Godfather Of Champions

Chapter 1025: After Achieving the Goal in Advance
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

“The match has ended! 3:0! Nottingham Forest has won!”

The camera was not on the players when the commentator shouted the aforementioned words, and it was not on Balotelli who scored a brace in the match either. Instead, the camera cut to the tactical area and zoomed in on Nottingham Forest’s manager, Tony Twain.

Twain had only just stood up when the cameras focused on him, and his assistant manager, Kerslake, patted him on the shoulder. Thereafter, Twain turned around and walked towards where the Wolves manager, Alan Pardew, to shake his hand. The handshake was customary after every football match to show respect to the opponent.

Pardew was not resentful or upset after losing to Twain at home because his team had already been relegated. He told Twain that he did not want him to retire during their handshake.

Twain did not say anything and only smiled in response.

Twain had heard many such comments over the past few weeks. Some of those comments were sincere, and some of them were made out of courtesy. Twain did not care which kind they were. He was going to bid farewell to this sport after one last match, and he did not care about what others thought at all. He was not going to get in other people’s faces over their actions or words any longer.

Twain walked away from Pardew and returned to his team shortly after.

The first thing he saw when he walked back was Kerslake’s smiling face. “The latest news! Tony! Manchester City has lost!”

Twain smiled when he saw how ecstatic Kerslake was. Manchester City’s loss meant that Nottingham Forest had been guaranteed a spot in next season’s Europa League, and they would not need to go all out against Manchester United in the next match.

“I don’t care if we play terribly in the next match, Tony. I don’t even care if we lose! Haha!” Kerslake yelled excitedly amidst the cacophony in the stadium.

“That can’t happen, David,” Twain shook his head. “I cannot end my managerial career with a loss.”

David Kerslake knew that the man before him was still competitive. He did not say anything and only smiled in response.

The news of Manchester City’s loss quickly spread throughout the entire Forest team, and it was even broadcasted within the Molineux Stadium, which served as the home grounds for the Wolves team. It was the Wolves’ way of congratulating Forest. Only a relegated side like them would be in the mood to congratulate their opponent.

The Forest players hugged each other excitedly after hearing the news. Manchester City’s loss meant that their efforts for the past half a season were not for naught.

While everyone else was celebrating the good news, Forest’s assistant manager, Freddy Eastwood, was concerned.

“I’m worried that our players would lose their fight in the last match if this goes on,” he said to Twain.

His words made sense. Forest’s ultimate goal for this half a season was to qualify for the Europa League, and everyone has been fighting to achieve this goal all this time. However, now that the goal had been achieved, the team would surely lose their drive and perform poorly in their last Premier League match.

One just had to look at the Wolves team and how they performed in the match that just ended. They were the perfect ‘role model’. Their players were devoid of motivation for the entire match since they knew they had been relegated and there was nothing to fight for. They tried to put up a semblance of a fight before Forest scored the first goal, but their morale was completely gone the moment Balotelli scored a free-kick, and they surrendered on the spot.

However, Forest’s opponent for the last match was not an unmotivated team like Wolves. They were up against Manchester United, who was ranked at the top of the table.

Twain did not share Eastwood’s concern. He could not possibly let his players walk on a tightrope all the time after all. It was not beneficial to put his team under immense and constant pressure. If the players lost their fight for the last match, then so be it. There were other ways of winning a match besides putting pressure on the players to perform.

In addition, qualifying for the Europa League by defeating Manchester United was never the goal of the team from the start either. The players have trained a lot over the past two weeks, but they have never once trained with that goal in mind. Hence, there was no need to be worried about the players’ motivation levels going into the match because they did not intend to rely on the players’ fight and determination to win.

However, the situation described by Eastwood could still happen. The players could end up performing poorly because of their lack of motivation. Thus, one of the jobs that Twain and his coaching team had to do over the next week would be to prevent that situation from occurring.

“Don’t worry, Eastwood. It does not matter what sort of problem we run into. There’d always be a solution to it,” Twain patted Eastwood on the shoulder. “Bask in the joy of our victory for now. Don’t fret.”

Eastwood glanced at Twain. “I will believe in those words since you are the person saying them.” He was referring to Twain’s statement of ‘It does not matter what sort of problem we run into. There’d always be a solution to it.'”But what happens once you are gone?”

