Godfather Of Champions

The day after the match, page nine in the sports section of the Nottingham Evening Post had a large photo, which took up half of the entire page. The photo was taken of Twain shaking his arms and shouting against a sea of red in the stands from the opposite side of the technical area. This was the scene when he celebrated the third goal.

Tang En repeatedly scrutinized this photo while eating a simple breakfast. He had to admit that this photo was well taken, the angle and timing chosen were just right. Of course, the best thing was that the main subject of this photo was Manager Tony Twain.

The caption below the photograph read: “When David Johnson scored the winning goal, Tony Twain celebrated with his arms raised high in the air amidst wildly cheering fans.”

The more he looked at it, the more he liked it. Tang En decided to call the newspaper, look for the photographer, and then purchase a large print of it to frame and hang in the house. This was his glorious moment, and he wanted to treasure it forever.

So, he called the Evening Post office number which he found in the newspaper.

The day after each match day was always the busiest day for the British newspapers. People were rushing in and out, busy writing the news pieces from the gathered information, or sending the completed news layouts to the printing press.

There was the constant sound of ringing phones in the newspaper building.

“Hello, Nottingham Evening Post.” The receptionist said politely to the receiver. Two seconds later, her professional smile was gone from her face.

Tang En, who was on the other end of the phone, thought it was odd. He just wanted to find out the contact of the photographer and ask him for an enlarged print. Why was his call transferred to the company president’s office?

He heard a slight cough coming from the phone, followed by the voice of an elderly man.

“Mr. Twain, hello, I’m Larry Lawrence, president of the Nottingham Evening Post. You can call me Larry.”

“You can call me Tony, Larry.”

Tang En spoke to Larry Lawrence about his request. Lawrence agreed without hesitation. The photo was shot by their newspaper’s photojournalist. Developing an enlarged print was not a problem. He could have 10 prints if he wanted. But Lawrence proposed a condition.

“Interview me?” Tang En was a little surprised. He did not expect the media would come knocking on his door so quickly. But he did not think to refuse. This was a good publicity opportunity for him. Tang En was not afraid of becoming famous. If he wanted to be well-known, the media’s influence could not be ignored. But the timing was not good. The team had only won a match. It did not mean that their situation had stabilized. He still had a lot of problems to solve. And now where was he going to find the time for an interview?

“Larry, I’m afraid now’s not the time.”

“Is anything the matter, Tony?”

From the conversation between the two men, one would think that they had known each other more than five minutes.

“I still have a lot of work to do right now. I don’t think I can accept your interview during this period. Although, I wish I could…”

“I understand.”

“If you can wait a while, I will be happy to offer a future interview.”

Lawrence immediately agreed with Twain’s proposal. “That’s fine. We’ll have the photo that you want sent to you in two days. As for the matter of the interview, you just have to take note of it. When you feel it is right, feel free to contact us, Tony.”

After he hung up the phone, Tang En was a little conceited. He did not expect to be in the media’s good graces so soon. It was a good sign. It meant as long as they win, everything would be fine. His current objective was to strive for the team to maintain this condition while solving the problems that were revealed during yesterday’s match in training.

However, one thing was quite certain: he must uphold his victory-centric thinking. In addition, he must also let the players feel it. A team, from the manager to the players, in pursuit of victory at any cost, would be invincible.

With the photograph issue sorted, Tang En was in a very good mood, and there was no training today. According to the usual custom, the day after a match was time off to let the players rest and relax. Of course, if they had lost by a big score, Tang En would cancel the break and revise it to make the team repent with lots of training.

It had been a busy and stressful time. It was time to relax. So, he decided to go out for a walk.

Nottingham had one of Britain’s top universities, University of Nottingham. The university also had an affiliated branch in Ningbo, China. Therefore, many Chinese students came there every year to further their studies and enhance their education. In the streets of Nottingham, one could always see yellow-skinned, black-haired, Chinese-speaking students.

But whether there were Chinese in the City Ground stands, Tang En was not sure.

Whenever there was a rest day, even if it was only half a day, Tang En would never stay at home and sleep in. His thinking went like this: he had a rare ‘travel abroad for free’ opportunity. If he did not make good use to explore and enjoy the foreign environment, he’d let down the God who had let him transmigrate there. Of course, for Tang En himself, to feel the most authentic and best British way of life was to go to all kinds of pubs. He felt that mankind’s greatest invention was the brewing technique, the greatest profession was a brewmaster, the greatest building was the pub, and the greatest glass products were bottles… and so on.

It would be a mistake, though, to think that Tang En was going to the pub to spend the rest of the day. It was only nine o’clock in the morning. None of the pubs in Britain were opened yet, so even if he wanted to go, he would not be able to.

He had always heard that the University of Nottingham had a beautiful landscape. He decided to go to the university campus for a stroll. Maybe he might even meet a pretty student from China, and then develop a beautiful foreign love relationship.

Tang En did not call the taxi driver Landy James, whom he was already familiar with. He decided to experience Nottingham’s public transportation system.

The city of Nottingham was actually very small. This was a common feature of British cities. Apart from an international metropolis such as London, most cities might only be the size of a county in China, perhaps not even that.

