Godfather Of Champions

The room lapsed into silence. As Uncle Wang turned his attention back to Forest’s players, his mind churned, thinking about how he should interview the manager of Forest, who was said to be rather erratic, to successfully extract the news he wanted to hear. Meanwhile, Tang Jing continued staring at Tony’s back, as if she could see right through him.

At that moment, the sound of a whistle pierced through the silence in the office.

Tang Jing noticed that it came from Tony; a whistle was in his hand when he put it down. Following that, he waved to the Assistant Manager on the training grounds and exchanged some words before turning to walk to the exit of the training grounds.

The manager was finally coming to speak to them.

The two reporters went back to their seats. Uncle Wang even lifted the teacup to his mouth in an act of sampling the tea.

Swiftly, hurried steps rang from the corridor outside the door. It swung open. The manager, who was said to only give exclusive interviews to Nottingham Evening Post, at long last appeared before the two Chinese reporters.

“You guys act quickly. I didn’t think I would see you before the team’s training ended.”

A fluent conversant in Mandarin with a less-than-appealing tone was the first impression Tang En gave to them.

“Let me introduce ourselves. We are London-based journalists from Titan Sports. I’m Wang Huasheng, and she’s Tang Jing.”

It was Uncle Wang who responded quickly. He hurriedly stood and introduced them, smoothly getting past the awkward opening lines.

“You speak Mandarin well, Mr. Twain.”

Tang En beamed and said, “Thank you. Of course, I am fond of China. As you know, I very rarely accept interviews from other agencies. My interviews are usually published only on the Nottingham Evening Post, but for the sake of guests who have come from afar, I’ll make an exception.”

Tang En said that without a red face or any unevenness in his tone.

“Mr. Wang, Ms. Tang…” Tang En shook their hands one after another before walking over to his desk. “Welcome to Wilford. I apologize, however, that we only have 15 minutes. In a while, I’ll have to return…” Tang En said as he indicated to the training grounds behind him.

Wang Huasheng nodded his understanding while Tang Jing maintained a professional smile but said nothing.

In that manner, the interview officially began.

“First, I have a question that I hope can be answered by you. Forest’s interest towards Sun Jihai is something I made mention of over the phone to Pearce. How did the media get hold of that news so quickly?”

Tang En sat on a corner of his desk and looked to the two Chinese reporters.

“Stuart Pearce approached Sun Jihai’s agent. And then the matter got discovered by us.” Wang Huasheng answered honestly.

Tang En was shocked to hear that answer; Pearce actually went to look for Sun Jihai’s agent?! What did it mean? Did Stuart really want to sell off Sun Jihai?

Oh, no. How could this be dealt with?

“Ah… This is indeed the age of information…” Tang En laughed dryly. “Regarding Sun Jihai… I like him very much. His technique is excellent, and most importantly, he can play in many positions. I believe no manager would refuse to have such a player on their team.”

While it sounded like Tang En was praising Sun Jihai and he gave off an impression that Forest coveted him, he said it in truth for Pearce to hear: Look, Sun Jihai is that important; he can play any position! He could be moved to anywhere that needed him. It would be better for you to hold onto him and give us Richards!

“But Sun Jihai is a main player in Man City. Isn’t Forest’s current main right back Chimbonda?” Tang Jing, who had been quiet, finally spoke.

The subtext of that question was, “Aren’t you just buying Sun Jihai to be the substitute of the French lad? You’re using our national team player as a substitute for someone who isn’t even playing for their national team?”

Tang En took notice of the woman. He felt that she was somewhat familiar, but could not place where he had met her before.

“Ms. Tang… do you know what’s most important to a team playing in multiple leagues? Which team would play an entire season with only a single line-up? For an English Premier League team, just playing in the league itself would include 38 matches in the season. In addition to that, there are still two domestic cups, warm-up matches pre-season, and the Champions League; that’s a total of about 60 matches. Do you think just a fixed line-up of 11 players would be able to play through all those matches?”

Maybe it was because Tang Jing was the daughter of the agency’s head, but Wang Huasheng was always polite in the way he spoke to her. Even when he was criticizing her, he would do it tactfully and in a joking manner. But Tang En did not care for that. He did not know who this Tang Jing was, and even if he did, it would not be enough to counteract his displeasure towards this reporter who liked flaunting her tiny bit of soccer understanding.

Catching the scent of gunpowder in Tang En’s words, Wang Huasheng quickly made a move to change the topic.

