Godfather Of Champions

The number of fans who travelled to the City Ground Stadium increased as the time for the last match of the Premier League drew near.

Twain would sometimes drive by the City Ground Stadium when he made his way home from Wilford, and he would see the entrance to the stadium surrounded by hordes of flowers and Nottingham Forest scarves that swayed gently in the wind.

He knew that all those items had been left behind by people who wanted to bid farewell to the City Ground Stadium.

The red City Ground Stadium was reflected on the clear surface of the Trent River. On the opposite end of the river was the Meadow Lane Stadium, which serves as the home ground for Notts County.

Twain and Dunn were working in two separate places that were situated very close to each other. But, the two have never met each other after they bade farewell a year ago.

There were two days left till the last match of the Premier League. Twain drove over to the City Ground Stadium after finishing his work for the day. The sun was close to setting by the time he reached.

There was a greater number of Forest fans who had made their way to the City Ground Stadium to say their farewells today. The fans knew that they did not have much time left on their hands. The City Ground Stadium would be demolished during the summer after Forest plays their final match in two days’ time, and a new sports and recreation center would be built in its stead.

Twain parked his car by the river and turned on the stereo. He listened to Dolores O’Riordan’s gentle voice as he admired the scenery of the City Ground Stadium against the backdrop of the setting sun.

A feeling of warmth surged up from within him as he gazed at the stadium. He would have felt nothing but coldness inside of him right now if he had not transmigrated and gone through the life that he did.

He had fought for 11 years in this very stadium. He had always complained about how small the stadium is, and how it is not able to house more spectators and thereby lead to greater pressure on their opponents.

Evan Doughty eventually came to agree with his sentiments as well. The size of the stadium did not reflect the results, standing and reputation of Nottingham Forest.

Twain did not change his opinion about needing a bigger stadium, but he still felt a little reluctant now that he had to bid farewell to it.

He did not buy flowers, attach a card to it and leave it at the entrance of the stadium like the rest of the fans did. All he did was to recline against the bonnet of his car and gaze at the stadium with his arms folded before his chest.

11 years might have passed since he transmigrated, but Twain still vividly remembers all the emotions that he felt in the stadium when he was first placed in charge as a manager.

He felt a sense of belonging to the City Ground Stadium when his team sent West Ham into a frenzy by scoring two goals consecutively. He liked the fervent atmosphere in the stadium, and he enjoyed the cheers and singing voices that came from the stands. He did not regard those sounds as cacophonous. To him, they were sounds that were even more pleasant to listen to than the best music in the world.

He was 34 years old back then, but he is 45 now. Those 11 years have become a part of his life that he is unable to erase.

To the City Ground Stadium however, 11 years is nothing more than a tenth of its ‘life’. It has quietly stood by the Trent River for a long period of time, and it has seen the rise and fall of Forest.

All the heroes who have left a name for themselves in history did so on its grounds, and it was much older than all the trophies in the trophy room.

It did not matter how arrogant and conceited Twain was as a person. Even he has to bow before the stadium.

115 years passed by in the blink of an eye. Everything that happened during all those years have now become nothing more than a part of history. The City Ground Stadium might be bathed in golden light right now, but its red exterior was still conspicuous even if viewed from a distance.

Countless people have left bouquets of flowers before it as a way of remembering and saying farewell to the stadium.

Twain was lost in his thoughts as he leant against the bonnet of his car.

Someone recognized him from afar and approached him.

“Tony?” The person who approached him squinted his eyes to look at him. He could not see properly due to the glare of the sun.

“Kenny. It’s been a while.” The person standing before Twain was the boss of the Forest Bar, Kenny Burns.

“It has definitely been a while since you moved houses.”

“What could possibly have led you to leave your bar behind and make your way over here?”

“How could business be more important than saying goodbye to a dear friend?” Burns pointed at the City Ground Stadium behind him.

It was only then that Twain noticed that Burns was holding onto a bouquet of flowers like the rest.

“Do you have the ticket to the last match of the Premier League?” Twain was going to give Burns one if he did not have the tickets.

“I’m a season ticket holder, Tony.”

Twain chuckled. “I’ve never seen you at a match before.”

“I will definitely go and watch the last match. Also, it won’t just be me. Some of my friends will be coming down too.”

“Brosnan told me that he’s trying to plan some farewell event for the City Ground Stadium, and that he was trying to gather some of the ex-Forest players for it. Looks like he has already reached out to you?”

Burns nodded his head. “I would’ve attended it without his invitation anyway. It’s a shame that the boss can’t make it.”

The ‘boss’ that he was referring to was not Tony Twain but Brian Clough instead. Clough was Burns’ manager back then.

“Mrs. Clough has also agreed to attend the event.” Twain said.

It was great that Mrs. Clough could turn up at the event, but both of them were well aware that Mrs. Clough would never be able to replace the boss. Neither of them meant to disrespect Mrs. Clough with those sentiments, but that was just how that felt.

The conversation died at the mention of the deceased Clough and a silence settled between the two.