Eastwood did not know that Dunn was going to take over Forest as the next manager. However, even if he knew, he would most likely doubt Dunn’s abilities as Twain’s successor.

There was probably no one else in the world who would believe in Dunn’s abilities besides Twain.

“I’m not the only qualified manager in England,” Twain answered Eastwood.

He did not expect Eastwood to shake his head solemnly and say, “There is only one Tony Twain in this world.”

※※※

“We have qualified for next season’s Europa League once again. Comparing this result with the results that our team achieved half a season ago would only make us miss Tony Twain even more,” Pierce Brosnan wrote in the Nottingham Evening Post.

“We often use the words ‘he possesses the ability to change the outcome of the match’ when we want to describe an outstanding player, and I would like to dedicate those same words to Tony Twain. He is a man who deserves those words. You might ask, what is the difference between the Nottingham Forest team now and the Nottingham Forest team from six months ago? The current Nottingham Forest team has a new player, Chen Jian, as well as Twain as its manager. Chen Jian was introduced into the team by Twain, and Twain is the man who brought victories to Forest and also led them to sixth place. Frankly, we all knew the truth since a long time ago – Tony Twain is a man who can bring victories and trophies to his team. He is a man who is capable of changing the outcome of a match all by himself.”

The number of events that commemorated Twain increased in number after the match against Wolves ended. No one could bear to see Twain leave the team, and there were more and more voices that called for him to stay at the club. However, everyone knew that they would not be able to change his mind.

The tickets to the home game against Manchester United were already sold out. However, many people were still looking for tickets online. They all hoped to be able to get the chance to send off Twain at the Crimson Stadium.

The Nottingham Forest fans were proud of the fact that they had an outstanding manager like Twain. There were clever vendors who offered fans and tourists the opportunity to ‘take photos’ with Tony Twain by placing a life-sized portrait of Twain outside the Crimson Stadium. Their business was overwhelmingly good, and numerous people wanted to take a photo with ‘Tony Twain’. They even had customers who had traveled over from faraway lands, and those people stood out with their exotic looks.

The match garnered not just the attention of the local press, but of the press from all over the world as well. The Premier League Management Committee made the decision to broadcast the match live across the world. The Premier League was currently being broadcasted to 256 countries, and there were more than one billion viewers globally. Their decision effectively meant that one billion football fans from around the world would have the chance to witness the last match of Tony Twain’s managerial career. It was certainly a high-profile ‘farewell ceremony’ for a football manager.

Numerous countries began publicizing the match before its kick-off. They advertised it as a unique match that was like no other.

“The farewell match for the most successful football manager in England’s history!”

“The feud between two of the most prominent football managers: Tony Twain and José Mourinho!”

“Which team will lift the Premier League trophy in the end?”

A few things made the match a must-watch. Firstly, it was the last one before Twain’s retirement. Secondly, Twain and Mourinho have been rivals for over ten years, and it would be interesting to see how a match between them would unfold. Thirdly, the match would determine who would end up as the champions of this season’s Premier League. Manchester United might be ranked top of the table at the moment, but they were only ahead second-place Arsenal by a single point. If Manchester United lost to Twain’s Forest and Arsenal won against Fulham, then Arsenal would overtake Manchester United and become the champions of the Premier League.

That was an outcome that neither Mourinho nor the Manchester United fans wished to see happen.

The press in Nottingham focused solely on matters related to Tony Twain. The press in Manchester, on the other hand, focused on whether Mourinho’s team would be able to retain its Premier League title. Surprisingly, they did not have high hopes about Manchester United’s chances of becoming champions – they believed that Nottingham Forest would not go easy on them, because neither their fans nor their players would wish to send off their legendary manager with a loss.

The people who believed that the Forest players would lose their motivation and fight after qualifying for the Europa League in advance were foolish. The match against Forest was undoubtedly going to be a tough challenge for Manchester United.

Mourinho thought the same way as well. He had a solemn expression on his face during his interview, and he did not think that his team could relax despite being in the first place at the moment. When asked about the match, Mourinho said, “…I don’t like predicting the outcome of any football match. However, I think my team can defeat Nottingham Forest…”

His words sounded forced. They were more like words that had been said to boost his team’s morale than an expression of his confidence.

Then again, perhaps Mourinho was trying to let his opponents become arrogant by deliberately showing weakness. Who could tell what was really on his mind?