“Would Forest be using a rotation system?”

Tang En glanced at Huasheng, nodding. “That’s right.” He replied, letting the female reporter off.

“Sun Jihai is an extremely helpful addition to our line-up. With his presence, I have greater leeway in reselecting players when deciding on the formation and strategy. Additionally, Sun Jihai has a streak of toughness found in the Chinese; he’s grounded and hardworking. I am fond of such players.”

Tang En suddenly felt disturbed. The more he talked, the more he felt that Sun Jihai was more suitable than Richards… He was mature, experienced, and did not have many ridiculous demands… An old veteran who had already seen through both glory and dishonor; wasn’t he better suited to the current Forest team than a mere boy?

Wang Huasheng was tremendously satisfied by Tang En’s answer. From it, he heard Forest’s sincerity… As for Tang Jing, she fell silent after the bout of admonition from Tang En. Following that, practically the entire interview process took place within the conversation of Huasheng and Tang En. It made Tang Jing look rather irrelevant.

The topic after Sun Jihai moved towards Tang En’s personal interests. The two of them began chatting about Tang En’s fondness for Chinese culture. Wang Huasheng was surprised to find that Tang En was practically a China expert. His understanding of China was not shallow; instead, he had his own comprehensive views about everything in China. After coming to know that Tang En liked Chinese culture, Wang Huasheng had assumed that it was the gimmick of one of those foreigners who liked eating Chinese cuisine – the kind that thought themselves able to speak Mandarin if they knew how to say “hello.”

He was completely taken aback by the situation. “Mr. Tony, your knowledge of China is as if you have lived in China for several decades, or perhaps you were originally Chinese!” Wang Huasheng said, sincerely expressing his admiration at the end of the interview.

Tang En smiled, replying modestly that he barely knew the tip of the iceberg. In truth, he was beaming happily in his heart:

Your sixth sense is truly on point, Mr. Wang! Originally, I was Chinese!

※※※

After sending away his guests, Tang En stood in his office watching the team, who had already begun training. Thinking back on his own words about Sun Jihai, his brow tightened even further. His heart was starting to waver – should he be pursuing Richards, or buying Sun Jihai?

Richards was a future investment, but Pearce was unwilling to hand over Man City’s future to Nottingham Forest.

On the other hand, Sun Jihai’s edge came from his experience. If Tang En wanted to buy him, now was the time. It would stabilize the team greatly. Tang En did not know which the better choice was. From a perspective of ease, Sun Jihai was much easier to attain than Richards. For the time being, the question had no answer. Tang En massaged his temple as he walked out to the training grounds.

※※※

On the other side. Wang Huasheng looked back at the gates of Wilford Training Grounds. Meanwhile, Tang Jing was rushing him as she sat in the car.

“Wang, what are you doing? We should go.” She had arrived in high spirits but was returning in disappointment.

“Oh… yes, yes.” Uncle Wang opened the side door and entered, pulling on his seatbelt. As he fiddled with it, he asked casually, “Tang Jing, do you still remember… when we attended the reception organized by the League Managers’ Association two years ago?”

Tang Jing nodded. “Of course. That was when I came to play in the UK during my vacation. I became very interested after hearing about the reception, and you went to great lengths to obtain a reporter’s pass for me to get in.”

“Do you remember that we had interviewed Forest Team’s legendary manager, Brian Clough, at that time?”

“Wasn’t it that old man with a flushed face, holding a wine flute? I remember. He’s quite unique. He is completely worthy of the title of ‘legendary.'”

Wang Huasheng laughed as he listened to Tang Jing’s description. “Back then, we asked him why he chose not to be England’s National Team Manager despite so many voices in favor of it; he let Robson take the job. He waved over a young man and asked him to get Robson for us… do you have any memory of that?”

Tang Jing’s brows furrowed in thought. Then she nodded. “Yes. I thought that the young man was Clough’s son or some supervising physician from the hospital. Hadn’t Clough just undergone a liver transplant surgery?”

Huasheng looked at Tang Jing and said, “That was Tony Twain, Nottingham Forest’s current manager. He’s thought by the English themselves to be the person most like Brian Clough.”

Saying that, he turned again to glance at the gates of Forest’s training grounds before dipping his head, starting up the car. He purposefully avoided looking at Tang Jing’s expression.

“Let’s go. We’ve got to hand our report in!”