Godfather Of Champions

According to Tony Twain’s habit of doing things, he must determine an alternative course of action before he made up his mind on a matter.

The sale of Žigić had really been bothering him for two days. The reason he wanted to keep him was really as he thought when he spoke to Allan before. The reason for selling him was that the Forest team might not need as many players in the forward line from next season… It was not impossible to sell a player and make some transfer money available for the team.

Twain was not stubborn about this matter.

In fact, starting in the second half of the season, the Forest team would be using more new tactical formations in order to seek breakthroughs. For all these years that Twain had led the team, it was the first time that he had made all these subverted changes. After all, the Forest team previously always gave the impression that they defended and then counterattacked. No matter how they changed, they could not break out of this cycle.

New formations and tactics required more proactive measures. Twain no longer insisted on his 4-4-2 formation. Instead, he changed the play to 4-5-1, and a stricter differentiation would be 4-2-3-1, the Christmas tree shaped formation.

In this way, the demand for strikers was greatly reduced. Each game only required one striker. If too many players were on the bench and the rotation could not be arranged accordingly, there would be people who felt dissatisfied—why can he be rotated on the field while I can only continue to sit on the bench?

He could only consider in this way if he really were to sell Žigić.

But if Žigić was gone, the team would be missing a center forward. In some special circumstances, a center forward like Žigić could play a role that the other strikers could not. Twain was unwilling to throw away a still very useful card in vain.

Ibišević was a striker, but he was not purely a center forward, let alone a firm center forward.

Van Nistelrooy was retiring at the end of the season. Eastwood’s knee had always been like a landmine which could be stepped on at any time after three major operations. Ibišević was the only striker with no trouble. In the new tactics, Agbonlahor would be a more comprehensive player. He could be a striker, but Twain planned to let him play as an attacking right midfielder because his speed advantage could play a bigger role in the flank.

Millán, who was out on loan, could also play as a forward, attacking midfielder slot and other positions. A utility player always did not have to worry about having opportunities to play.

If he sold Žigić, where would he go find a suitable replacement?

Twain’s target he had in mind for the substitute was to have a certain strength, but not too strong, because anyone too strong would certainly require the main position, which Twain absolutely could not satisfy this requirement. If Eastwood was fit and uninjured, he and Ibišević would be the team’s main forwards and in rotation for appearances.

As a result, the role of a new striker would be less. If possible, Twain was reluctant to pay for a third striker… It would be a waste.

After mulling over it for two days, Twain thought of a man.

※※※

“Are you free now?” During a break in the training, Twain pulled in Kerslake and Dunn.

“Isn’t the training in progress?” Kerslake was surprised.

“Let the coaches handle it first. I want you to accompany me to the reserves training ground.”

“Why do you suddenly want to go to the reserves team?” Dunn asked.

“I suddenly thought of a person. I almost forgot about him…” Twain scratched his head and said slightly embarrassed.

He did forget that person…

※※※

“You did forget him.” Standing by the training ground at Wilford, Dunn glanced at Twain.

The reserves team did not belong to the youth team, so they trained with the First Team in South Wilford. The two places were not far apart and did not take long to reach there.

The reserve team was playing a seven-on-seven game on the training ground in front of them. There was one person in the yellow team who was very eye-catching because he was the tallest on the field now.

Twain and Dunn, as well as Kerslake came to see him—Aaron Mitchell. Two and a half years ago, Twain had gone to the reserve team to inspect Şahin’s state of recovery but did not expect that day’s protagonist to be another person.

At the time, Mitchel’s performance as a center back was lacking. If he continued to play like this, the best chance he would have would be to play in the second-tier league, which he would never have been able to establish himself in the Premier League at his level anyway, let alone play in the Nottingham Forest First Team.

After watching him train and play, Twain called him in and suggested that he played as a center forward from now on. Although both positions were played in the middle, the position was moved from the back to the forefront, which could be described as a dramatic change.

It was only out of Twain’s professional habits to let Mitchell change position. Then half a year later, when he was crushed by a heart attack, he was busy battling the heart disease for another six months and completely forgot about Mitchell. Later in the process of rebuilding the team, because the Forest team was not short of players in the forward line, so he also never recalled that poor player whom he changed his position, threw in the youth team and never asked about again…..

It was no until the possibility of Žigić’s transfer was on the agenda that he recalled the young man who had felt similar to Žigić.

Aaron Mitchell was currently twenty years old and had played in the reserves for two years but had yet to get a chance to play in the First Team.

