Godfather Of Champions

The deafening sound of the song reached his ears. Twain could not tell what they were singing as his ears were filled with a booming noise, as though there were waves hitting the shore.

There were tens of thousands of arms waving ahead of him and they looked like the lush Sherwood Forest.

Twain realized that he was situated in the familiar City Grounds. The stadium with a capacity of 30,000 people was totally full then. However, he was not in the manager’s seat at the sideline, he was on the stands instead.

On the pitch below, an intensive match was going on. He looked at the home team’s manager’s seat and he was stunned for awhile as he saw himself managing the team there.

What’s going on?

Twain looked at his hands, but he could not see anything from his hands. If that man managing the team on the side was Tony Twain, then who was he?

The other Tony Twain was standing on the sideline, a little nervous and a little excited. He leant forward with his fists clenched in front of his chest and paid full attention to what was happening on the pitch.

Twain looked beyond him and got a shock. He recognized the away jersey of West Ham United.

Why was it West Ham United?

Looking at Nottingham Forest on the other side, many of the players were unfamiliar to him. Twain did not see George Wood amongst them, no Gareth Bale, Eastwood, Pepe… He did not see those people, not even Albertini, van der Sar or Hierro from the earlier days.

What kind of Nottingham Forest was this?

Nottingham Forest was defending while West Ham was on the offense. Twain had to squint his eyes to look for a while before he could tell from the movements that the person holding the ball was Joe Cole. Was Cole not at Chelsea? When was this West Ham United from?

Joe Cole deliberately controlled the ball in midfield, or more accurately, he wanted to show off his dribbling skills in front of his opponents. When Twain saw this, he gave a cold snort and said, “Idiot!”

Under the press of the Forest players, he did not pass the ball, choosing to continue dribbling in an attempt to bring the ball out from within the surrounding Forest players. When the third Forest player came for the ball, Joe Cole lost the ball from under his feet.

The following scenes were very familiar to Twain, because these scenes happened in front of him quite often.

The Forest player who got the ball passed it to his teammate on the side and his teammate passed the ball forward. The third Nottingham Forest player ran forward from a position level with the opponent’s defensive line. The timing was perfect and even Twain himself could not help but shout, “Beautiful.”

And the fans around him had already raised their arms cheering long ago.

The Forest striker received the ball from behind the whole West Ham United’s defense and those confused West Ham United players were still raising their hands in protest to the linesman and referee to indicate that this player was offside.

The Forest striker calmly stroked the ball towards the far corner when one-on-one with the goalkeeper, the ball flew past the West Ham United’s goalkeeper and into the goal…

“Boom——!!” It felt like a ton of TNT exploded next to his ears.

“Forest Forest! Nottingham Forest!!!”

This was the only sound coming from the stands.

The massive soundwave not only crashed upon Twain’s eardrums, it also crashed upon his heart. He felt a dull pain in his left chest, and he touched it with his hand. He did not feel anything unusual, instead, he managed to feel the strength of his heartbeat directly with his hand.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

It was rather powerful, so powerful that it felt like it was going to jump out from his chest cavity.

With his hand on his heart, Twain’s gaze fixated on the man below.

That man was not as excited as the players on the pitch, at least that was what it looked like on the surface… He merely looked up at the surrounding stands. The Nottingham Forest team song rang out from the stands and Twain could even sing along to it——This rhythm was too familiar to him as he had heard it no less than 1000 times.

“We’ve got the whole world in our hands! We’re the best team in the land!”

After looking around, that man opened his arms within the songs and he leaned backwards, looking straight up into the sky and he seemed to enjoy this moment very much.

Twain seemed to have heard what that man was thinking.

I love this noise! I love this smell! I love this stirring spectacle! I love everything here! I love football!

In the stands, Twain also could not help but to open his arms and close his eyes, enjoying this choir that would probably sound like noise to normal people. This was really the most beautiful voice in the world…

When Twain opened his eyes again and the noise around him had completely subsided just like the tides, however, there were the faint sounds of the tides coming from outside his window. What he saw was not the green field and the spectator stands filled with spectators, just the white suspended ceiling above.

This was his home.

