Godfather Of Champions

Twain recalled the interaction between him and Roy Keane one and a half seasons ago. He thought that matter would go well and have a perfect ending. Like the happily ever after ending of a fairytale, Roy Keane would announce his free transfer to join Nottingham Forest and become one of the men under Twain’s command.

Unfortunately, not all stories were like the fairytales. Roy Keane’s obstinacy and loyalty exceeded his imagination. In the end, the two men met and parted again in the boundless sea of people, and the story did not happen.

Twain’s only gain from this was he had the friendship of the Irish guy. They got along well, and Keane had consulted Twain on some things about coaching during his recovery training with the Forest team. The proud Keane just raised questions about some issues which Twain answered. Other than that, Keane was not overly enthusiastic and curious about a manager’s career and performance. Keane had not decided to retire, and becoming a coach was just a dream.

However, Keane did say to Twain more than once that he wanted to be an outstanding manager like Ferguson and Clough after his retirement and be able to influence a new generation of players to go on the right career path.

He later joined the Celtic FC and left England. When he left, he published a heartwarming open letter to thank everyone, including the old Ferguson who kicked him out of the team. The only person he did not mention was Tony Twain. He said he would not make someone feel too good, and he was true to his word.

And now, after one and a half years later, he was back, bringing with him his dream to the stage that once belonged to him.

He was no longer “the Red Devils” Manchester United’s captain, nor the down and out player who had been kicked out the Manchester United Football Club, who had nowhere to go and was already in the late stage of his career. He wore a stylish suit, shiny leather shoes, and a dark red tie with a tie clip that had the Sunderland emblem.

He was now the manager of Sunderland, the newly promoted team in the new English Premier League season.

“Would you like me to address you as Mr. Keane? Or Manager Keane?” Twain asked when he met his old friend whom he had seen at a regular press conference the day before the game.

“You can address me with whichever you prefer. Both will do.”

In front of the reporters’ cameras, these two managers shook hands with smiles on their faces. But it was not a show in front of the public. Twain did not have many friends in the coaching world. Some people might not be Twain’s enemies, but certainly not friends. Luckily, Roy Keane was one of them.

“Then I’ll just call you Roy. It’s easier. I’ve heard about your results in the EFL Championship, and I have to say you have done beautifully!” As the pair shook hands and hugged, Twain spoke in a low voice next to Keane’s ear.

“Any better, it will only be ‘the second miraculous Tony Twain’s Nottingham Forest.” Roy Keane shrugged his shoulders and curled his lips as he spoke.

Roy Keane decided to retire after half a season at Celtic and took a break for some time. At the end of December, Sunderland came looking for him in the hope of hiring him as the manager of the “Black Cats.” Sunderland was at the bottom of the English Football League Championship at the time. Their aim for the season was to stay in the league and nothing else.

Before Roy Keane, Sunderland had looked for a number of other well-known or unknown managers, but no one was willing to take over the terrible mess. Some people discussed this issue at the League Managers Association. Many felt it would be a disaster to go to Sunderland to coach, or to put it nicely “a very risky gamble,” as the manager might go down with Sunderland to descend into League One, which was England’s third-tier league, the equivalent of the previous Football League Second Division.

Was there a manager willing to do something like this?

The matter was interesting to Twain. He obviously did not want to go there to coach, but he had a suitable candidate to recommend to Sunderland.

His advanced knowledge went until the first half of 2007 and was now completely ineffective. Even so, he faintly remembered that Roy Keane did coach Sunderland. He did not know when he started coaching the team, and whether he eventually succeeded in leading the team to stay in the league or be promoted. He also did not know the story behind Sunderland’s search for Roy to coach the team.

However, he had a chance to make this a reality.

Would Roy Keane become a brilliant manager and threaten Tony Twain’s results? Would he become a major character who would become Twain’s rival in the league tournament and the European arena in the future?

Twain did not know, and he did not want to. That was something for the future, and it was Keane’s own business. For the moment, he only thought that Roy had told him about his dream to become a manager more than once. Now that the opportunity was there, he could use the little prestige he had in the football world to help Roy. After all, they were friends.

He looked for Niall Quinn, the chairman of the Sunderland Club and recommended his former Republic of Ireland national football teammate to him.

Speaking of the young chairman of the Sunderland Club, there was also a well-known “feud” between him and Keane.

