Godfather Of Champions

“Aaron Mitchell! A beautiful bypass to shake off the defense. He swings past the goalkeeper who strikes and sends the football into the empty goal! The ball’s in! Nottingham Forest leads Lyon 2:0 at home. They have basically reached the final!”

The televisions in the home electronics section of the supermarket was showing the live broadcast of tonight’s Champions League semifinal game. There were not many people watching the game there because the semifinal game had nothing to do with their national team. The people who came to shop at the supermarket just glanced at it and left. Only one person stood in front of the television the entire time, watching the game.

Chen Jian forgot that today was the Champions League game at Nottingham Forest when he went out. He wanted to buy some daily necessities at the supermarket. However, he accidentally wandered to the home electronics section and did not move.

He had not watched a game at Nottingham Forest in a long time. He was in the Netherlands and only cared about the team he played for. Nottingham Forest was too far away from him.

He did not expect to encounter his mother team in the supermarket today.

So, he stopped to watch the Forest game.

He started from the 11th minute of the first half and stood to watch until now. The Forest team was 2:0 ahead of Lyon and he was going to stop watching. Nottingham Forest was certain to make it to the finals. There was no sign of Lyon turning the tables throughout the game. There was no suspense in the game and no need to continue watching.

Chen Jian carried the stuff he had just bought and turned to leave here. The televisions were still playing the clamor from the City Ground stadium. That sound faded into the distance and soon Chen Jian could not hear it.

Name: Chen Jian.

Nationality: China.

Age: Twenty-three.

On-field position: Midfielder, defensive midfielder, right back.

Current team: FC Volendam, Netherlands.

He was loaned out to Volendam from Nottingham Forest two seasons ago, when Volendam was still in Eerste Divisie.

In fact, Chen Jian was not a player needed by Volendam. At the time, Volendam needed strikers and defenders, not midfielders. Chen Jian was basically forced onto Volendam by the Forest team because Volendam was the Forest team’s satellite club. As Chen Jian had occasionally played as a right back, he was also barely in line with Volendam’s needs.

Due to this, he did not have a good time at Volendam at first. Or it could be said that he did not receive much attention at all. On the one hand, he was forced onto Volendam by the mother team. On the other hand, because he was Chinese, and as a player not from a country with developed football, his nationality worked against him.

Therefore, in the Eerste Divisie team, he could only play for a few minutes occasionally during garbage time to fulfill Volendam’s playing requirement for players on loan. Furthermore, he could only play in the right-back position which he was not very good at. He did not play very well. This strengthened the resolve of those who did not like him. Even the Chinese media gradually lost interest in him, and there was rarely news about him in the Chinese media. Chen Jian, who was originally a member of the “European Champions Team”, quickly lost the shine and had little news value.

Chen Jian spent the first half of the season under such circumstances. The change in his fortunes came when there were wide-spread injuries in the midfield. He was finally remembered by the manager that he could play in the midfield…

It was his first time in the starting lineup. More than two years later, Chen Jian could not remember the details of the game, but he still remembered that he was named the best player after the game.

He showed a remarkable intelligence during his performance in the midfield. His defense was clean and timely, and his offense was organized. Players who could keep a clear head on the pitch were rare, especially at the Eerste Divisie level.

Since then, Chen Jian’s position changed. He became Volendam’s main midfielder step by step. He returned to Nottingham Forest at the end of the first season. Following which, Volendam’s transfer application was sent over. But after Twain saw a video of his game in the Netherlands, he rebuffed Volendam’s transfer request, but said he could continue to put him on loan to them.

In this way, Chen Jian returned to the Netherlands when he had not even have time to end the lease to his rented apartment in the Netherlands.

The second season was a cause for celebration for Volendam. The team was successfully promoted to Eredivisie through a season of hard work. Because of Chen Jian’s excellent performance, they once again apply to the Forest team to purchase Chen Jian. Twain refused once more and said that he could continue to loan Chen Jian to them.

Then came Chen Jian’s third season with the team. . .

He had not even played a game for Nottingham Forest since he officially became a member of the team. He had never worn a Nottingham Forest jersey. It was accurate to say that he had a little sense of belonging to the Forest team.