After about 10 seconds, he finally realized what was going on. He was not in the City Grounds Stadium. He was merely lying inside one of the bedrooms of his mansion in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills.

It was just a dream.

Twain gently removed his arm that was stuck under Shania’s head and then closed his eyes while covering his face.

He wanted to make himself sleep again, maybe he might be able to return to the City Grounds in 2003.

He remembered what match it was—— The FA Cup on January 3rd, 2003. Nottingham Forest, which was still in the English Football League First Division then (Later known as English Football League Championship), playing against West Ham United in the English Premier League. That was the first official match that Twain took charge of as the manager of Nottingham Forest, and they fell to a 2:3 defeat at the hands of the referee.

Twain did not know why he would dream of a match from so long ago. However, he would very much like to return to the atmosphere of that match.

That was because he suddenly missed that feeling——Embracing victory with open arms amidst the cheers of tens of thousands of people. It felt like the whole world was in his hands and he was the master of everything. It would not be wrong to say he was God at that time.

Unfortunately, his efforts were for naught. He was exceptionally awake after he woke up and he could not go back to sleep.

Twain was a little bit frustrated that he could not find the feelings he had initially. He tossed and turned in bed for a while but as he was afraid of waking Shania, he decided to get out of bed and walk towards the open windows in just his underwear. The sea breeze blew against the curtains and there were ebbs and flows on the curtains just like the tides outside.

Twain was lost in thoughts as he looked at the greyish sea outside the windows.

After some time, he felt a shirt being put onto him.

“Be careful, don’t catch a cold,” Shania reminded him while snuggling up from behind him.

Twain held Shania’s hands, feeling the warmth of his wife.

None of them spoke after that and they snuggled together quietly.

Twain broke the silence after some time, “Shania.”

“Hmm?”

“Sorry…”

※※※

In fact, even though the media had indeed been stirring up news about Twain becoming the new manager of the England national team for a few days, it was just to attract the attention of the general public, a publicity stunt. Any reporter who had any sense of reason would not think that Twain would really take that position. There were many candidates for that position that the media speculated on and Tony Twain was the one with the lowest probability. It was very simple, nobody believed that the Football Association would ask someone that they could not control to manage the England team. No matter how many trophies he got, it was not as important as being “receptive to command”.

The Football Association did not announce who the candidates that they were interested in were. When interviewed, they would only say things like, “He’s not a bad choice”, “He’s not a bad choice either”.

The media was very helpful as they gave the Football Association a list of the candidates. Every candidate had a probability of being chosen at the end. Tony Twain was at the bottom of the list with a probability of only five percent. The evaluation of the senior experts was, “Unless Shaun Harvey is crazy, otherwise, there is no chance that he will bring disaster upon himself.”

Shaun Harvey publicly said that they would choose amongst the Englishmen first for the position of England’s manager, so no matter how impressive a foreign manager was, he would have to wait for his chance. However, there were not many Englishmen who were suitable for this position. The only people whom the public thought was good enough for this position were Everton’s manager, David Moyes and the manager of England national under-21 football team, Stuart Pearce. Martin O’Neill was not a bad choice either, but it was a pity that he was from Northern Ireland.

McClaren was out of the consideration as he had already been deemed a failure. Even though he wanted to prove himself again, the Football Association took a lukewarm attitude towards him.

Venables were capable but he was already 71 years old, a little too old. He also clearly stated that he had no interest in the position of England’s manager.

The media combed through the whole English Premier League and they had no choice but to tragically admit that their football league was dominated by foreign managers… A high-level English manager was rare. When Tony Twain was around, people hated him, and now that he was no longer around, they finally realized that he was the only one that was holding the fort for English managers.

The media was not the only one who did not think Twain would be the next England manager. Even the Football Association did not think it was probably. Harvey’s call to Twain was just a formality——As the best local manager, even though he had already resigned, he still had a certain amount of influence. It would simply not do if he was not informed about England’s search for a new manager… So, even if they did not think it was likely, they still had to put on a show and when the media asked about it, they had to say, “We believe that Tony Twain is the most suitable candidate for England right now. 12 trophies in 10 years proves everything.”