Quinn was the main center forward for the Republic of Ireland national team and also a loyal supporter of the Irish manager, McCarthy. In the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, when Keane and McCarthy fell out with each other, Quinn stood firmly behind the manager. Then during that season, when Manchester United challenged Sunderland in an away game, Keane elbowed a fellow Irish countryman, McAteer on the field and had an altercation with Quinn. Their relationship was not good, so Quinn did not choose Keane, who was idle at home, when the club could not find a manager.

At first, Quinn, who was also the club chairman, wanted to be the part-time team manager, but his first five games while in charge had no winning record, which brought the Irishman to his senses. He could rely on the strength of his hometown consortium to take over Sunderland, which was in the midst of a financial crisis, and then sat in the top position of a chairman, but he was not necessarily capable of leading a team to victory. So he looked for McCarthy, his mentor in the Republic of Ireland national team.

The man who was one of Keane’s most hated managers, did not succeed at Sunderland. He had a large role in Sunderland’s bottom rank. Unable to bear it any longer, the Sunderland board of directors decided to fire McCarthy two months later. As a consequence, until just before Christmas, Sunderland was temporarily helmed by their youth team manager. The team was demoralized and lost every game they played until they eventually slipped to the 20th place in the English Football League Championship — very last place.

The situation sounded familiar, like the Forest team’s situation when Twain first took over. The only way Sunderland was better than the Forest team was that they did not have a financial crisis. But if the team continued to lose and ended up in the third-tier league, no one dared to say that there would be no financial crisis.

Twain recommended Roy Keane to Quinn.

The reason for Twain’s recommendation was simple. “I think what your esteemed team needs is not money or a star player, but to get the players out of the dark place of continuous losses. In that regard, I believe Roy can be that leader who brings the victory back to the locker room and the stadium.”

Later, during the press conference for the announcement of the new manager, Quinn was asked why Roy Keane had been chosen and he repeated Twain’s remark verbatim to the media.

After Quinn listened to Twain’s recommendation, he weighed in on the pros and cons. He thought that with the current circumstances, his personal enmity was not worth a mention when compared to the club’s current status. Therefore, he took the initiative to find Keane and sincerely hoped that Keane would come on board as the Sunderland manager. At the same time, Twain made a phone call to Keane, suggesting he should take the opportunity. “If you’re worried about being inexperienced and leading the team to a poor performance, just take a look at Sunderland now. What do they have to lose? You’re just a rookie manager anyway, so no one’s going to have any unrealistic expectations of you. I think Sunderland is the best team to start your coaching career at the moment.”

That was how Roy Keane became the manager of the “Black Cats” Sunderland after Christmas.

The story that followed after was a replica of Twain’s first complete season. Keane injected a powerful drive into the team. As Twain said, Sunderland, who got rid of their despair, exploded with powerful fighting spirit. Supplemented by the financial support from the club’s board of directors and the loan of young players from Keane’s former club, Manchester United, Sunderland shot to the top from being at the bottom after half a season. They not only succeeded in staying in the league, but also won the right to participate in the qualifier for the next season’s Premier League.

Manager Roy Keane’s debut was absolutely stunning. No wonder the media linked the equally young manager who created the miracle with Tony Twain, arguing that Keane had the potential to become “Tony Twain 2.0.”

However, to the proud Keane, it was probably not a good thing to say, even if the comparison was with one of his good friends.

Twain understood that when Keane said. “Any better, it will only be ‘the second miraculous Tony Twain’s Nottingham Forest.” there was a bit of reluctance and dissatisfaction within those words. He just smiled, patted Keane on the shoulder, and he said nothing.

After the two managers sat down, they began to answer questions from reporters, which were mainly around the game to be played the next day. Some people asked the two men whether their friendship would affect the outcome of tomorrow’s game.

Twain fully expressed his imposing manner as the host. He stared at the reporter. “Are you suggesting that there could be unfairness in the game between our two teams?”

In fact, the reporter did not speak without thinking.

Because of Sunderland’s promotion and buying of players from everywhere to enhance their strength, Keane did his job through two means. One was to rely on the strong financial resources of the club’s board to buy players he was interested in from the transfer market. The second was to borrow talented young players from teams he had a better relationship with, thereby increasing the strength of the team’s bench. For example, he borrowed the center-backs Jonny Evans and Danny Simpson from Manchester United. Nottingham Forest was naturally the target of his loans. Twain happily allowed some of the best players in the youth team to go to see the world and accumulate competition experience to improve their own levels. Consequently, at the beginning of the new season, he took Adriano Moke from the youth team and sent him to Sunderland on loan. He also recommended the center-back Aaron Mitchell and several other young players to Keane, but Keane was not interested in them.

It was inevitable to arouse speculation when the two teams had this level of relationship.