He already did have much to do with the matters of the Forest team anymore. So much so that he was not anxious about which day Nottingham Forest was to play the Champions League semifinal. As the season entered its final phase, he must consider his future again. He and the club signed a four-year contract at the time. Three years later, there was still a year left. Where would he go a year later?

Volendam placed a lot of importance on him and hoped he could transfer to the team. Just a day earlier, the Volendam director had approached him and asked about the Forest team. He told Chen Jian indirectly if he was always on loan, the team could not determine and revolve the tactics around him. His position within the team would never be confirmed.

“… No team can use a player on loan as the core. You are very talented, and it has been three seasons. You fit very well with our tactics and there’s a high level of tacit understanding. We all love you, but…”

He did not need to say the next sentence and Chen Jian could understand the meaning. The director was right. If the situation continued, Volendam would have to abandon him. This season, Volendam was mired in in the quagmire of relegation and had a lot to do with Chen Jian’s ambiguous status.

After two seasons of hard work, Chen Jian had proved his ability and gradually became the midfield core the small team, Volendam. But it was not a good thing for Volendam because they could not make long-term plans. They could only play one season and see how it went for the next. How could the team do well in this way?

He was also a little lost. What should he do?

He felt satisfied with being able to play in the professional league in the past. But when he really played in the professional league, he wanted more and was unwilling to be a flash in the pan. He wanted to stay in this circle. He hope to receive a stable environment that neither Nottingham Forest nor Volendam could give him now.

He felt whether he should have given Manager Tony Twain an ultimatum and leave Nottingham Forest to go to a team that could provide him with this kind of environment. He had done well at Volendam. Several teams in Eredivisie and Belgian First Division A had asked his agent if he wanted a change of environment.

He also hesitated about this matter. It was reasonable to say that Nottingham Forest gave him patronage. If it wasn’t for Nottingham Forest, he must now be a security guard somewhere in China, rather than playing professional football to the cheers of the fans at least once a week.

But it was obvious that he could not go on like this…

Chen Jian was troubled by these problems. He had been a little absent-minded lately, and the manager had hinted that he would not make the cut for the starting lineup in the next game.

It was at this time that he happened to see the Forest team’s game in the supermarket, and the red jersey which he had not seen in a while, distracted him a little.

These guys were his teammates, but they had received a lot of glories while he was still adrift and not knowing where home was.

The next day, Chen Jian went to the training base to take part in the training and was called by the manager to talk alone. His words were the same as the director. He hoped Chen Jian could consider putting pressure on the club to transfer to Volendam. Although the situation of Volendam looking to avoid relegation seemed precarious this season, as long as Chen Jian transferred over, they could have a long-term plan and it would not be difficult to return to Eredivisie.

That was what the manager said but it was unclear how much credibility he could place in his words.

He also gave Chen Jian a small warning at the end of the conversation: next season, Volendam would not continue Chen Jian on loan. They would apply to Nottingham Forest for a striker and a defender instead of a midfielder. That was to say, Chen Jian had to find another way.

Chen Jian did not speak. After hearing this, he did not show his loyalty to the manager and say a lot of things like he loved Volendam, wanted to stay and help the team through the tough times.

The manager did not know what was on the Chinese man’s mind. He could only let him go and confirm that Chen Jian was not on the squad list for the weekend game before he left.

Well, he could at least have a good think about his future.

After the training, Chen Jian received a call from his agent, Mr. Xia. Mr. Xia wanted to talk to Chen Jian about next season and his future development. His contract with the Forest team expired in a year’s time and whether he wanted to renew his contract with the Forest team or changed to another place. These were the things that the two people needed to discuss.

Chen Jian agreed to meet.

The team had made it to the finals, and Twain was busy again—he was busy sending tickets to his own friends, like Gloria and his wife’s friends like Tom Cruise. He had also mailed it to Michael Bernard even though he had decided not to watch the game again. He did not plan for Michael to come, but he wanted to let Michael know that his favorite team had reached the Champions League final again.

Then there was also the adorable Gavin Bernard, whom he would personally go to Gavin’s grave and burn the tickets to him.

