Godfather Of Champions

No matter how resounding the catchphrase was shouted, no matter how tough Twain talked, Carl Spicer’s analysis made sense..

With eight rounds left in the league tournament, it was indeed a difficult situation in which Nottingham Forest had to compete in three tournaments.

Their physical fitness was bound to be affected and their condition would fluctuate. The team could only grit its teen in terms of physical difficulties and stick to it, while the adjustments in their condition depended on the standards of the coaches. It had to be said that the few psychologists Twain had hired for Şahin’s a few years ago, came in very useful at such times. Many players would go to the beautiful and gentle psychologists to chat for a while after the end of training to relax their tense nerves.

On March 22nd, the 31st round of the league tournament, Nottingham Forest took on Aston Villa in the away game with a final score of 3:2. Nottingham Forest won, but it was a tough win. The Forest team was 0:2 behind in the first half and only reversed the score to 3:2 in the second half. All three goals were scored in the last ten minutes. The match was the most thrilling game in the current round of the Premier League. Both teams scored five goals with another goal declared invalid by the referee. In addition, there were one red card and six yellow cards. The conversion between offense and defense was very fast. Both sides made a lot of errors and the game was very lively. But it was not so “exciting” for Twain’s heart… If he lost the away game to an opponent like Aston Villa, he would have to stop his bold rhetoric about fighting for the title toward the end of season.

So, when Cohen crossed the ball after a last-minute forced breakthrough and assisted Şahin to grab a point to break the goal in that moment, Twain did not jump from his seat and crazily celebrate. Instead, he sat in his seat, closed his eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. His heartbeat was really fast just now… which made him think his nuclear-powered heart was going to collapse.

Eastwood began by hugging his teammates to celebrate, and then he found one person missing next to him. He turned around to find that man still sitting down and did not get up. He saw from Twain’s expression that something was wrong. He looked lethargic and tired, completely unenthusiastic. He hurried over to ask, “What’s wrong, chief? Is it your heart?”

Twain shook his head and smiled, “Heh heh.”

“What do you mean by ‘heh heh?’”

“I’m very glad we’ve won in the end…” Twain reached his hand out to Eastwood, who pulled him up. Twain gave him a hug by the way.

“It’s good that we won, Freddy.”

Eastwood’s eyes flickered as he thought of the bet between the chief and Spicer—it would really be embarrassing if he were to lose with that kind of wager…..he said, “Is it necessary for you to do this, chief? Why must you make a bet with someone else? Eating a table is also set by you… In fact, chief, I don’t understand. Why do you like to make that kind of bet which will be very embarrassing if you were to lose?”

“I’m a lazy person, Freddy. If I don’t give myself a little pressure, I’m afraid I won’t be motivated to move.” Twain patted Eastwood on the back and let him go.

Then he raised his hands and opened his arms to welcome the others.

“Ah, David! Come! Let’s hug it out! Cohen and Şahin did a great job!”

Eastwood shook his head behind as he looked at the chief who suddenly restored all his firepower.

“Tony Twain had a narrow escape… His luck is always so good. A goal from Aston Villa was invalidated by the referee during the game because they were in an offside position. If this goal was not in an offside position…it would be hard to say what the end result would be. He made a bold statement a few days ago that he would eat a table if he lost in the fight for the league title. Now he has pushed himself to the brink and cannot afford to lose a game… No, not to mention a loss, he can’t even afford to tie a game.”

The football commentators on the television were analyzing the just-concluded round of Premier League matches for the viewers. He stated in this way when he spoke about the game between Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa.

“But it was so hard to win this game that it was worrying if his team had the ability to turn it around. I can say that this win was entirely due to Twain’s luck. But what about the next one? The next game is against Chelsea. Will Tony Twain have any luck left?”

“Rijkaard’s Chelsea team has played beautifully in recent years and I think they are in a unique situation in the Premier League, like Wenger’s Arsenal. To play football so beautifully and yet not able to win the championship title… I think Mr. Abramovich must be at a loss. What’s that? You’re asking me why he is at a loss? I mean, just imagine a man dressed gorgeously, holding a pure gold bowl and going to the streets to beg…”

Twain dynamically fired the first shot in the psychological warfare against Chelsea in the media.

Rijkaard, who was familiar with what Twain was like, ignored him. Seeing that the other party did not respond, Twain fired a second shot in the media.

