Godfather Of Champions

“To our friends and spectators, welcome to the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals of the 10-11 season. We are now broadcasting live the high-profile game for you at the City Ground stadium, with Nottingham Forest taking on Barcelona at home!”

“Well, we say it’s the City Ground stadium, but I believe a lot of people must think we’re talking nonsense.” The guest commenter next to him interjected.

The commentator laughed, “I couldn’t believe it at first—Nottingham Forest’s pitch is so poor… Half a week ago, Nottingham Forest said it was carrying out maintenance works and turf replacement. Who would have thought that such turf would turn out a few days later? Are we watching a friendly match between Nottingham Forest and an amateur team?”

The guest cleared his throat and said, “By putting it this way, you’d better watch out for protests from Barcelona. You actually liken them to ‘an amateur team.’”

“Ha!” The commentator laughed drily and hurriedly changed the subject., “There’s still some time before the start of the game and we’ve got the starting lineup from both sides. Barcelona’s list is not surprising, extending the same lineup in the last round. Speaking of which, Tony Twain was really wronged by the Catalan media—he really did not use any lethal tactics against Messi and the others. Messi, Bojan … Even Iniesta, who had only just returned from the recovery of his injury, continues to be in the starting lineup. George Wood also did not to mark Messi in the last game and did not stand out in his performance.”

“Well, let us take a look at Nottingham Forest… Will you look at that! Compared with Barcelona’s stability, the Nottingham Forest team has changed a lot!” The commentator raised his voice and there was a deliberate sense of mystery.

“First of all, there’s a big adjustment in the rear defensive line. Leighton Baines was automatically suspended for one game due to the accumulation of yellow cards. His replacement is Joe Mattock, who is thought to be England’s new star defender. Even though he’s young, he already has a record of two appearances in the starting lineup for the England nation team. He has been placed in an important role by Twain since Gareth Bale’s injury. He has received many opportunities to be in the starting lineup for the league tournament and is currently rotating with Baines in the left back position. With Baines currently suspended, he’s naturally the one to replace him. This is not the first time he has played in the Champions League. But it is believed this young player will still be a key target for Barcelona to break through from as they have Messi and Alves on this side. We can take a good look at young Joe Mattock’s performance this game. Hopefully he will not betray Twain’s trust…”

“As for the center back here, Pepe is suspended by his red card and the player who replaces him is Woodgate. His partner is Kompany. The right back has also been replaced. Rafinha is said to have suffered some injuries in training. Nkoulou has appeared in this position. With a height of 1.88 meters, he can actually play as the center back. He has played in both positions in the league tournament.”

“In the midfield, Fernández is suspended for accumulating yellow cards, like Baines. Twain arranges for Lennon to play on the left and Bentley on the right. It’s no surprise that Cohen didn’t appear on the starting lineup. The middle is still the unshakable George Wood and Tiago’s partner. Since Twain started using the double defensive midfielder, Tiago found new lease of life. Şahin did not start in the game because Tony Twain did not use his recent favorite 4-5-1. Instead he went back to the old 4-4-2 formation. All right, ladies and gentlemen, here comes the main highlight!”

“Let’s see who the two strikers are in the starting lineup?!”

“Agbonlahor!”

The guest commenter next to him corresponded with his commentary to say, “There’s no issue with it. Agbonlahor is very fast and if Tony Twain wants to fight back, he’s a very good player to deploy. Eastwood is also injured in training and unable to play in the game. There are only a few strikers to choose from…”

“That’s right, but they still have Ibišević. The Super Ibi who scored two goals in a row at Camp Nou and that last goal might have helped the Forest team win the game if it hadn’t been for the referee’s whistle! But he’s not on the starting list! Yes, you heard right. He’s not on the starting list and he’s not injured. He’s fit as a fiddle, in good shape and can overcome Camp Nou. But he is not on the starting list. Why is he not on the starting list? That we don’t know. Maybe Tony Twain, who is watching from the stands, will know. I believe that if Nottingham Forest lose the game after and is eliminated, he will definitely be bombarded by the media with this question. Having said all that jabber, who is the player that replaced Ibišević?”

Aaron Mitchell’s head shot, and name appeared on the screen.

“That’s right, it’s this kid, Aaron Mitchell. The young striker, who was born on May 5th,1990 and about to turn twenty-one, was only transferred from the reserves to the First Team by Twain in January of this season. He had made five appearances on the bench and made one appearance in the starting lineup for the league tournament, with a total of one hundred and seventeen minutes. He has not made his debut in the Champions League and appeared once in the starting lineup for the FA Cup but did not score any goal. His record is clean like a piece of white paper. That’s not a good thing for a striker. What’s more, before he became a striker, Aaron Mitchell played seven years as a defender in the youth team and one year as a goalkeeper… It wasn’t until the age of eighteen that he started playing as a striker at Twain’s suggestion and then went unnoticed. We don’t have any information on hand about him. Maybe Tony Twain doesn’t have, either. He is neither the player with the highest goal score in the youth team nor an effective hitter who consistently scores in the Premier Reserve League. We know nothing other than he is very tall. Why would Tony Twain let such a player be in the starting lineup for such an important game?”

※※※

The commentator’s doubts were also the doubts of all media reporters. According to Tony Twain’s practice of not releasing the starting lineup until the last minute, they had just gotten the Forest team’s squad list. Everyone was “stunned” by the name of the starting striker.