※※※

Eastwood’s concerns never came true. The players did not appear to have lost their motivation or fight for the upcoming match when he observed them during their daily training sessions. In contrast, they seemed to be brimming with fighting spirit. None of the players wanted to miss out on playing in such an important match due to their poor performances during training.

Eastwood could not help but lament at how great an influence his boss had, and he became even more worried about who would be able to control the players after Twain left…

Twain did not seem to be in the least bothered about all the news that was being published about him at the moment or with how some of the people around him were in a state of worry. He did what he has always done over the past decade. He left the training sessions in the hands of his coaching staff while he stood by and twiddled his thumbs.

He was just like an old man nearing retirement who would turn up at work every day just to make himself a cup of tea and take a walk.

Twain did not take walks and neither did he make himself tea at work. His work only consisted of standing by the side of the pitch at the moment. There was nothing else for him to do now, as he had already finished all that he had to do in preparation for the match against Manchester United. He was busy coming up with the tactics for the match a few days ago, but now that he had finished everything, he was free. All that was left to do was to get the players to practice his tactics, and he did not need to be involved in it. He would only get busy on the day of the match.

The only thing he had to do now was stand by the side of the pitch with his sunglasses on and watch his players train.

However, he has been watching players train for the past 16 years, and he has grown a little sick of it. Thus, he would allow himself to get distracted from time to time nowadays and would not pay attention to their entire training session.

Twain could no longer quite remember who the players in the team were when he first took over as the manager. Back then, he did not know how he should train a football team, and he had very little knowledge about his players. He certainly did not expect that he would go on to become one of the most successful managers in the country at that time.

What would people think if they knew that the real identity of such a successful football manager was actually that of a Chinese football fan who did not know much about professional football?

This was definitely a secret he would need to take to his grave.

A few random thoughts suddenly struck Twain. What if there were other transmigrators or time travelers like him in this world? What if one of those geniuses who contributed greatly to mankind actually came from the future?

Those were certainly interesting thoughts. Maybe Wenger was actually a transmigrator or time traveler who had managed to hide his true identity really well? That would explain why he was skilled in spotting talented youth players.

Twain became lost in thoughts thereafter. When he finally snapped out of his reverie, he realized that the training session was almost over.

The team’s assistant managers, Kerslake and Eastwood, gathered the players before them. They were all going to listen to the manager say a few words before they left.

In truth, Twain rarely spoke at the end of the team’s training sessions, and it was not mandatory to listen. However, as Twain’s departure from the team drew nearer, the players began demanding for Twain to speak to them more. Hence, Twain would always say a few words – be it comments about their training or any other matter, at the end of the training session these days.

The players ‘just liked listening to the boss’ voice’, as Gareth Bale put it.

Everyone wanted to listen to Twain speak, and today was no exception.

Twain saw Eastwood wave at him and he walked over.

“Honestly, I’ve already said all that I should say, and I can’t think of anything else now,” Twain shrugged. However, he knew that he had to say something.

“We’ll be playing in our last Premier League match of this season in three days’ time. After seeing how our training sessions have gone over the past few days, I think we are definitely ready for the match. Frankly, I never believed that any of you would lose your motivation and fight after we achieved the goal in advance. So, tell me. Did any of you lose your motivation for the next match?”

Twain asked this as he looked at the players around him.

“That will never happen, boss!” Gareth Bale was the first to answer, and his teammates nodded their heads in agreement. “We know we still have to bring you victory for the last match!”

Twain smiled happily. He then clapped his hands once and said, “Then isn’t the training session over? What else can I say? You are all dismissed!”

The looks of distress on the players’ faces caused Twain to smile even more happily.

The day where he no longer had to rake his brains and think about what to say to satisfy his players has finally come. When he was younger, he liked to use impassioned speeches to motivate his players. He felt that speaking in that manner made him look good. However, now that he was old, he did not like to do things in such an eye-catching way anymore. He preferred to use silence and actions to show his strength now.

After all, actions spoke louder than words. A more effective way of hurting one’s opponents would be to roll up one’s sleeves and fight them rather than spending the whole day scolding them.

Twain might have gotten on with age, but his claws were still sharp and he was still a threat. All doubters were welcome to the Crimson Stadium on the 10th of May, and they would be able to see for themselves if he has truly lost his edge.