“Even though the team is going to officially move into the new stadium next season, I prefer the old stadium. Why is that? Because it’s small enough to allow the fans’ voices to reach the players on the pitch in the maximum extent possible, which naturally also bring great psychological pressure to the visiting team. We have four more home games at the City Ground stadium. I hope we can bid farewell to the City Ground stadium with four wins and one championship trophy.”

Rijkaard still did not voice any comment.

“I don’t mind making this game into a rugby match permitting the extent the rules. I’ll ask the team to try to put pressure on the opposing players as much as possible. Won’t that be rough? No, no, no, I don’t think so. It’s just normal tactics…”

That was the third shot.

Twain was such a loathsome person. He was always trying to hover in front of his opponents to provoke and annoy them. He would win once they were really provoked.

Before this game, Twain talked about the tactics he would use against Chelsea. He was not afraid that it would prepare the other person in advance. He knew Rijkaard’s character, so he was not worried even if he let him know it. Rijkaard would stick to his style of football at the City Ground stadium and Twain would stick to his style.

As the saying went, there was a rock to every scissor. Tony Twain was Rijkaard’s natural enemy.

A raucous City Ground stadium and a fierce Premier League game was under way.

“Forest, Forest! Nottingham Forest! Ra ra ra ra ra, we triumph in every battle and win every fight! We are the best team in the world! Ra ra ra ra ra —”

The Forest fans in red jerseys were cheering their team in the stands at the City Ground stadium, which could hold up to thirty thousand people.

The score displayed on the score board was 0:0. Nottingham Forest and Chelsea were tied for the time being.

Twain stood on the sidelines, watching every detail of the game closely and nervously.

Wood had just overturned the Chelsea striker, Obasi. He was given a verbal warning by the referee. Now he was making hand gestures to his teammates to signal that everything was fine, and to keep doing what the boss had instructed.

Twain studied the characteristics of the referee when he was developing the tactical play before the game. Philip Dowd, the referee of the game, had produced a total of twenty yellow cards in nine Premier League games this season and no red cards. He was a lenient referee. So, he worked hard on this point and asked the whole team to be a little rougher with their movements.

Wood’s foul was in fact a test of the referee’s limit in his enforcement measures in the game.

He directly shoveled Obasi but was only given one verbal warning. Twain chuckled in his seat. It looked like the Dowd man was really soft.

He was relieved in that case.

Subsequent the game officially entered Nottingham Forest’s orbit. The Chelsea players repeatedly dropped the ball during “physical contact” with the Forest players and the referee did not consider it a foul, but a “reasonable collision.” This left the Chelsea players a little disgruntled and their mentality to be off balanced on the pitch. Even their manager, Rijkaard, was also angry at the referee’s many decisions. On several occasions, he rushed to the fourth official to protest the Forest players’ rough actions.

He even said, “Tony Twain said before the game that he was going to use rough tactics against us, and now he’s doing it! Don’t tell me you have no objections to this?”

The fourth official shook his head to indicate that the referee alone held the criterion for the game. If he thought the Forest players had not committed a foul, then there were no fouls.

It was not until the 31st minute of the game that Bale was shown a yellow card after the Forest team did a series of vicious fouls. Rijkaard was so angry that he applauded the referee’s decision off the pitch, only to invite the fourth official’s special attention when he said, “Mr. Rijkaard, you’d better pay attention to your conduct.”

Rijkaard was like Tony Twain, who dared to fight the referees to the end. After being warned, he retreated to the technical area. He only hit the side of the barrier in the technical area in a show of exasperation. As a result, …

With a crashing sound, the hard-plastic barrier came off the frame after being smashed by him and fell to the ground.

Rijkaard did not care. He was so angry now. So, what if he broke the barrier? Or perhaps he did not see it happen at all. Anyway, he did not look at the “incident” that happened next to him and continued to complain in the technical area.

Twain saw the scene happened next to him. He clapped and laughed, “That’s great! After the game, we should sent a personal bill to Mr. Rijkaard to ask for compensation on behalf of the club.”

Kerslake nodded next to him to show that he remembered.

Shortly after the yellow card, the Forest team took the lead. Gago scored a goal from a long shot which Čech could not save. He could only look at the “ball” and sigh.