Keane clarified with a firm look, “a personal friendship remains personal. A game is a game. I’ll have a drink with Twain after the game, but before then, we’ll be rivals.”

Twain looked at Keane and nodded. “When you all leave, he and I will start our fight right away. These are inside details that you won’t know.”

His earnest expression elicited a burst of laughter from the reporters, and the question that made the two managers feel awkward was glossed over.

After that, everyone asked several regular questions such as “what do you look forward to for the game?”, “Mr. Twain/Mr. Keane, what do you think of the Sunderland team/Nottingham Forest team?” The two managers gave answers and did not let the impressionable media get hold of any information that could be used against them.

After the press conference, Keane went to the stadium to watch the team’s adaptive training, and Twain went home to prepare for the next day’s game. As Keane said at the press conference, the two men need to put their personal friendship aside and concentrate on playing the role of the “rival” well. Therefore, Twain did not enthusiastically invite Keane to dinner, and Keane did not take the initiative to chat with Twain.

After the pair shook hands and said goodbye at the press conference, they parted ways.

※※※

When he got home, Dunn, who had waited for a long while, asked him, “how do you feel?”

“How does what feel?” Twain was confused by the question.

“Meeting an old friend again.” Dunn’s words were brief as usual.

Twain knew he was asking how he felt after meeting Keane. The routine press conference was boring, and he was certain the reporters felt the same way. There was no story going on at all. But he remembered his whispered conversation with Keane and a small detail came to mind.

“Ah, you mean Roy. Fortunately, I’m somewhat unfamiliar with Keane wearing a suit and tie. I’m more used to seeing him frenziedly block his opponent’s knee on the field in a Manchester United jersey.” Twain shrugged. “His results in the English Football League Championship last season were amazing. To be honest, when I recommended him to Quinn, I had no idea he would do so well.”

Dunn smiled. “Do you feel a threated by him now?”

Twain, who was pouring his own tea, looked back at Dunn, sitting on the couch and shook his head. “No. Far from it.”

“The cup is going to overflow.” Dunn pointed to the teapot in Twain’s hand.

Twain put the teapot down and lifted the teacups. He walked over with a cup for Dunn and a cup for himself to enjoy.

“For Roy…” He took a big sip of the tea before continuing. “To have such a stunning beginning may not necessarily be a good thing. Fate is a really wonderful thing. I think about it once in a while…” He glanced up at the bright red sky and the glowing clouds at dusk. It would be a fine day tomorrow.

“If Gavin did not have an accident, the team’s morale was high, I was in a good form, being able to lead the team to the Premier League at the end of the first season, then not being dismissed to return to the youth team, and Michael did not leave for the United States… now four years later, could I still be able to appear in public as a manager who won the Champions League and the Super Cup?” Twain murmured as he looked out of the window. “I do not know… I really don’t know.”

“Some things appeared to be abrupt and accidental at the time. But after a long time, I have to admit… they are connected with the present. ‘When Heaven is about to confer a great responsibility on a man, it will first fill his spirit with suffering, toil his muscles and bones, expose his body to hunger, subject him to extreme poverty, confound his journey with setbacks and troubles, so as to stimulate his alertness and toughen his nature, to eventually bridge his incompetence gap and prepare him for the task.”’ Twain recited a passage from Mencius. Anyone who had received nine years of compulsory education in China would know it. “This was passed down from the Chinese ancestors. Honestly, I hate the allegory. Why must we accept failure in order to succeed? Why must failure be the mother of success? But… unfortunately, whether I like it or not, it does make sense. It has been handed down for more than two thousand years, which shows that it is a wise saying and that there is a reason for its existence and staying power. This is the law of nature which man cannot contend against. Do you understand, Dunn?”

Dunn nodded. Although he was not an authentic Chinese, he understood the meaning of these remarks as well.

“I… I’ve been through a lot of things, good and bad… That’s why I achieved what I’ve achieved today. It’s cause and effect. As for Roy, success that comes too fast is not very good for his future coaching career.” Twain took his eyes off the sky outside the window, turned to look at Dunn, and laughed. “If Heaven wants a man to achieve great things, he must first polish him and let him experience failure, frustration, and hardship. But Roy has not experienced these yet and he came to the English Premier League, wearing the ‘genius coach’ hat. It’s not right, it’s not reasonable, there’s something wrong with Heaven.” He pointed to the sky outside.

“So, I’ve decided… it’s up to me to enforce justice on behalf of Heaven.”

If you want to win, just come right out and say it… Dunn thought to himself.