The rest of the tickets would be mailed out to those players on loan. It was a tradition that Twain had pursued in order to foster the players’ sense of honor and belonging for Nottingham Forest. In fact, the club’s specialized department could do this kind of thing but in order to express good faith, Twain insisted on doing it. Each ticket sent was accompanied by a short letter, written by Twain himself.

His concern for the players could be reflected from these small details and helped win people over.

He only wrote to the players when he got home. He switched on a lamp and laid out the paper to start writing to every wandering player who drifted outside, telling them that the team was always watching their performances and that they would have a chance to play for the Forest team as long as they performed well. He wished them good health and happiness always. That was basically the content of the letters with the names of different people filled in.

The Forest team had ten players on loan this season, with the youngest being seventeen and the oldest twenty-three.

After he finished writing a letter, he would fold it and put the ticket in an envelope with the corresponding name.

When he picked up the last ticket and looked for the name on it, he saw Chen Jian’s name in Hanyu Pinyin.

His hand stopped at the sight of the man’s name.

He still remembered when Chen Jian first came to the Forest team. At the time, he was the second runner-up in a talent show and was awarded a year of training with the Forest team. He also vividly recalled asking Chen Jian on the phone if he wanted to abandon his existing life to pursue his ideals in England and how Chen Jian answered. He also remembered how Chen Jian refused when he gave him his first professional contract to change his nationality.

These things happened like it was yesterday, vivid in his mind.

Now, three years later, Chen Jian had one more season left on his contract with Nottingham Forest. He had to consider what Chen Jian’s future should be like…

Should he renew the contract, or would it not be renewed when it expired? Would he continue to loan him out for training, or would he be brought back to the team and start playing in the reserves?

Although he did well at Volendam, Volendam’s strength was not comparable to that of Nottingham Forest, so his performance at Volendam did not mean that he could meet the requirements of Nottingham Forest. Twain believed that today’s Chen Jian was still not up to the standards of the First Team.

He put down the ticket and started to write a letter. He did not use English but wrote in Mandarin. He had not written in Mandarin for many years and was a little rusty. The problem of forgetting how to write some words caused him to stare blankly for a long time when he picked up the pen. In fact, the main reason was that he did not know what he should say to Chen Jian.

It was him who gave Chen Jian hope. But he could not keep Chen Jian for the rest of his life.

After he mulled over it for a long time, he only wrote this sentence on the A4 paper: “Foolish Old Man, how’s your digging going at the Taihang and Wangwu mountains?”

Then he folded the paper and stuffed it into the envelope along with the ticket. He patted it gently before he turned off the lamp and got up to go rest.

Shania was in bed and already got ready to “make a baby.” She casually asked as she watched Twain undressed, “Writing letters to those players you’re sending the tickers to?”

“Yeah.” Twain nodded, “It felt a little rusty to do that for the first time in five years, so I wrote a little slower.”

“I’m not in a hurry.” Shania laid lazily in bed and smiled at Twain, “You don’t look like you’re in a good mood, do you?”

Twain said as he got undressed, “I just wrote a letter to a silly boy. After thinking about it for a long time, I still did not know what to say. I want to help him, but I’m afraid he’s not up to scratch.”

“So, you’re bothered by this…”

Shania suddenly got up on her knees in bed and hugged Twain from behind, “You can give him a chance. Don’t you always say that? It’s someone else’s business to work hard and try, but it’s your business to give a chance.”

Twain felt the soft and gentle contact from behind him, and his lower body responded.

He turned around and threw Shania down on the bed, laughing, “You have a point, so to thank you…”

It was a room full of love and passion.

Twain handed all the written letters to the club’s staff the next day and they would mail them out. Each letter would be delivered to each corresponding person in person by courier and absolutely not be lost.

For the vast majority of players on loan, the letter in the same envelope as the ticket was nothing but an add-on. The manager said things that seemed to be warm but was in fact the same for everyone. No one was to be the special one.

“Dear so and so, I have followed your performance closely in the so and so team. I hope you can learn useful things from this loan… Tony Twain.”

All the letters were the same except for the names.

But for one of the people, he was the special one.

It did not start with “Dear so and so” and it did not end with a signature. The tone was plain and written as if asking about a very ordinary matter.