Godfather Of Champions

The noses of the media were very sensitive. Even though the English Football Association had not officially announced the news about them reaching an agreement with Tony Twain, the news had already been leaked by The Sun.

However, they phrased it as a question, “New head of the Three Lions?”

The picture next to the headlines was a photo of Tony Twain.

The first thing Twain did when he saw this news was to switch off his phone. Otherwise, he would be bombarded by countless annoying phone calls that day.

The Football Association would be calling for a press conference the next day anyway, they would be able to ask what they wanted to ask then.

※※※

Next day, At the English Football Association in London SOHO square, the Football Association and Twain attended a press conference here and officially announced Twain’s taking the role of England’s manager.

Media from all over the world gathered at one place to witness it.

Even though he had been the manager of a football club for 11 years, it was still his virgin experience as the manager of a national team. He specially wore a new suit today, and also wore a tie, a rare occasion.

When he reached the venue, there were countless camera flashes even before he said anything which stunned the Football Association’s executive, Shaun Harvey.

When the two of them are seated, Harvey officially announced that Tony Twain would be taking up the reins as England’s national team’s manager.

“We’re very happy to be able to get Tony Twain to take up the role of England’s manager. Amongst the many candidates, Tony Twain’s results was the key to him being chosen. His results when he was with Nottingham Forest are very satisfactory for us. We’re very confident that the England team will be able to welcome the new dawn under Tony Twain’s guidance.”

Twain and the Football Association signed a two-year contract. The target was to win the European Championship, and depending on the results of that competition, they would decide if the contract would be extended to the World Cup.

Next, it was time for Twain to give a short speech about him taking up the post.

“Leading the England team is a new challenge to me, and I like challenges.”

Once Twain said that, he sat back, and it meant the reporters were free to ask questions.

It was short indeed…

The first reporter to stand and present his question was from The Times. His question was still acceptable, “Mr Twain, the best result that the previous manager, Capello, achieved was fourth place in the World Cup. May I ask if you have a specific target?”

Twain was about to answer when Harvey interrupted from the side, “Our target is the European Championship.”

Twain glanced at him, then nodded and said, “Yes, the short-term target is the European Championship.”

The questions after that went further and further away from the topic.

The reporters were obviously more interested about the reason Twain resigned from his post as Nottingham Forest’s manager. Tony Twain did not give an explanation for it yet, and Nottingham Forest Football Club did not reveal more information.

The reporter from The Sun stood up and asked, “Mr Twain, what was the motive for you to leave Nottingham Forest when you’re at your most glorious moment?”

Twain looked at Harvey. The Football Association’s executive also felt very awkward.

Therefore, Twain opened his arms and said, “I’m sorry, this is the press conference by the Football Association regarding the new England manager, not a press conference by Nottingham Forest Football Club. You’re at the wrong place, Mr reporter from The Sun.”

This moment had finally arrived. The reporters were exceptionally excited. They had not seen Twain for a month, but Twain were still unfriendly to them. When he was at the club, he did not have a good relationship with the media. They should be under no illusion that things would change and they would work in harmony now that he was with the England national team.

The media used Twain to attract more attention and readers by provoking him whereas for Twain, going against the media was one of the greatest source of happiness for him. Being a manager of a football team comes with a lot of pressure, there had to be a way for him to vent it out. Going against the media was not bad way of doing so.

The reporters of The Sun wanted to continue asking but Harvey finally interrupted again, “Mr reporter, please ensure that your questions are relevant to the main topic today, otherwise we have the rights to not answer.”

“Alright, Mr Harvey. I have a question for you,” that reporter smiled and nodded, “As the English Football Association, you’ve undoubtedly chosen Tony Twain as the manager of the national team because of his results. Is the Football Association worried that Mr Twain’s big mouth might bring about some unnecessary trouble for the team and the Football Association?”

“Um…” Harvey secretly cursed under his breath, “We believe that Tony Twain will be mindful of his actions.”