While arguably playing in the reserves was a way into the First Team, it did not mean that playing here would necessarily allow him to get into the First Team. There were a number of players who spent most of their time in the reserves and could only be drawn to the First Team occasionally to relieve any immediate need. This portion of players were considered lucky. Most players faded into obscurity in the reserve team, perhaps seek opportunities in the lower leagues, or declined henceforth. If a player who had graduated from the youth team and always played in the reserves after, it at least meant that he did not have any outstanding talent or ability. Such a player’s future was bleak.

From this point of view, Aaron Mitchell’s talent was clearly not outstanding.

Mitchell was on the pitch as a center forward, and his header was still outstanding, thanks, of course, to his fearsome height. Twain felt that Mitchell was currently taller than when he first saw him. So, he pointed to Mitchell as he turned his face to the reserve team coach Colin Calderwood and said, “How tall is he now?”

“Two point two meters.” Calderwood replied.

Twain whistled, “He’s as tall as Žigić.”

“But he is thinner than Žigić.” Dunn said next to him.

Indeed, the thinness of the two-point-two meter tall Mitchell was clear. He was a bit like Peter Crouch who used to play for the Forest team.

“How’s he with physical confrontation?” Twain asked.

“Average.” Calderwood replied.

The answer made Twain frown. The center forward he needed had to be strong and able to compete with the opposing tall and strong defenders in the penalty area so that he did lose his position and the ball easily.

Calderwood certainly knew what Twain was worried about, so he laughed and continued, “But Tony, he’s not quite like the traditional center forwards…”

“Eh? How is he different?”

“Have you ever seen a center forward who is more than two meters tall and can scissor?”

Twain and the two assistant managers next to him stared at Calderwood in surprise.

“His technique is excellent.” Calderwood laughed, “and even. There’s no obvious weakness technically. He can pass the ball to create opportunities for his teammates, and also to pull to the side to cross pass. His dribbling in terms of his height, is also good. Maybe it’s because he knows he’s not capable of physical confrontation, so he works hard in technical training, and so… it becomes what you see now.”

During their conversation, Mitchell got the ball. He stopped the ball during running with his heel outside of the foot. While he stopped the football at the same time, he also completed the action to do an emergency stop and turn to change direction…

“Wow—,” Kerslake could not help exclaim.

After stopping the ball in the flank and bypassed an opposing defender, Mitchell swung his leg for a pass on the spot. Unfortunately, the teammate who received in the middle did not expect Mitchell’s decisive pass and missed the ball by a margin.

The men did not speak and began to observe Mitchell’s performance on the field.

Perhaps because he had been a center back, Mitchell retained the habit of seeing opposing players go up and grab the ball, rather than playing like a pure attacking player who walked around in the front field and watched as the other side take the ball past him. This helped Mitchell get a lot of chances to counter press in the front field.

Because he was two point two meters tall, he dribbled the ball at a very wide pace, so his speed did not feel slow, and did not give a heavyset feeling like Žigić. Coupled with his excellent footwork, watching him play always gave the illusion—was this really a big man more than two meters tall?

He was also not the kind of center forward who liked to wait in front of the goal for his teammates to pass the ball to him. He preferred to pull out, back up to receive and overly connect for the attack.

His header was indeed a very sharp weapon. As long as the football flew into his aerial space, he would get it nine out of ten times. His amazing height coupled with his outstanding jump, in addition to the level of his header and awareness from his training and playing as the center back, he could said to dominate the aerial space in front of the goal.

Unfortunately, his shot was a little poorer compared to his excellent header…

Twain watched his game for fifteen minutes and had a rough idea. His header success rate was as high as eighty per cent, but only one out of five shots from his feet hit within the goalpost range—which was too direct and intercepted by the goalkeeper.

“Well… His shooting skill improvement rate is slow…” Calderwood was a little embarrassed when it came to that.

In the reserves, the tactic for Mitchell was during the offensive, he would retreat to receive the pass from the midfield. Then he would use his footwork skills to dribble the ball to break through and after which, he would divert it to the sides for his teammates who had already plugged in while he continued to dash to the penalty area. His teammates would send the ball after they got rid of the opposing flank defense. Mitchell who was already in place by then, would fight to head the ball. This time he had two options: A, he would use his header shot to score a goal; B, he would send it to the other teammates and create a chance for them to shoot.

The tactic was very simple and Mitchell did quite well. He was really impeccable with the header shots.

Unfortunately, his body was really too thin and almost did not have the ability for direct confrontation. That was one of the main reasons why he could not play well as a center back in the first place…

This reason was also essential to why he had not been recommended for promotion to the First Team.

The Premier League was the most confrontational league tournament in the world. A “reasonable collision” in the Premier League could be a malicious foul in other league tournaments. The physically inferior striker would lose out when he competed against the others. Apart from Wenger’s oddity, few managers would take an interest in a striker who looked like he could be blown away by the wind.

