Godfather Of Champions

In the end, Twain did not get anyone from Germany or Italy to be his goalkeeping coach. He chose Clemence, who had been the goalkeeping coach for the England team for many years. He was an experienced goalkeeping coach and he represented England alongside Nottingham Forest’s goalkeeper, Peter Shilton, previously. Shilton was the one who called to recommend him to Twain. As someone from Nottingham Forest too, they should take care of each other.

Twain chose Jon Webb, whom the English Football Association recommended, to be his fitness coach. He used to work for Manchester City but was unemployed then.

When it came to coaching team, the experienced Steve Wigley joined the team. From 1980, he used to play for Nottingham Forest for six seasons. After he hung up his boots, he returned to Forest and served as their youth team’s coach, coach and he also served as coach, assistant manager and manager of various clubs. He understood the English players very much and was very capable.

The 64-year-old Tony Carr was the oldest coach in the coaching team. He had been the youth team’s coach for West Ham United since 1973 and he was also once the manager of the team. West Ham United’s youth development was famous in English football and there were many talents who came from the club. Tony Carr was the greatest contributor to that. He was a loyal warrior whom had only served West Ham United. Now that he was getting older, the English Football Association persuaded him to support Tony Twain, that was why he left West Ham United and joined Tony Twain’s coaching team.

The 55-year-old Steve Gatting used to be Arsenal’s youth coach but was also sent to Tony Twain to be part of his coaching team by the Football Association.

With assistant manager Des Walker, the coaching team was basically complete. This was the first time that the England team was using a psychologist. Twain successfully convinced 46-year-old Miss Emma to leave Nottingham Forest for the England team. This licensed psychologist would take up the role as the psychologist for the England team and her job was to solve any psychological problems that the players have.

This was a fully local coaching team and Shaun Harvey was very satisfied with it. He thought that Twain would most likely not pick anyone from the candidates that he recommended because of the way he likes to make things as awkward as possible. However, only the assistant manager was someone from the outside, even though Clemence was recommended to Twain by Shilton, he had been working with the Football Association for many years.

In general, other than Des Walker, who was slightly less famous, this coaching team were rather well-known in English Football. However, he was also once part of the England national team, he would still be able to hold his own.

After the coaching team was set up, Twain needed to think about the players.

Realistically speaking, even though the English Football Association told Twain that the line-up for this match could follow the one from the World Cup, it was impossible to do so. At that time, all the clubs were preparing for the new season, especially those teams who had the ability to fight for the title. They would definitely not let their core players play in a friendly for the national team. Even without thinking about the disruption to the preseason preparation, there was also the risk that they might be injured.

That was why it would be difficult for Twain to call up players like Gerrard, Rooney and Walcott.

Therefore, Twain decided to take this chance to observe. Calling up the borderline players who were usually seldom picked for the national team and observing their performances to decide if they would have a place in Twain’s national team in future. Even though there were lesser stars in the team, which would disappoint the crowd in the City Grounds, Twain had never been one to change himself because of the audience’s preferences.

This was a good opportunity. The results were not important for this type of matches and there were no pressure, hence Twain could call up the players who would usually not be able to be picked without worry. This was even the first time for some of them to be called up to represent their country.

As for those established players who were usually part of the national squad, Twain did not even ask. He did not want to ask them when he knew that he would be rejected.

It only took one day for Twain to announce the name list for this match:

The three goalkeepers were Chris Kirkland, Stuart Taylor and Andy Atkinson. This was the first time that Taylor and Atkinson were called up to the national team, but Kirkland was not much better, this was only his second time. They were the real borderline players.

In defence, Dan Gosling was a versatile defender who played for Everton. Even though he had made a name for himself at Everton, and was once hailed as a genius, his international career was less successful. Before Twain called him up this time, he had only been selected for the national team four times.

The son of the ex-Wimbledon player, Alan Cork, 25-year-old Jack Cork was once the future star of Chelsea. But he failed to make the breakthrough at Chelsea and eventually went to Southampton. Southampton did not have any impressive performance in the English Premier League which affected his international career. However, he had always been thought of as one for the future. The reason why Twain called him up this time was to see if the rumours were true. This was his first time being called up.

Gary Cahill was already 28 years old, but this was his first time being called up. He had played for many different English teams such as Aston Villa, but he eventually transferred to Lyon and had been one of the key players for Lyon. However, he did not attract the attention of England manager Capello previously because he was playing overseas, and in the French Ligue One to boot. For him to be called up by Twain, it might send out a signal to everyone——It did not matter if a player was playing in England or outside England, as long as you’re capable, the national team would welcome you.

The younger brother of Rio Ferdinand, 28-year-old Anton Ferdinand, made his debut with West Ham but was plying his trades at Sunderland then. He had never represented the national team before.

The Middlesbrough’s key central defender, David Wheater, selected for the national team six times. However, he was always overshadowed by the likes of Terry and the rest and was not favoured. His name appeared in the substitute’s list six times but he only managed to get on the pitch once——As a substitute in the 87th minute. Standing at 1.96 meters tall, he was a central defender with impressive aerial abilities and Liverpool used to be interested in him. He was only 27 years old then and Twain wanted to see his abilities and if he did well, he would definitely have a spot in the England team in future.

Paul Pepper was the latest academy product from Middlesbrough. He was still a young player, only 20, he had represented England in the U19 and U21 level, and he was the captain of the U21 team. He was a talented youngster with immense potential. When Twain was still with Nottingham Forest, he was interested to bring him to the City Grounds from Middlesbrough, but the asking price of 15 million meant that a deal was not to be. He was the key left-back of Middlesbrough and his specialty was a strong attacking prowess, kind of like Gareth Bale. This was also his first time selected for the national team.