Twain took over from him, “Don’t worry about this, I’ll definitely not bring any trouble to the Football Association or the England squad. In fact, I’ll only retaliate if someone else takes the initiative to provoke me. I also hope that we’ll be able to coexist peacefully in the days to come,” when he finished, he glanced at the reporter from The Sun with a look that suggested there was a hidden meaning within.

When it was known that Twain was attending the press conference, Pierce Brosnan was sent to London by the chief editor in the hope that his personal relationship with Twain would bring him some exclusive news. Too bad Twain had switched off his phone and he could only attend the press conference like the other reporters.

He was picked by the host and he stood up to ask his question. Like the reporter from The Sun, he really wanted to ask Twain why he left Forest, but he knew that he would not get any answers by asking that, all it would do was to destroy the relationship between him and Twain.

“Mr Twain, can you reveal some of the principles that you would build your team around?

“All the English players have a chance to be chosen into the national team. I do not care about their fame, or even what their names are, I’ll only look at their form and their attitudes. People who are lazy have no place in my team,” Twain replied indicated an “iron hand”, but that was within everybody’s expectations. That was the kind of manager that he was. He was like this when he was in Nottingham Forest, he would not take no for an answer and nobody could oppose what he said.

Brosnan did not continue asking and sat down. Another person stood up, “Mr Twain, when you were at Nottingham Forest, you thought that Forest was the best team in England. Would you build the team around the English players in the Forest team then?”

Of course, Twain knew that this person was questioning if he would be biased towards the English players in Nottingham Forest in a roundabout way. He did not bother to explain, “No, I won’t do that. I’ll be impartial in choosing my players,” This did not accord with his character and style.

He nodded and said, “If they perform well, why not?”

Appointing people based on favoritism is bad, but there is also a saying that says one should appoint people based on their merits. Compared to the players of the other teams, he was more familiar with the Nottingham Forest players, therefore the Forest players would naturally look to him for some help. Twain did not avoid this topic, in fact, he was prepared for it.

If the media were to criticize him, the reason for that would not be because he picked too many Forest players, but because he lost the match. Therefore, the national team was no different from the club, as long as one won, there would not be any problem.

After he understood the fundamentals of the problem, things became much simpler.

Twain handled the rounds of questions by the media perfectly, showing no weakness. After resting for more than a month, it did not look like it affected him at all. When the press conference ended, Harvey was very satisfied with Twain’s performance——He did not cause any problem in the press conference indeed.

He only hoped that it was not a rare occasion

※※※

After the press conference, news of Tony Twain taking up the role of England’s manager was on all major prints, television, radio broadcast and the internet. Twain became the hottest news topic.

His pictures were all over the newspapers.

BBC was planning to invite him for an exclusive interview.

Kerslake was having breakfast while reading the latest newspaper. He flipped to the sports section straight.

What he saw was a front-page picture of Twain. He was wearing a bespoke suit with a tie, a stern expression on his face.

Kerslake was reminded of the way he left Forest when he saw Twain’s picture. There was no doubt that Twain lied to him, promising him that he would be the first to know. In the end, news of it spread like wildfire amongst the outside media before he received a postcard with a tropical bikini lady from Brazil that Twain sent telling him that he resigned.

This was a sudden news, but Kerslake was prepared for it. Him, as an assistant manager, knew very clearly that Twain and Allan had a rocky relationship. But he did not expect Twain to really abandon the team that he had painstakingly managed for 11 years just because of this reason. He was really an enigma; one cannot predict what he would do using normal logic…

In Kerslake’s opinion, leaving at the highest point was a very difficult decision. However, he did not know that Twain had been considering about this problem for a whole year and he was still hesitant at the end. If Evan’s actions did not disappoint him so much, he might still stay in Wilford. Initially, he had the intention of leaving because of the row with Allan, but he eventually realized that Evan, with the smiling face, was also against him, that meant that he did not have to struggle anymore, it would be much easier for him to just leave.

Kerslake sighed at the way fate works while holding the newspaper before putting it down and continuing with his breakfast. At this moment, his phone rang.

Looking at the phone number, it was actually from Tony Twain!

“You finally called, Tony. Are you here to apologize?”