The English reporters took it slightly better. They at least knew who the written name, “Aaron Mitchell was because he had just made his Premier League debut in the last round, albeit without any contribution. The media in Catalonia, Spain, were baffled. They even had to ask, “Is there such a player in the Nottingham Forest First Team?”

It was not that the English media would nod and go “Oh, all right.” when they know who Aaron Mitchell was.

In fact, their response was—

“Is Tony Twain crazy?! What’s he doing? Ibišević is not injured and has no problem with his form. Why must he use this young boy?!”

“Lord knows. He’s been acting out of character since his sudden outburst at Camp Nou…”

“No, I think it’s been harder to pin him down since he had a heart attack. Before he was like a hot-blooded young man, now he is a sinister and cunning middle-aged man.”

“Is he having a menopause?”

“I think he’s covering his ass and getting ready for the defeat of the game. Once he loses the game, he can put the blame on the boy—‘I have high hopes for him, but his performance… Everybody saw it!’”

“You all seem to know Tony Twain well.” Pierce Brosnan, who had been quiet, finally could not stand it and retorted.

“Ah, look who’s here. The big reporter who knows Tony Twain the best, Pierce Brosnan. Are you saying that you know some inside information?”

Brosnan shook his head awkwardly and said, “I have no idea too…”

A burst of laughter rang out in the crowd. “You have no idea too? Today is full of surprises. I thought Mr. Tony Twain will give you some exclusive information!”

“Anyway, Tony Twain is not the kind of manager who will put the blame on the players after a defeat in the game.” Brosnan might not understand the tactics, but he believed he knew Tony Twain’s character better than these people. “He will only place the blame on himself, and I’ve only even seen a few managers like that.”

The reporters saw that Brosnan was so serious and suddenly felt it was dull—Everyone was joking just now. If you have to talk about it so seriously, then that takes the fun out. You missed the point if you’re being so serious!

The group of people dispersed with the doubt of why Tony Twain had to used Aaron Mitchell and not Ibišević as they got ready to focus on the start of the game.

※※※

The outside media would certainly regard Aaron Mitchell’s performance with preconceived ideas and be determined to find faults. But in the home team’s locker room, Mitchell did not feel any difference in the mood.

It was a Champions League quarterfinal game and he was part of the team, that was all.

Dunn was explaining the tactics and the things for everyone to take note of in the game for the last time.

After Dunn finished speaking, he suddenly turned on the television and DVD player, saying he wanted to show the players a video.

This surprised many people. They had watched Barcelona’s game video countless times, and long understood this opponent clearly. There was no need to watch any video with ten minutes to go before their appearance.

“This is not a video analysis of the opponent.” Dunn explained and then pressed the play button.

Suddenly a clamor which could only exist in a stadium assaulted their senses. It did not seem to come from the tiny square of screen on the TV rack.

“… Offside? Is the ball in an offside position? … Barcelona scored! A beautiful counterattack! The Nottingham Forest players cannot believe their eyes. The referee invalidated one of their goals with a whistle and almost immediately ruled Barcelona’s goal valid. The situation turned around in an instant! … Tony Twain is in a heated confrontation with the fourth official on the sidelines. He looks furious. If we had copied NBA and gave every manager a microphone, that would have be fantastic… A red card! Tony Twain was sent off to the stands by the referee! The game suddenly reaches another climax toward the end! The Nottingham Forest players surround the referee but cannot change his mind. Their manager, Tony Twain has been kicked off the pitch again!”

What was showed on the screen was, of course, the mess in the final stages of the game.

After the video finished playing, Dunn said, “Tony wanted me to show you this segment of the video. He hoped that you would not to forget how the other side treated us in the last game, and what we were made to suffer. We are slightly inferior in terms of strength in this game, but he wants you to put aside the disparity in strength and teach your opponent a hard lesson. Teach those who want us to lose… a good lesson!”

Although Dunn did his best and tried very hard to show vehemence in his speech, he was not Twain after all. The effect of his speech was diminished. Fortunately, the players were outraged by the video just now. Because that reminded them of the scene in the last moment of the first round. No one would feel comfortable after experiencing such a stinging defeat.

In fact, each of them had a ball of fire in their hearts. A week of closed-door training did not extinguish the fire gradually but made it burn brighter. Because Tony Twain would always bring up the matter this week and tell them they had been insulted in the away game, so they must take revenge on the home ground.

It was now time for this ball of anger to explode!

While the man sitting in the stands had been planning for a week to take revenge today. Even though he was not in the locker room, his influence was still there.

From the transformation of the training ground, a notice to replace the turf in the City Ground stadium, the ongoing war of words with Barcelona, repeatedly connecting them with the UEFA to remind the public of the close relationship between the UEFA and Barcelona, the change in the formation and strikers, using a young player whom Barcelona was completely unfamiliar with, to using the video as a catalyst in the locker room for the last time, he calculated everything. Now everything was ready except for only one tiny crucial detail.

If anyone thought that Nottingham Forest was finished and scattered because Tony Twain was banned, then they were gravely mistaken!

He was no longer as simple as the king of Nottingham Forest for the game. He was the puppet master of Nottingham Forest…

Even if he was not in the technical area, he could still control every detail of the team.

The moment the Barcelona team filed out of the tunnel, they had in fact embarked on the road to hell in Tony Twain’s eyes.

Hey, Mr. Guardiola, do you see the sea of red in front of you? That’s not our Nottingham Forest fans. It’s the red lava that spews out of the eighteen levels of hell! It’s erupting and surging in front of your eyes. Do you feel the broiling heat hitting you in the face?

Welcome to hell.