30-year-old Glen Johnson was a familiar face in the national team setup. However, he did not participate in the World Cup held in Brazil this summer. That was because he sustained a serious injury two months before the competition and had to be out of action for three months, only coming back from injury now. The reason why Aston Villa agreed to allow him to play for the national team was because they wanted him to get some match fitness.

Ashley Cole might be the most famous player in the national team backline. However, he was already 33 and had gradually lost his place as the key player in the Chelsea team. That was why Chelsea agreed to let him play for the national team and he himself wanted to win back his position in the club through his performance in this match.

In midfield, Twain called seven players up.

24-year-old Fabian Delph was the most successful academy product from Leeds United in recent years, but he was part of the Tottenham Hotspurs team now. He was called up to the national squad thrice, and this was his fourth time putting on the national team jersey. His position in the team was on the right of the midfield.

West Ham United’s 27-year-old midfielder, Mark Noble, became a core member of the team’s midfield after Gareth Barry transfer to Liverpool. This was his 10th time representing the country.

Michael Johnson used to play for Manchester City, but he was now a midfield player for Tottenham Hotspurs. If not for the existence of George Wood, he might have been a key player for the national team. He was a very capable player and had already been called up 11 times. He also took part in the World Cup in Brazil this summer and came on as a substitute once.

James Milner made his debut for Leeds United 13 years ago. When Leeds was facing financial meltdown, he was sold by the team to Newcastle for 3.6 million to help with the financial situation at the club. Later on, he went to Aston Villa and he also used to be the record holder for the youngest goal scorer for England. Eventually, he moved to Chelsea and had been with them since. He had represented the country 15 times before this.

Matt Derbyshire was a 28-year-old attacking midfielder from Blackburn who could also play as a striker. This was his first time representing England.

Jose Baxter was the next future star that Everton developed after Rooney and Vaughan. He was only 22 and had already been in the national team once. He could play on either wing and also as a striker.

Joe Cole was the most famous star in the midfield line up. After many years at Chelsea, he just moved to Manchester City this summer. His abilities were without doubt, but his form was affected by his frequent injuries. The reason Twain called him up was because he wished that his technical abilities would be able to bring about more changes in England’s midfield.

Twain picked five strikers into the team for observation. Stars such as Rooney were all not part of the list of players called up.

The senior of Jose Baxter that was mentioned earlier, James Vaughan was part of the players called up this time. He was Everton’s main striker now and the personal relationship between Twain and Moyes played no small part in helping Everton release him for international duties. Also, Twain had to promise Moyes that he would only play Vaughan for only the first half before Moyes agreed.

26-year-old Fraizer Campbell was a talented product of the Manchester United’s academy, but he could only warm the bench at Manchester United now. It was not known if Mourinho’s arrival at Old Trafford was a good thing for him yet, but he might be able to take advantage of this call up to showcase his abilities to Mourinho.

Danny Welbeck, 23, also a product of the Manchester United Academy. However, he chose a different path from Campbell. Campbell was still struggling in Manchester United for a starting position while Welbeck left Manchester United for Sunderland long ago. He was playing regularly for Sunderland now and performed well, hence he was also called up to the national team.

The high-profile striker from Charlton previously, Darren Bent, did not perform up to his standard after transferring to Tottenham, but this did not affect Twain’s decision to call him up. No matter what, he was still an experienced player when compared to the previous three strikers.

The last guy was Aston Villa’s 23-year-old striker, Nathan Delfouneso. Even though his height was not that impressive at only 1.81 meters, he was good in the air and had good physical abilities. This was his first time being called up for the national team.

The 23 players above are the ones that Twain wanted to observe, and the club was willing to release. None of the major stars were here and Twain did not even give them a call. Similarly, there were no Nottingham Forest players in this name list as well as they were the opponents.

This name list was placed under heavy scrutiny by the English media as it was Tony Twain’s first national squad members after all. There were countless people trying to figure something out from there.

Some people thought that Twain was favouring youth, otherwise, why would he pick so many young players? There were many older players that were also on the brinks of the national team.

Some people thought that Twain was taking this opportunity how his iron fist. By calling up so many players on the brinks, he was issuing a “warning” to the stars, “In my team, fame counts for nothing. I’m only interested in your attitude.”

The other group of people thought that Twain had no choice——Most of the big clubs were not willing to release the players and the key players of England were preparing for the new season with their teams. It was not easy for him to find 23 players, who cares about the quality of the players?

No matter how the media analysed this name list, all the players on the name list received a call from the English Football Association asking them to be part of the England squad.

Some were surprised, some of them were calm, but all of them had their own thoughts about it. To the players who were still preparing for the new season with their teams, working with the new manager first would give them an opportunity to understand the personality of the new manager. This would be helpful in helping them gain a spot in the new national team.

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“Don’t expect to see anything from this match, Tony,” assistant manager, Des Walker told Twain, an opinion that was shared by some other coaches. This was the day before the team was supposed to assemble, the coaches were having a meeting to discuss the team’s tactics, the opponent’s tactics… etcetera.

“We don’t even have time for a training session, the team will assemble tomorrow, and we’ll be playing the three days later. This feels like a friendly match and everyone would be afraid of injuries. They will be scared, and we’ll be scared as well,” coach Steve Wigley said.

Twain took one look at everyone and laughed, “They may be afraid, but we don’t necessary have to be scared.”

Walker, who knew him very well, muttered in his mind, looks like somebody’s going to get hurt…