“I’m very sorry, David. I did not know that the club would call a press conference so quickly… I sent the postcard as soon as I reached Brazil,” Twain knew what Keslake meant by apologize and he did owe his partner an apology. He also had a favor to ask of him.

“Forget it, let bygones be bygones. Do you need me for something?” Kerslake did not want to dwell on that matter as it was pointless.

“It’s like this, David. You should have know that I’m now England’s manager, right?”

“I’m reading the papers, you look too stern in the photo.”

“Ha!” Twain gave a laugh, “I’m now a general with no army, there’s no one to help me… I intend to invite you to join England’s coaching team. We work well together, there won’t be any problem!”

Kerslake stopped eating and fell silent for a while.

Twain did not rush him, he knew that this was a sudden news and he had to give him some time to think, “You don’t have to give me an answer now, David. You can take a few days to consider and call me after that…”

“No, I reject your offer, Tony.”

“You can really take a few days to consider it, David.”

“I’ve already considered it just now,” Kerslake was firm in his answer, there was no room for discussion.

“Okay then… Can you tell me why?” Twain knew he could not persuade Kerslake because he did not like to force people to do things that they did not want to.

“I love Forest, Tony. After you left, Forest was in a mess. The new manager, Martin O’Neill doesn’t understand this team at all. I have to stay and help him get acclimatized to the team as soon as possible. Now that you’re gone, if I leave too, I don’t know what will become of this team…”

Twain felt his face flush a little when he heard what Kerslake said. He had been forcing himself to ignore news about Forest because he was afraid that he would feel heartache——The team of champions that he built himself had already sold two of the players, and word was they were going to keep selling. When the new season begins, how many of the original members would be left of the treble-winning Nottingham Forest team?

“If Tang was still here, I might have said yes. Oh yes, why don’t you ask Tang?”

Twain thought to himself that it would be pointless to ask him, the answer would be the same as Kerslake’s. He wanted to be a manager, and he was doing well in Notts County. Why would he leave the team that he had been leading to be an assistant manager for him in the England national team?

“Sorry that I can’t help you, Tony. I wish you all the best.”

After he hung up the call from Twain, Kerslake picked up the newspaper again. He was in a daze for quite awhile as he looked at Twain’s picture on the paper.

“Who was it so early in the morning?” His wife asked, wiping her hands as she came out from the bathroom. She was giving their son a bath.

“An old friend,” Kerslake replied as he put down the newspaper again, finishing up his breakfast.

※※※

Twain was troubled by the fact that he had no suitable coaching team now——Even though his coaching team was very good in the club, they were not willing to join the England team. When Capello became manager, he brought an all-Italian coaching staff. From assistant manager to goalkeeping coach, fitness coach, they were all Italians. When Capello left his post, these Italians left England with him, leaving nothing for Twain. He had to first build his coaching team before he built his team.

He gave Roy Keane a call next, hoping to invite him to be England’s assistance manager. As expected, Keane rejected him.

“I’m Irish, Tony,” Keane gave a strange laugh, perhaps due to the strange nature of Twain’s invitation, “How could I possibly be an assistant manager for the England team? Have you ever seen an Argentine being an assistant manager for the Brazil national team?”

Twain realized that he was not a very popular person. Other than a few friends, he was actually unable to find anymore potential partners. Those friends of his were all managers of a team, for them to drop what they were doing and be his assistant manager? They would have to be crazy to do so.

Even though the Football Association recommended a few candidates for him, Twain still hoped to look for one himself. That was because that way, the coach that he found would be the one that he really needed, and they would be able to work together and achieve more with the same effort.

He needed an assistant manager, a goalkeeping coach, a fitness coach and a psychologist. The most important one amongst them was an assistant manager. Twain’s managing style meant that he needed an able assistant manager to support him so that he did not have to worry much about the training, and he could focus more on the tactics and analysis of their opponents.

This assistant manager did not need to be very famous, just able and would listen to what Twain said. Twain was able to control the changing room himself, an assistant manager who had a mediocre character might even have a better effect.

Where would he find an assistant manager like that?