa League Round of 32. Atlético Madrid would not go easy on Juventus at the Estadio Vicente Calderón stadium. Similarly, the Scots would not let Nottingham Forest leave unscathed at the Celtic Park stadium.

As Twain was preparing to head over to Glasgow, he received a call from Manchester United Football Club.

My successor? I believe if Tony Twain took up the job, he wouldn’t do a worse job than me.

He thought Ferguson said those words jokingly and as a part of his psychological battle, but apparently, the other party did not think the same way as he did…