Godfather Of Champions

Twain naturally has his reasons for placing so much emphasis on the match. However, he was not the only one to hold the match in such high regard. The Notts County manager, Dunn, felt the same as well.

Dunn suddenly became very serious after it was made known that his team would be up against Nottingham Forest in the next round. He has always been a thorough couch, but the Notts County players could tell that something was different this time round – he became even stricter during their training sessions. It was clear that their boss wanted to win the derby match.

It was not just Dunn. All the Notts County players wanted to win as well.

Both Notts County and Nottingham Forest were clubs from Nottingham, but they had very different fates. Nottingham Forest stood at the top, whereas Notts County could do nothing but gaze at them from below. Notts County might be playing in a lower league than Nottingham Forest, but that did not mean that their players did not have big dreams. They, too, longed to be like the Nottingham Forest players, and that was why the Premier League clubs were always able to attract many of their players over to their clubs year in and year out.

Men should always aim to reach greater heights, after all…

There was no such thing as loyalty. The talented players would only stay loyal to powerful clubs.

The Notts County players wanted to defeat the former Champions League winner Nottingham Forest to prove their abilities. It would be great if they could help their team get promoted to the Premier League, but even if they failed to do so, they would still be able to make use of the match to attract the attention of the various football teams in the top leagues and increase their chances of transferring to a better team.

To the Nottingham Forest players, this derby match was just like any other FA Cup match. The two teams were simply not on the same level ability-wise. However, to the Notts County players, this was a once in a lifetime chance to defeat Nottingham Forest. They were just like carps that had been given a springboard to help them leap through the Dragon’s Gate [1].

Tang Jing was able to discern the restlessness of her husband. Dunn has always been lost in thought recently, and his brows were forever knotted in frustration. He would lock himself in the study room until past midnight, and he paid no attention to their child at all either. Not only that, her relationship with her husband has become distant in recent days as well…

Tang Jing was worried that her marriage would be doomed if she allowed the situation to go on.

She wanted to talk to her husband regarding whatever was troubling him. Her shy and introverted husband has never been so restless before.

Actually, if Tang Jing had seen what Dunn was like before the 31st December of 2002, she would not be this confused now.

The Dunn from before 31st December 2002 was just like the Dunn of today. The only difference was that he was single back then, and no one else would be able to see him lock himself in the room and discern his restlessness. To everyone else, he was just like a statue with an indifferent exterior.

Tonight was the night before the derby match, and her husband did not seem as restless as before. This could be the best chance to speak to him. Tang Jing made use of the rare free time that she had after putting her baby to bed to head over to the study room. She quietly pushed open the door and tiptoed behind her husband before wrapping her arms around his neck.

Tang Jing felt her husband struggle in her embrace for a moment, but he quickly relaxed after realizing that it was her.

“I think there’s something off about you for the past few days, dear.” Tang Jing tried her best to speak to Dunn in a gentle voice. She did not want to provoke him. “What happened? You’ve been a manager for seven years, but this is the first time that I’ve seen you like this…”

Dunn did not answer his wife’s question directly. He lifted his head upwards to look at Tang Jing, who stood behind him, and said, “There’s a derby match tomorrow.”

It took Tang Jing a few seconds to react – this was the very first derby match that her husband had encountered as the manager of Notts County. The word ‘derby’ had a very, very special meaning in the football world, and as a former football reporter, it was impossible for Tang Jing not to know it. However, she still could not help but be confused: Notts County and Nottingham Forest were not on the same level, which meant that there was not much rivalry between the two sides. They rarely had the chance to face each other in a match, and there was no direct conflict of interest either. Unlike the AC Milan and Inter Milan fans, the fans from both teams would not get into fights with each other over the league trophy. The rivalry between them did not span hundreds of years like between Real Madrid and Barcelona either. In addition, the derby did not involve religion and was not as frightening as the ‘Old Firm Derby’ between Celtic F.C. and Rangers F.C. as well.

Why would her husband care about the derby match between Notts County and Nottingham Forest when their rivalry was not as great as among those other clubs?

Dunn placed his hands over his wife’s. “My opponent for tomorrow’s match is Tony Twain.”

“Aren’t the two of you friends?” Tang Jing was baffled. Twain was probably the only person whom she had been jealous of in the past. There were times where she felt that her husband cared more about Twain than about her.

“It’s precisely because he’s a friend that I have to defeat him.”

That was all Dunn said. He did not explain further.

Tang Jing turned around and stared at Dunn’s face for a while before turning to leave.

“Friendship between men sure is hard to understand.”

Dunn smiled wryly to himself as he watched his wife close the door to the study room.

