Godfather Of Champions

Chapter 830: Tony’s Decade

On December 12th, 2003, Tony Twain, one of the greatest managers in Nottingham Forest’s history, returned to the post he was best at after six months of silence and appeared in the home team’s technical area at City Ground stadium. When he returned, there was no talk of his luckless predecessor, Collymore. It was as if the City Ground Stadium’s position was for tailormade in advance for Tony Twain.

It was an ordinary Football League First Division game (there was no English Football League Championship at the time, so the Football League First Division was the second-tier tournament). After losing six games in a row, Nottingham Forest met Crystal Palace, a team that was ranked a spot lower than them but aggressively determined to beat them, at home. Nottingham Forest first fell behind and then reversed the situation to end an embarrassing six-game losing streak.

He had not left his post since that game. Tony Twain had been the manager of Nottingham Forest and this team had been branded with his arrogant and untamed mark. Even during the six-month period when he was in recuperation from a heart attack, the team was not short of his influence. He led his Forest team to sweep across Europe and won two UEFA Champions League and two Premier League titles.

Up until now, Nottingham Forest, one of the world’s first few established professional football clubs, had two of the most glorious periods in its history. The first glory days were when Brian Clough came to Nottingham Forest. Under the leadership of one of the most individualistic managers in English football, the previously unknown Nottingham Forest soared to the skies and won one of England’s top league titles, two European Champion Clubs’ Cup, one European Super Cup as well as created an unbeaten record of forty-two games in the English topflight tournament. That record was only surpassed by Arsène Wenger’s Arsenal record of forty-nine games twenty-six years later.

The second glory days undeniably began on December 12th, 2003. Tony Twain, a former nobody, led the Forest team to stir up a red whirlwind at the City Ground stadium. They had won two Premier League titles, two UEFA Champions League trophies, two UEFA Super Cups, one FIFA Club World Cup, two Football Association Community Shield titles and one EFL Cup. But in terms of the number of championship titles, he had surpassed his predecessor, Brian Clough. Clough had already passed away while Tony Twain was only forty-five years old. His age was considered young as a manager and he still had a long way to go. People believed that under his leadership, the Forest team could continue to be brilliant and go on to create one of the most glorious Forest dynasties in history which was imminent.

Ten years had since flew by.

As the only manager who could be on par with Brian Clough in the history of the club, his ten-year anniversary as a manager was well worth a big celebration. The club had decided to present a commemorative award to Twain. But unfortunately, on December 12th, the Forest team’s game was not at its home ground, so the trophy could not be presented in front of tens of thousands of spectators before the game.

December 12th, 2013, in the 17th round of the English Premier League tournament, Nottingham Forest challenged Liverpool in an away game.

It was a decade after Twain officially coached the First Team. Although he became the Forest team’s acting manager as early as January 1st, 2003, he was only an “acting manager” and was dismissed by Evan Doughty midway through. It could not be counted in his formal coaching career. Even Twain was reluctant to count half of that season’s failure into his own decade even though that half of the season occupied a very important place in his life which left him with countless precious memories.

The local media, such as the <Nottingham Evening Post>, had published special issues as a retrospective of Tony Twain’s past decade. For the people of Nottingham, the past ten years had a lot of things worth remembering. It was like they had a wonderful and long dream. If someone were to say to them ten years ago, “Your team can get back to the top,” they would think that the man had deliberately mocked them. But now those honors were quietly placed in the club’s honors room, telling them this was not a dream. It was a reality.

Everything was thanks to this forty-five-year-old man. As a manager, he was only forty-five years old and very young, but his honors had made him the envy of many managers older than him. But as a man, forty-five years old was considered middle-aged. The biggest wish for all Forest fans was that he could hopefully continue to be the manager, the longer the better.

A book publisher came to Twain in the hope of publishing an autobiography of this worthy time period. Twain’s writing was rather good. He often wrote in his column in the newspapers, but it was too time consuming for him to write a book. The manager of a Premier League club was already busy enough. How could he have the time to write a book? So, he handed the matter to Pierce Brosnan, the reporter who knew him best, stating that he would dictate and Brosnan would take notes. In fact, he did not have to do much. Brosnan had used all the material he had gathered and recorded over the past ten years to put together the entire book. The only thing that was likely to be Twain’s creation was the title of the book.

<Ten Years>.

Well… Strictly speaking, even the title of the book was not of his creation. When the publisher asked him to think about the title, the title of a song by Eason Chan coincidentally popped up in his mind. He thought it was a kind of destiny, so he used it.

At first the publisher thought the name lacked grandeur and too low-key. It was completely incompatible with Tony Twain’s “madman identity.” He wanted Twain to change to another, such as “The Forest Emperor”, “Lionheart”, “The Godfather of Champions”, “We Are the Champions” … these kinds of straightforward and common titles which could be easily comprehended when written.

But Twain refused.

“Since I am a madman, what kind of madman I will be if I can’t even insist on a book title?” His question left the publisher speechless. He was definitely egotistical…

“Tony, I’ve thought about it. Shall we present you with the award at a press conference in Nottingham the day before the game?” Three days before the game, the club’ chairman, Evan Doughty came to Twain.

“Why?” Twain was surprised because the original plan was to present it after the game.

“Well, I’m worried that if you lose that game, you won’t be in the mood to receive the award in front of the media…”

Twain laughed.

“Don’t laugh, Tony. We have to prepare for both eventualities, don’t we?”