Against the setting sun, Dolores gently sang,

“I had a dream, strange it may seem… Open my eyes, I realize, this is my perfect day… Hope you’ll never grow old. Hope you’ll never grow old. Hope you’ll never grow old. Hope you’ll never grow old…”

“Tony…”

“Hmm?”

“There’s something that I’ve been meaning to say. I hope you don’t mind.”

“Go on.”

“I have to thank you for not saying that you would get people to forget about Brian Clough even though you’ve achieved great results at this club.”

Twain snorted. “Ha! I’m not a fool. I really respect the boss as well.”

“It doesn’t matter how well the club is performing right now. To us, the boss and what he has achieved are irreplaceable. I suppose you can say it’s just us being obstinate.”

Twain smiled and said, “If you dare to say that there is someone who is better than him as a manager, then a stroke of lightning will flash across the sky and hit you on the head. I don’t want to be hit by lightning, and I’m sure you don’t either.”

Twain’s words caused Burns to laugh, and the slightly despondent atmosphere between them dissipated as a result.

Twain was actually alluding to something with his words. Several years ago, when a team led by Nigel Clough, or Brian Clough’s son, faced off with Manchester United in the FA Cup, a reporter asked if he agreed with the statement that Ferguson was the most outstanding manager in the British footballing scene, to which Nigel Clough responded, “It’s hard for me to say because of my family connections. If I said Sir Alex, a bright light might come crashing down from above and hit me on the head!”

“I wouldn’t say I was the best manager in the business. But I was in the top one.”

Those were the words that were said by Clough, and they have also been inscribed onto the base of Brian Clough’s statue that is situated at Old Market Square.

“You two are a little alike…” Burns shook his head as he looked at Twain. “I think he’d be proud of what you have achieved.”

“No.” Twain disagreed with Burns’ remark. “He’d have scolded the living daylights out of me on the papers. Just because I said that the referee was unfair.”

Burns smiled happily at Twain’s words. After a while, he averted his gaze back onto the stadium, and his mind wandered off again.

He began reminiscing his younger days where he fought with Manager Clough and his teammates. The stadium is still the same as the one that he played in back then, and even the cheers sound the same, but the people from back then are long gone.

Now, the stadium is about to be demolished, and the only things he has to remind himself of those times are the memories within his mind. But, there would come a day where he turns old and his memories get foggy.

When that day comes, what can he use as proof that his memories are real?

Twain’s mobile phone that he left in the car rang. He reached into the car to grab it.

It was a phone call from his wife Shania asking him when he would be coming home.

“Ah. I’m currently at the stadium, and I ran into Mr. Burns…” Twain explained to his wife over the phone.

Burns snapped out of his reveries and smiled at Twain. “Go back home, Tony. Your wife is waiting for you.”

Twain shrugged. “I still want to chat with you a little longer.”

“I’d definitely come down to watch the match during the weekend, Tony.”

“Are you trying to put pressure on me?” Twain turned and looked at Burns as he opened his car door.

“Are you telling me you are scared of pressure?”

Twain smiled. “We’d definitely win. But, as for whether or not we’d become champions of the Premier League, that still depends on the outcome of the match between Arsenal and Manchester City.”

“What an exciting season. I wish you all the best.”

Twain sat in the car. He then poked his head out of the window to wave at Burns. “I wish Nottingham Forest all the best.”

He then drove away from the City Ground Stadium while being bathed in the orange glow of the setting sun.

Burns, on the other hand, started walking in the opposite direction towards the entrance of the City Ground Stadium where all the other fans have gathered, with a bouquet of flowers in his hands.

The next day, the Nottingham Forest players saw Pierce Brosnan and a cameraman make their way into the training grounds under the accompaniment of Allan Adams.

Twain frowned when he noticed Allan Adams beside Brosnan, but he said nothing in response.

When all three individuals passed by in front of him, he smiled radiantly at them. “What a rare sight. I wonder what brings you here to our training grounds today, Mr. Reporter?”

Brosnan was about to open his mouth to speak, but he was cut off by Allan Adams.

“It’s like this, Tony. Mr. Pierce Brosnan is intending to do a feature article on the City Ground Stadium, and he hopes to be able to interview the team about their thoughts and feelings towards the stadium…”

Brosnan smiled and nodded his head by the side.

“Is that so… All right, go ahead. But, I must remind you not to let it drag on for too long. They have just finished their training and have yet to change into a new set of clothes. If they were to somehow catch a cold…” Twain pulled a face. “It won’t be good for either of us, right?”

Twain turned around and left after finishing his words.

Brosnan felt a little awkward, because the very first person he had to interview was Tony Twain…

Allan could tell that Twain was upset, and he knew the reason behind his bad mood.

The first-team manager has not spoken a single word to him ever since he intervened and forcibly sold Lennon to another club. However, Allan was unwilling to reveal the strained relationship between him and Twain before the media, so he quickly explained to Brosnan, “Don’t mind him. He doesn’t like to be disturbed, especially since there’s a big game coming up…”

“Haha! We understand, Mr. Adams.” Brosnan said with a laugh.