But Twain did not care that much. He saw hope in Mitchell and a completely different center forward. He might bring something different to the Forest team’s offense.

“Tell him to report to the First Team tomorrow.” Twain snapped his fingers and said, “I’m going to sign him up for the next stage of the Champions League tournament.”

This sentence meant that he could let Žigić go with confidence …

Neither of the two assistant managers made any suggestions with regards to Twain’s decision. They saw something brilliant in Mitchell, whose shortcomings could be made up by training and high level competition.

After he finished briefing on these matters, Twain left with two assistant managers. They still had to go back to the First Team training ground and was not able to waste too much time here.

※※※

Aaron Mitchell only heard the news from Coach Colin Calderwood that he had been transferred to the First Team from the reserve team after training. After being stunned for a short moment, he was joyous. Since switching to play as the center forward, he had thought about his future at the Forest team. He felt that since the boss had to change him to play as a striker, he might need a striker.

But then he felt a little hopeless when he saw the Forest team’s swelling to somewhat bloated ranks in the forward line. He thought he was not an exceptionally talented player, and the only things he was proud of were his height and headers.

He kept practicing his skills in the hope that he had some different qualities that could stand out from the other players of the same kind.

After determining on how to train him as a striker, Colin Calderwood, also noticed Mitchell’s efforts and characteristics in the area, so he recommended a training example for Mitchell to follow.

This example was not Žigić in the Forest team, nor was it van Nistelrooy. It was Ibrahimović in the far away Inter Millán.

In addition to training, he would study the tall Swedish center forward’s playing characteristics and style, to try his best to imitate and learn, in hopes that he could also become a striker who was more than one point nine meter tall but with outstanding footwork skills.

Now the opportunity had come!

The next day he went straight to the First Team’s training ground and saw the star teammates he rarely saw on the sidelines, which made him a little excited. While those teammates also looked a little curiously at the foolishly happy Mitchell, standing on the sidelines.

Mitchell was not a rising star player like Moke who was in the reserves, but whose name had long been spread throughout the club. He remained in obscurity before he came here. Although everyone was in the same club, it was normal to be unfamiliar with each other.

When the First Team players warmed up together, Aaron Mitchel still stood outside, at a loss over what to do.

That was when his savior came.

Tony Twain and the two assistant managers walked onto the training ground. He saw Mitchell at a glance, who was wandering outside the crowd, and waved to him, “Kid, come here!”

“This is your new teammate.” Pulling Mitchell over, Twain introduced him to the other players, “Aaron Mitchell, a professional striker, who used to play as a center back.”

Hearing his strange position change, the players broke out in a moment of wonder.

After a brief introduction, Twain asked the players to warm up, but he made Mitchell stay behind.

“There are some things I have to make clear to you in advance so that I don’t have any trouble in the future.” Twain said to Mitchell who stood in front of him extremely deferential, “First of all, to be able to be transferred to the First Team proves that you are capable, so don’t doubt that you are not strong enough; Secondly, you can’t think that you will be able to get the main position and be in the starting lineup once you are in the First Team…I won’t promise you all these. You have to fight and compete with the attitude and form you’ve trained if you want all these. You know, you’re currently last out of all the strikers in the First Team.”

Mitchell nodded repeatedly.

“You’d better use your learning mentality to prepare for your days in the First Team. I think that will help you more.”

While saying all these, Twain’s face with the sunglasses on was always serious-looking. He did not mind being harsh on these young people, because he knew how cruel professional football was. It was best not to have any illusions and be down-to-earth in order to achieve something. On the path of these young people’s development, he was willing to be the number one villain in these people’s hearts all the time.

Seeing that Mitchell had a good attitude and was humble enough made Twain very satisfied. He ended his sermon and began to assign specific training tasks, “Starting from today, we will increase your shooting and strength training. The coaching team will give you a special training program for you to follow. I heard when you were in the reserves, Coach Calderwood asked you to learn from Ibrahimović?”

Mitchell nodded in reply, “Yes, boss. I hope to be a striker like him.”

“Make no mistake, boy. Ibrahimović is not physically weak, and his shooting ability is ten light years better than yours.”

Mitchell’s expression darkened. Although Twain spoke the truth, the truth was not nice to hear…

Twain remembered that Mitchell was already twenty years old, but he was still a young player after all. Sometimes encouragement was needed.

So, he grinned and said, “But don’t worry. At least you have one thing that is better than Ibrahimović—your header.” He pointed to Mitchell’s head and said, “An Ibrahimović, who is good at headers and much better than Ibrahimović himself!”