In his mind, Harvey thought that if Twain really agreed, then it was either Twain who was mad, or the world that was mad.

※※※

“Why apologize to me?” Shania hugged Twain from behind and asked softly.

“Do you remember me saying that I would quit and keep you company? Now, I realize that I might…” Twain grew silent for a while as he was still very conflicted inside his mind, “…not be able to do it. So, I’m very sorry, Shania.”

Shania rolled her eyes as she leaned on his back, “I thought you were having an affair!”

“Er…” Twain did not expect this reaction from Shania.

“Did you really think that I fell for your lousy sweet talks, Uncle Tony? I did not believe what you said when you quit. If that was true, you would have quit when you had your heart attack.”

“I…” Twain realized that Shania was right, he had no answers for it.

“The real reason why you left Forest was because of your conflict with Allan Adams,” Shania let go of Twain, allowing him to turn and face her, “You’ve never thought that you would leave football.’

“No…” Twain wanted to defend himself.

Shania interrupted him again.

“Ok Uncle Tony. It doesn’t matter what you think, I’m already very satisfied,” Shania smiled at Twain, then changed her expression rapidly, and sighed, “From the moment I decided to fall in love with you, I’ve mentally prepared myself for this——The love that I receive will always be a little lesser.”

Twain hugged the woman in front of him.

“Sorry, Shania. Sorry…”

What could he say other than this?

He was indeed feeling guilty towards Shania. Because his love for football had not really disappear, that was why the love that Shania received would definitely be discounted.

“Are you going to call the Football Association’s executive?” Shania looked up from Twain’s embrace.

Twain shook his head, “No, at least not for these few days.”

“Huh? Didn’t you tell me these because you’ve decided to manage England?”

“I didn’t say I must manage England. That position is not for human…” Twain kissed Shania’s head. Harvey’s phone call merely served to make him really understand how much he loved football. It did not mean that Twain was interested in that position now. He did really take a good look at the invitations that he received previous now…

※※※

Shania and her husband left Los Angeles within less than five days and boarded a plane towards Spain.

There was a piece of news that was absolutely confidential. If the Marca or Diario AS knew about it, their jaws would drop.

The piece of news was that Florentino had already contacted Twain the day after the Champions League final, asking him to be the new manager of the Galácticos. Twain was contemptuous of that invitation then, but now… He had to give it a serious consideration and listen to the conditions that Florentino offered.

Both parties met for a meal, had a good chat, and Twain left Madrid.

It seemed like he was not fated to work with Real Madrid——Florentino was unable to satisfy the only condition that Twain had; Tony Twain must have absolute authority in building the team, nobody was to interfere with it, not even Raúl González.

The first condition that Twain put forward when he met the Spanish property magnate was this. Florentino considered for very long before shaking his head.

There was nothing left to discuss after that. If this condition could not be met, there was nothing left to discuss.

It was a good thing that this was not publicized, otherwise both parties would not be able to back down in good grace.

Twain and Shania flew back to England straight after leaving Madrid. This was the first time he was returning to England after resigning. He was not here to discuss with the Football Association’s executive about managing the national team. He was merely there to attend the wedding of Tang and Tang Jing, a very small and private wedding.

Twain was still joking at the expense of this pair of newlyweds on the wedding, saying that he was the real matchmaker and they should bow to him.

He had a lot of fun and it appeared as though he was not concerned about work at all.

In fact, other than Real Madrid, there were also invitations from Juventus and Bayern Munich on his hands. He had to make a decision quickly because the new season was going to start in slightly more than a month’s time, the Bundesliga had only a month left.

When he was in England for the wedding, he contacted both clubs on the phone. However, the conditions that both clubs offered were unable to satisfy Twain’s requirement. Either they did not want to give up full authority, or they could not guarantee enough transfer budget——Twain had enough of a tough life at Nottingham Forest. Now that he was changing a team, he did not want to experience life with a tight budget again.

Hence, he was unable to work with Juventus and Bayern Munich too.

When Twain looked at the job openings he had in his hands again, there was only the manager of the England national team left.

Who would have thought that someone of the Godfather of Champions’ caliber would end up like this, it was not easy to find a job…