To Brosnan, Twain was not acting the way that he did because ‘a big game is coming up and he doesn’t like to be disturbed’. Rather, it was because Twain was just a temperamental person, so it was normal for him to treat a person well on certain days and coldly on others.

The interview went quite smoothly due to Allan Adams’ presence. The players were all well aware of Allan’s status and position in the club.

Twain stood at the side with his arms folded and watched on coldly.

Once Brosnan was done interviewing the players, he went up to Twain to ask for an interview.

Allan Adams did not follow after him immediately. He hesitated for a moment, seemingly intent on keeping a distance between him and Twain.

“Tony. Can you talk about the final match that will be played at the City Ground Stadium?”

Twain continued to pull a long face as he looked at the two reporters. “We will bid farewell to City Ground Stadium with a victory.” He did not go on to give an inspirational and passionate speech about how he would lead his team to become champions of the Premier League.

If it had been any other reporter interviewing Twain right now, he or she would have followed up with a question about why he did not say that he was going to bid farewell to the City Ground Stadium by becoming champions.

Brosnan did not ask Twain the question because he knew Twain well, and he knew how complex the whole situation was.

Even if Forest was able to defeat Sunderland at home, their fate of becoming champions would still rest on the outcome of the match between Arsenal and Manchester City.

The entire Nottingham Forest team surprisingly did not display even a twinge of optimism towards the possibility of them becoming champions of the Premier League. Even their arrogant manager, Tony Twain, refused to comment about whether they could become champions as well.

Carl Spicer announced in his show that he had ordered a new and trendy table from Ikea for Tony Twain.

Astonishingly, Twain did not say anything in response to Spicer’s comments. His lack of reaction left the media very disappointed.

However, there were still many other areas that the media could focus on.

Will the champions of the Premier League be Arsenal or Nottingham Forest?

Will the two ex-Forest players in Manchester City go easy on Arsenal due to their personal grudges against Twain?

Bendtner had spoken up regarding the rumor that he would go easy on Arsenal in an interview that was conducted a day ago. “I am a professional football player. What I care about is not who becomes the champions of the league. I only care about attaining victory for my team.”

As for Ashley Young, he confirmed that he would leave Manchester City for Liverpool at the end of the season. He indicated that he would like to bid farewell to Manchester City with a victory.

Neither player mentioned a word about Twain.

Fat John, Skinny Bill and their gang gathered at the Forest Bar a day before the kick-off of the final match of the Premier League to create the banners and flags that they would use during the match. There were several other Forest fans who also gathered at other bars to do the same thing.

The Nottingham Forest players went through their last training session at Wilford. Tony Twain set aside some time to analyse Sunderland’s game with his coaching team. They had already studied everything that they could about their opponent for the entire week, but they still wanted to analyse Sunderland a little more because they could not think of any other thing that they could do instead.

Perhaps they could somehow help Manchester City defeat Arsenal by analysing Sunderland on a much deeper level?

As the day approached sunset, the number of fans who gathered at the City Ground Stadium entrance began to dwindle in numbers.

The only things that remained were the flowers and scarves that continued to sway in the breeze.

Thompson Isaksson, who worked as a football ground staff for Forest and helped to maintain the grasses at the training grounds and at the stadium, appeared before the flowers that had been placed at the entrance of the City Ground Stadium.

If someone were to ask him whether the most memorable thing he ever did as a football ground staff was to help Forest defeat Barcelona by creating a ‘one and only’ stadium for Tony Twain, he would definitely shake his head and disagree.

To him, the most memorable thing that he did as a football ground staff was stepping onto the turf at the City Ground Stadium and maintaining it.

He had already decided to retire at the end of the season. He regarded it as an honor to be able to retire alongside the City Ground Stadium.

Today, he had come to say goodbye to the City Ground Stadium alone. The next day, he would return here with 30,000 other Forest fans, and he hoped to be able to witness the moment where Nottingham Forest bid their stadium of 115 years farewell by clinching the champions trophy.

Isaksson felt as though he was looking at his younger self as he gazed at the City Ground Stadium against the setting sun.

He stood quietly out in the open with a small smile upon his wrinkled face as a breeze caressed his skin.

“… This is our City Ground Stadium. It is as old as our granddad. It will still be here by the Trent River even when we all become granddads… It will still be here by the Trent River till the day we die… We will all die one day, but it will never grow old nor die, because it is our City Ground Stadium…”

There were not a lot of people who could still sing the song that Isaksson just sang. It was a song that the Forest fans dedicated to the City Ground Stadium when Isaksson was still young. The melody was simple and the lyrics were down-to-earth.

Sadly, technology was not as advanced back then. The fans were not able to record their songs by themselves, and there were no professional music companies who would help fans record their songs into CDs and then release them to the public either.

Darkness enveloped the streets, and the streetlights came to life.

Isaksson sang the song softly under his breath as he turned around and left.