There would always be words one couldn’t say to others, even if that other person was one’s other half. His wife would never be able to accept the fact that he was actually a soul that had taken over another human’s body. This was an extremely complicated issue to talk about, and it involved very deep ethical problems as well. Dunn did not wish to think about it, but there was one thing he was certain of: the relationship that he had with Twain was definitely not as simple as just that of ‘friends’.

Looking back now, he could not help but wonder if he was the one who had snatched Twain’s body or if Twain was the one who had snatched his. It was impossible to tell any longer. However, it did not matter either way since he was still in a job related to football. He was just working for a different team. Would he be doing much better than he was now if the switch had not happened back then? Or perhaps… Would he be doing much better than Twain was now?

It was meaningless to think about such questions since he was certain that those scenarios would definitely not happen. However, those thoughts kept haunting him over the past few days. He was just like a possessed man who could not stop thinking about those impossibilities.

The glory that Tony Twain – a man whose body had been taken over by another soul – achieved was like a mountain that stood before Dunn. It blocked the sun and cast a huge shadow upon him.

Dunn felt as though he was living in perpetual darkness. Was he really going to live in this never-ending shadow forever?

He would just be called ‘Twain’s successor’ when he took over at Nottingham Forest next season. If that was the case, why did he agree to Twain’s invitation to return to Nottingham Forest next season?

No. He had to defeat Twain!

That was possibly the only way that he would be able to prove to himself he was not the terrified and helpless lad from 16 years ago anymore.

※※※

Twain’s gloomy face probably caused the Nottingham Forest players who regarded the derby match to be nothing more than a practice game to stop belittling their opponents.

“Do I need to remind everyone that this is a derby?”

It was halftime during the FA Cup match between Nottingham Forest and Notts County, and the home team, Nottingham Forest, was trailing by 0:1 at the Crimson Stadium.

Chen Jian had a five-minute meeting with the fans in the stadium prior to the match. He was not some famous superstar player, but the fans still gave him their warmest applause. He juggled the ball before approximately 60,000 fans and subsequently held the Forest scarf before him as a display of loyalty to the club. However, the meeting was not entirely amicable because he heard numerous boos from the stands – most of which came from the Notts County fans.

The Chinese reporters who had gathered at the Crimson Stadium to report on Chen Jian’s debut match must have been disappointed by the fact that Chen Jian did not start in the match. None of the British reporters appeared to care about who Chen Jian was either. Their attention was focused solely on Forest’s terrible performance on the pitch.

They were making comments such as:

“Why does George lack support in the midfield?”

“Gago has really gotten on with age…”

“Look at how the Forest players are performing when they are a goal down. It’s really hard to watch them play now.”

“Mitchell’s not able to receive a pass from the midfield at all, and Balotelli’s just like a headless chicken. He’s clearly not playing well in this match.”

Forest was not able to change the score at halftime even though they were the team with more shots at the goal.

“I’ve suddenly remembered a story. Who wants to hear it?” Twain said before his depressed players whose heads hung low. “We used ten years to build a huge empire. Back then, there was no one on the entire continent who dared to go against us. Our red flags could be seen at every nook and cranny of the continent. Those were such good times…” He lifted his head upwards to stare at the ceiling. It was as though he could see the scenes of those red flags across the world in his mind’s eye.

“The war ended soon after, and everything was peaceful. The cavalry returned to their homes and the calm lives that they led gradually wore away their courage and fight. Thus, when war broke out once again four years later, even the opponents whom we did not think highly of previously could defeat us!” Twain walked to the front of the players and bent over to look at each and every one of them. “Can your horses still run? Can your bodies still carry the burden of your armor? Can your hands still hold your spears? Can your hearts…”

Twain pounded his chest once.

“…Still beat along to the sounds of the war drums?”

Twain suddenly raised his voice and hollered.

His holler was so loud that several players raised their heads in shock.

Twain suddenly remembered a Chinese saying as he stared at the countless startled faces before him:

“Lian Po is old. Can he still eat much?” [2]

Lian Po is old…

Can he still eat much?

※※※

“We have taken the lead, and that’s a good thing. But I don’t want any of you to be too proud of that…” While Twain was trying his hardest to boost the morale of his players, Dunn was thinking about how to curb his players from getting ahead of themselves. “All of you have to remember this. We are facing off with a Premier League team that has lifted the Champions League trophy five times…”

One of his players cut him off. “Boss, that happened four years ago. In addition, the Forest team from back then is very different from the Forest team now. A lot of the players have been changed…”

Dunn looked at the player who had stood up to challenge him. He was the core of their team, Paul Johnson, who wore the number 10 on his shirt. He was just twenty years of age this year, but he was already a starting player for England’s U21 national team. Numerous Premier League clubs were paying attention to him, and he would probably not be a Notts County player after the season ended.