Twain continued to laugh, “Ha! If you present me that crystal award before the game., how’s that preparing for both eventualities? Before some important games, the media always have Plan A and Plan B, but they do not declare the loss for a team ahead of the game. Don’t worry.” Twain patted Evan on the shoulder and said, “The situation which you are worried about, won’t happen because we will not lose. I don’t want to lose the game and then receive the award too.”

“It’s going to be hard to play in Liverpool’s home ground…”

“It’s not that we had not beaten them at Anfield. Don’t tell me it’s because it’s my tenth anniversary that they suddenly become a fortress that is the most difficult to conquer in the world?”

“But with our team’s recent performance … plus George Wood’s form…”

Twain shook his head and interrupted his doubt to say, “No problem. There are no issues with him and the team.”

Twain pushed back Evan’s doubts and said, “Believe me, Evan. This is my tenth anniversary. How could I allow someone to mess it up? I have drinks for friends who come and bullets for enemies who approach.”

“Anfield is the most devilish home ground on the planet!” Christopher Beesley, a senior correspondent for the <Liverpool Echo> predicted in his column the game about to be held two days later. “Our relationship with Nottingham Forest is not too good and there is no reason for us to let Tony Twain enjoy his anniversary celebration at Anfield.”

The man had once listed in his own column the top ten wishes for the 2009-2010 season, one of which was “Hope that Tony Twain has a heart attack to completely say goodbye to the position as the Forest manager.” In addition, he wanted Abramovich to go bankrupt and for Chelsea to have no choice but to sell Lampard to Barça and Terry to Liverpool. In that way, the “Premier League can start a fair and reasonable competition.”

It was obvious that he was a staunch Kopite and did not like Chelsea nor Tony Twain.

In fact, without him adding fuel to the fire in his column, few Liverpool fans had any favorable impression of Nottingham Forest and Tony Twain.

Liverpool, which was confined to the UEFA Europa League for several years in a row, had become the laughingstock among Europe’s powerful teams. It was all due to Tony Twain’s Nottingham Forest. Going back a little further, the question was: whose was it that Liverpool, once a giant that dominated Europe, was beaten by the same opponent in a year and eliminated from the three tournaments, League Cup, EFL cup and the European Cup?

The answer was: Brian Clough and his Nottingham Forest team.

With the added layer of relationship, both were the “red camp” in English football, but every fight seemed to be a derby. Liverpool wanted to prove they were no weaker than Nottingham Forest with a league win and why they could play in the Champions League whereas Liverpool could only compete in Europa League. Nottingham Forest, on the other hand, had always pursued the principle of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Since you’re upset with me, I naturally do not need to be polite to you.

Furthermore, with regards to the debate as to whether Gerrard or George Wood was England’s best midfielder at the moment had never stopped between the two teams’ supporters. In the past, the Chelsea fans had also joined in to support Lampard. As Lampard grew older and lost his place in the national team, the Chelsea fans also discreetly left the fray.

The Liverpool supporters saw Gerrard as more comprehensive, immaculate and flawless. He was undeniably the core player of both England and Liverpool, which certainly made him the best in England. While George Wood was slightly better defensively than Gerrard, his offense was far too inferior. His goalscoring ability was night and day as compared to Gerrard. He could not be placed on par with Gerrard. In the England team, George Wood had emerged more as a player to assist Gerrard.

Nottingham Forest’s supporters thought Wood’s midfield defense as matchless in the world. His offense was quickly improving. He was younger and had plenty of room to rise. Instead, Gerrard was already stereotyped. Moreover, Liverpool was always kept under by Nottingham Forest in the league tournament. The team’s results were not ideal, and Gerrard’s achievements were largely set. On the contrary, Nottingham Forest, led by Tony Twain, had repeatedly won championship titles. George Wood continued to update his honors list. He was certain to achieve more honors and achievements in the future. He could definitely reach the heights of which Gerrard had never reached.

The fans, pundits and reporters who supported their respective teams, stuck to their own teams and regularly engaged in such debates. But the controversy did not affect the relationship between Gerrard and Wood. The national team saw no negative impact caused by these kinds of debates. Wood’s dynamic duo with Gerrard was clearly better than his partnership with Lampard. Wood was a midfielder who could partner with anyone. He could attack and defend, be a playmaker and to assist, which was what Capello liked most about Wood. So, while he and Gerrard played at the same time, it must be him to assist Gerrard. However, in the national team, anyone’s position could be rotated, only Wood could not be. Gerrard sometimes needed to give his position to another player to partner with Wood, but there had never been any media hype about “who is going to partner Gerrard.”

Wood was not a man who liked to compete for the false reputation of “who the big man is in English football” and Gerrard clearly did not need to fight for the top spot. His status had long been cemented.

Such an argument was nothing more than an excuse for fodder among the fans and for the media to speculate about the two teams’ match.

“Nottingham Forest has been in poor form lately. Their core and team captain, George Wood seems to be having problems. I’m not going to hide my feelings that I’m very happy to see this happen. I just want my opponents to have their own problems.” Beesley continued to state in his column, “The competition schedule is terrible for Tony Twain. His tenth anniversary will be played at the devil’s stadium. If he were to be at City Ground stadium, he might still be able to accept the club’s award before the game. That must be a glorious thing, but now Manager Twain can only fantasize about it in his mind.”

“To be able to disturb the anniversary of this arrogant man, that’s what I’m looking forward to the most in this game. I make no secret of my dislike of Nottingham Forest and my love for Liverpool. Every Kopite who knows Liverpool’s history in the late 1970s and early 1980s should agree with me. We are going to settle the score with new enemies and old hatred on December 12th night at Anfield!”