“Yes!” Twain raised his fist and cried excitedly on the sidelines.

While not far from him, Rijkaard was going to hit the side of the barrier again. But this time, he only struck the air and almost sprained his back. It was only when he noticed that the barrier around him was gone. “Damn it…” He could not help but swore when he saw the empty frame and the barrier on the ground.

The commentator for the game also noticed this small detail and looked at Rijkaard’s look of surprise and displeasure. He laughed and said, “It looks like the City Ground stadium, which has been in use for one hundred and fifteen years, should really be retired. Even the barrier in the visiting team’s technical area is not solid. Rijkaard had only gently knocked on it and it just fell off … … Ha!”

The singing in the City Ground stadium became louder after the lead. The fans took turns singing the songs they often sang during the games in the stands. There was the Nottingham Forest team song “We’ve got the whole world in our hands.” There were George Wood’s song “He’s Our Saint George”, Tony Twain’s song “Long live Tony”, a song for Bale “Little Monkey”, Mitchell’s song “Seven Foot Zidane”, Ibišević’s song “Super Ibi” and a song “He’s Our Redondo” praising Gago…. Of course, there was Eastwood’s song “Robin Hood Forever.” Any player who was popular had a fan song. It was not unique to Nottingham Forest. It was a feature of all English teams. So, to determine a player’s standing in a Premier League club, all one had to do was to listen if there were any fan singing the song he had written for him during the game.

The Forest team gradually took control on the field during the fans’ concert, leading Chelsea by the nose.

Chelsea during Mourinho’s time was a very tough team. Twain would not have used the tactics he currently used to deal with Chelsea at the time because neither side would win. But after Rijkaard’s “hard work” over the years, Chelsea had now lost their former “blue collar temperament” and become “high level white-collar.” A new generation of Chelsea players was technically focused, playing as if they were Barcelona of yesteryear. They focused on ball control and were able to play wonderful set pieces. The star players could also put on a show of greatness. But they lost the “fighting spirit” Mourinho had always stressed upon.

This was why Rijkaard’s Chelsea was the team in the Premier League which could play the most beautifully, but always did not win the title—he could make Chelsea into another Barcelona, but the Premier League was not La Liga.

Without the fighting spirit, Tony Twain was not afraid at all of Chelsea with its showy appearance. After Twain’s encouragement during the halftime interval, the team continued to build on their rough tactics to curb Chelsea’s offense in the second half. The referee was really lenient. He only gave out four yellow cards for the twenty-seven fouls Nottingham Forest committed calculated at the end. There was no red card.

The Forest team relied on rough fouls and quick powerful counterattacks to score another goal in the second half to eventually accomplish a 2:0 home win over Chelsea, the first strong opponent they encountered on the road to the title.

After the game, Rijkaard was furious at the defeat. He believed that the referee’s many crucial penalties were decided in favor of Nottingham Forest. It was a key factor in his defeat.

Twain said sarcastically, “I fully understand Mr. Rijkaard’s displeasure because he broke our visitor’s technical area.”

A burst of laughter broke out among the reporters. The matter became the highlight of the game and was replayed several times during the live broadcast.

“But I’m not going to make any comments on the referee for the game. I believe the referee had his reasons for every decision he made. We just need to obey as a team….”

He did not say that when his team was treated unfairly by the referee, he would not say such things.

Rijkaard had wanted to refute, but he suddenly remembered that the man sitting next to him was Tony Twain, and not Wenger, Benítez or anyone else, so he promptly shut his mouth again.

He was resigned to his bad luck…

A day later, just as Rijkaard had just led the team back to London, he found a bill sent from the Wilford area of Nottingham in his house’s mailbox.

It was sent to him by the Nottingham Forest Football Club, demanding compensation for the damage done to the visitor’s technical area during the match.

The bill was accompanied by a short letter. It was stated in the letter that they hope he would be able to compensate for the loss. The tone was respectful but made Rijkaard grit his teeth as he read it—not only his own team had lost to the Forest team, he also had to pay for their visitor’s technical area…..was there any manager as unlucky as he was?

At that moment, he was so furious that he balled up the bill. But he immediately unfolded it again and read again helplessly.

He had to pay the money because he did damage their property…

It was just that if it had been Tony Twain’s team, he would have been willing to fork out the money and even felt guilty.