“You are right, Paul. They won their last Champions League trophy four years ago, and they have changed many of their players since then as well. But the person who is at the helm for this match is Tony Twain.”

The name ‘Tony Twain’ was a household name in England, and Paul Johnson could not help but back off a little after hearing it. However, he still did not agree with Dunn’s words. To him, the players were the ones who decided the outcome of a match, not the managers.

Dunn did not want to argue with Johnson over Tony Twain’s importance to Forest. Johnson would most likely not understand even if he explained in detail.

He focused his attention on explaining his tactics for the second half.

“Forest will definitely go on the counter-attack in the second half, but we will not strengthen our defense to deal with their attacks.” Dunn was not like Twain. He did not value defense above everything else, and he did not believe in keeping a 1:0 scoreline. “Tony Twain will do everything in his power not to allow his team to lose to us at home because this is a derby.”

And because this would probably be the one and only time we’d get to compete against each other. Dunn kept this thought to himself.

“We’d be done for if we retreat backward to defend. Therefore, I want all of you to continue going on the attack in the second half. I want all of you to push Nottingham Forest back with your attacks.”

Johnson was right about one thing. The Forest team now was nothing like the Forest team from four years ago. It did not matter how good Twain was. He would not be able to play in the match in his players’ stead. Tactics were one thing, and the players’ performance on the pitch was another. What the Forest players lacked at the moment was the belief that they could win, as well as the fighting spirit to achieve victory. Forest was a team that has gotten used to not playing well, and that was precisely why his team should continue to pile pressure and create difficult situations for them to play in. Doing so would undoubtedly allow his players to gain the upper hand in the match.

Focusing solely on defense was not an option for his team. Retreating backward to defend would only boost the Forest players’ confidence. When that happened, Tony’s roars by the side of the pitch and the change in the mentality of the players would become the trigger needed to shift the momentum of the match in Forest’s favor. Dunn wanted to stop that from happening at all costs.

Dunn knew very well what sort of person his opponent was. He was the kind of man who would grasp at the slightest of chances to shift the game in his favor. All the opponents who have fallen before Twain in the past have proven one fact countless times: one had to be merciless when going against Twain. One had to make use of any lead one might have in the match and attack him ferociously. One could not relax even when he was down. One needed to stab him a few more times and decapitate him before one could even take a breather.

“We have restrained Wood and Gago very well in the first half, and we’ll continue to do just that in the second half. Isolate Wood and cut off all passes that they can make to each other. It’s okay to let Gago attack since he has gotten old and is no longer a player we should fear.”

“Balotelli is the player who acts as the link between the backfield and the midfield. He has a very good technique and is good at dribbling as well. Thus, all of you should hold your positions instead of pouncing at him. He would not be able to influence the match in any way as long as you stay at your positions. He has been very poor when taking the set pieces so far, so don’t be afraid to commit fouls on him.”

“We must continue to make use of the set pieces that we were given to score goals. Do all of you still remember the tactics that we practiced during our training sessions regarding how we should take set pieces? Johnson would be the player to take our team’s set-pieces. He’d choose the most suitable tactic to use based on the situation on the pitch. I leave everything to him.”

“Reduce the number of dribbles you make. Make use of your runs and passes to slice open the opposition’s defense. George Wood might be an excellent player, but he is still only human. He’ll tire fast if you pass the ball about quickly and force him to chase it all over the pitch. I want all of you to run forward after making a pass. You’ll be able to rattle their defense by doing so…”

Dunn issued one command after another. He was intent on pushing his best friend into the abyss.

This was how one should deal with Twain – deliver the finishing blow when he was down and low.

The smiles on the players’ faces gradually vanished as they listened to Dunn’s tactics. They suddenly understood what kind of match it was after experiencing the joy of taking the lead.

The boss has never been this serious before.

This was a derby match!

1. According to Chinese mythology, a carp will be transformed into a dragon when it leaps over the Dragon’s Gate, which is located at the top of a waterfall.

2. Lian Po was a military general of the Zhao state. The meaning behind the saying is that a soldier still has to fight for his country even in old age. How much a person is able to eat was seen as a sign of the person’s physical condition in the past, which was why they would ask if a person can eat a lot to determine if he was fit for war. Twain was implying that the Nottingham Forest players, whom he likened to ‘soldiers’, should still be fighting even if they were ‘old’.