Tang En realized this when he brought the team to their match in Coventry. Once one of Britain’s four major cities, it was about the size of a county. The same was true of Nottingham. After more than 20 minutes of a rocky bus ride, Tang En was already at the campus gate of the University of Nottingham. The University of Nottingham had many campuses, but Tang En only knew of the large campus west of the city center.

The University of Nottingham campus was vast and beautiful. People who did not know they were on a campus would think they were in a park. Seen from afar, there was a white square tower partially hidden behind a row of trees. When he walked closer, he discovered that it was not a single tower, but an entire white building, the square tower was only the highest section in the middle.

Tang En stood in the middle of the road and was a little stumped. The campus was so big that he did not know where to go. It would be funny if he were to get lost.

Just when he was hesitating, a very pleasant voice came up next to him, and said in English, “This is the main school building of the University of Nottingham.”

Tang En turned to see a dark-haired girl standing beside him, smilingly gazing at the white building. “Isn’t it beautiful? Pure white. If the square tower was changed to a dome instead, it would be the enlarged version of the White House.”

But this Nottingham Forest team manager simply did not hear the girl’s next words. It was as if he had been struck by lightning, staring blankly on the same spot. Who did he see?

Her beautiful black hair was tied into an easy ponytail. Her puffy down jacket did not cover up the youthfulness of her body or that already familiar beautiful face.

It was his high school classmate, the prettiest girl in class whom he had a crush on for three whole years⎯Yang Yan!

The world is really small …

“Sir? Sir!” When she found that this foreign man was ceaselessly staring at her, Yang Yan was a little annoyed. But she still maintained a basic courtesy and did not slap this foreign lecher. Instead, she turned to leave.

Tang En regained his composure, realizing that it was inappropriate to stare at a girl like that. He quickly apologized. “I’m really sorry, I suddenly thought of something and went into a daze. I’m terribly sorry.” He slightly bowed. Formerly, Tang En was only 1.7 meters tall, a typical Sichuan man’s height. Yang Yan was already 1.65 meters tall in high school, an ideal beauty’s height. Currently, Yang Yan was the same height. Tang En, on the other hand, had become a Caucasian more than 1.8 meters tall. Things were already not like before. They were no longer familiar to each other. That moment when Tang En saw Yang Yan, he really had the impulse to call out her name, but his inner logic stopped him. Now they were strangers meeting for the first time.

When she found he was actually quite well-mannered and was courteous with his words, the unpleasant moment just before was cast aside by Yang Yan. She smiled and said, “Sir, are you a tourist?”

“Huh?”

“I saw you standing here, looking a little lost.”

“Ah, yes! I’m a tourist.” Tang En responded. “I’ve heard the University of Nottingham is one of the most beautiful universities in England, so I’ve come to see it. But it’s too big here, I don’t know where to turn… Besides, I’m afraid of getting lost.”

Yang Yan cover her mouth and smiled. This man was disarmingly frank.

Tang En was in a daze again. During high school, Yang Yan was a good student in the eyes of the teachers, her parents’ well-behaved daughter, the ideal girlfriend in all the students’ hearts. At that time, almost all the boys in class liked her, but very few had the courage to confess. Those brave forerunners who summoned up the courage after much difficulty were rejected by a smiling Yang Yan. Later, there were rumors that Yang Yan’s family was preparing to emigrate, and that she was a girl going abroad and looked down on Chinese men. Many of the boys were indignant about this for a long time. Tang En was not a popular figure in class. He had an odd temper, few friends, and no luck with the girls. He could only gaze at girls like Yang Yan from afar.

After graduating from high school, in less than two years, he heard that Yang Yan really had gone abroad. And another two years later, everyone in the online alumni network saw her photos taken in the United Kingdom. In the photos, Yang Yan was even more beautiful and moving, her figure womanlier. So, everyone was unanimous in their praises, saying that the beauty was all grown up. Someone even joked that the foreigners had an unfair advantage. To this, Yang Yan’s consistent response was “Ha-ha.”

Tang En was surprised that he remembered all these things so clearly. He’d thought that school life had bid him farewell since he graduated from college. Although he would occasionally go on the alumni network, he never left a message. Even if he did leave a message, those people would not know who he was. When he first applied to join the alumni network, it even triggered a big ‘who is he’ discussion among the classmates, but he still passed the application in the end. Who could have approved for him to join?

He only knew that Yang Yan’s family emigrated to England. He did not know it was Nottingham. What was he supposed to say? Fate brought them together to meet each other thousands of miles away?

“If you don’t know where to go, I can be your free tour guide.” Yang Yan was not aware of what Tang En was thinking. She looked at the people coming and going on the campus and said, “I go to school here. I’m very familiar with this place.”

Ah, she’s still so enthusiastic.

Tang En nodded. “Okay, you can be my guide.” It was the first time that Tang En was in such “intimate” contact with Yang Yan. How could he miss this opportunity?

He thought of his original intention in coming to Nottingham today: maybe he might even meet a pretty student from China, and then develop a beautiful foreign love relationship.

Now from the looks of it, he might have some hope. Today’s Tang En was no longer that odd-tempered young boy with a slight inferiority complex.

Now I’m a 34-year-old mature man… But I wonder if this body is still a virgin?