Godfather Of Champions

Despite Twain’s remark that “the players are not men if they lose”, he was still worried. He might appear to be confident, in fact, his inner pressure was no less than anyone else. One must know that the pressure on the players if they lost the game, would only last from the pitch to their home, while the pressure on the manager could last for days. Therefore, he could not be negligent.

In addition to using words to motivate the players, he must think of other ways.

The Inter Milan team had already arrived in Nottingham. Mourinho joked in an interview at London’s Heathrow airport that he did not think he was competing in an away game because he was very familiar with many things in England. Mourinho’s face looked relaxed and smiling in the television frame. He appeared to have a card up his sleeve. And he did not care that the reporters mentioned Nottingham Forest’s two away goals in front of him.

“I think it’s a good thing for us. Yes, Nottingham Forest has two away goals. At the same time, they only have two away goals while we’re not the same. Our away game hasn’t started yet. Why can’t we score three goals at the City Ground stadium?”

Looking at his tone and demeanor, it made people doubt that it was him and not Tony Twain who had the advantage of the away goals…

※※※

“It’s psychological warfare.” Twain’s snorted, “Mourinho lacks new ideas. He has taken a step backwards from staying in Italy for too long. He used to be like a sharp-toothed kitten.”

Twain did not have to worry that the walls had ears in his office or that the paparazzi would put miniature cameras and microphones in his domain, so he could sneer at Mourinho without fear.

Kerslake guffawed when he heard Twain’s analogy. He neither liked nor disliked Mourinho himself, but he clearly did not like “Mourinho the enemy.”

After commenting on his opponent, Twain looked at his assistant, Dunn.

“Dunn, have you prepared the thing?”

Dunn nodded and handed a disc to Twain. Twain did not put it on the CD-ROM, but repeatedly played with it in his hand. The disc’s surface reflected his face, somewhat blurry.

“I’ve decided to let them watch it twenty minutes before the game.” He spun the disc around with his index finger.

“What’s that?” Kerslake was a little curious.

“Something not nice for us.” Twain glance at Dunn. In fact, it was not really a good thing for Dunn. It was probably the biggest defeat he faced since he took charge of coaching Nottingham Forest alone. He wanted to give Dunn some face and did not want to say it too obviously.

“It was the Champions League quarterfinal series of the 2008-09 season, Nottingham Forest’s home game against Inter Milan.” Dunn himself introduced it.

“Ah, that game…” Kerslake was no longer curious. That game was a painful memory. If he could, he really did not want to think about it again. “Tony, you… Why do you want them to watch that?”

“Let them revive the old dream.” Twain shrugged.

“That was a nightmare…” Kerslake cried.

“Revisiting a beautiful old dream will only deprive them of the motivation to move forward. I don’t think the stimulus is enough.”

Kerslake knew that Twain was someone who kept his word. His lips quivered a little and he stopped speaking. He just cast a sympathetic glance at Dunn. After all, Dunn personally directed that game… He suddenly realized in a flash what it meant to “do whatever it takes to win.”

Dunn had no objection and said, “Tony had discussed it with me, and I agreed. I also think it’s a good idea.”

Dunn personally cut, edited and burnt the CD-ROM, in order to meet Twain’s requirements. To make the video more impactful, he needed to watch the game many times and select the best scenes to edit and put together. For Dunn, it was like looking in the mirror at his own worst moments to repeatedly watch the scenes and place his own shortcomings under the microscope to analyze them. No one liked this kind of feeling.

But Dunn must do this kind of job for the team’s requirements.

Kerslake felt it was a hard job to be Tony’s assistant, but fortunately it was Dunn and not him…

“That’s it, guys. Let’s give Mourinho a lively welcome party!”

※※※

On the day of the match, throngs of crowds milled around the City Ground stadium, with a large number of fans walking along the banks of River Trent to the City Ground stadium. A lot of fans were already in the stands, including Nottingham’s most die-hard fan group, John, Bill and the others from the Forest Bar.

They arrived in the stadium ahead of time and were busy hanging the banners.

“Welcome back to England, welcome to the City Ground stadium, José!”

The first sentence appeared as if Mourinho and them were really friendly, but the following sentence exposed the hostile relationship between both rivals: “You won’t win this time too!”

The Inter Milan fans were certainly not to be outdone. They also had their way to fight back.

A group of Inter Milan fans hung a banner with the score below the stands. The score of 2:0 and 3:0 were written on it, of which 2:0 was the score at Inter Milan’s home ground, and 3:0 was the record they wrote in the City Ground stadium.

Since Nottingham Forest entered Tony Twain’s era, no team had ever scored three goals at the City Ground stadium and kept Nottingham Forest from scoring. Mourinho did it.

The matter would not have been worth a mention, but due to Tony Twain’s repeated provocations, the Inter Milan fans simply wrote in bleeding colors to provoke the Nottingham Forest fans as a counter response to their constant provocations.

These two games, especially the score at the home ground, were indeed a “painful memory” for the Nottingham Forest fans.

They had let the opponent scored five goals for the home and away matches and failed to score even one goal. In that game at the City Ground stadium, the Forest players bottled up their energy and wanted to teach Inter Milan a lesson when they got back to the home side. No one expected Inter Milan caught hold of the Forest team’s over eagerness to press for an attacking goal and successfully snuck an attack when the game started. After leading by three goals, Inter Milan played more comfortably, and Nottingham Forest played increasingly anxious. The whole team counted on their acting manager, Dunn to be able to step up and try hard to save a desperate crisis. Dunn could only look on helplessly at the field and completely did not know what to do. He usually prepared a full head of football technical and tactical knowledge. But at this moment, he could not even apply it in the slightest bit.

In the end, the team played more and more chaotically. Inter Milan took the opportunity to score consecutive goals and utterly crushed the Nottingham Forest players’ fighting spirit with 3:0. Then the game went into garbage time.

After the game, the local media in Nottingham angrily stated that, judging by the performance of the game, if Inter Milan had scored another goal, the Nottingham Forest players would have to collectively hold their hands up and kneel for mercy.

Even the Forest fans, who almost never booed their own team in the stands, could not help but hiss too.

After that game, countless Nottingham Forest fans gathered in all the major bars to talk about the same issue—

What would it look like if Tony was still there?

Now they had a chance to find out the answer.

※※※

The buses for both teams’ players arrived in the stadium for the pre-match warm-up. But the Nottingham Forest players came earlier. About only a quarter of the crowd sat in the stands when they entered the stadium to warm up, while the Inter Milan players had just left the hotel where they stayed at.

When the Inter Milan players arrived at the stadium at a regular time to carry out the warm-up, they found that the Nottingham Forest players were getting ready to leave.

This surprised some people because, as was customary, everyone came out together to warm up at the same time. So why did the Nottingham Forest players finish the warm-up so early? With more than half an hour to go before the game starts, what were they doing in the locker room now? Take a bath and a nap after?

The Nottingham Forest players brushed past the Inter Milan players; they did not care about the puzzled looks from the Inter Milan players.

All this, of course, was arranged by the boss. He asked the team to make use the home team’s advantage to come into the City Ground stadium early, start warming up, and then return to the locker room. He had a mysterious and exciting thing to show everyone…

Everyone was guessing what it meant for the boss to suddenly rack his brains to show a “film” half an hour before the game to everyone. Who was still in the mindset to watch a film at this time?

Twain smiled and did not speak. After everyone entered the locker room, he switched off the lights, turned on the DVD projector and television.

After a brief black screen, a sound rang out in the small space of the locker room:

“Ibrahimović!! Ibrahimović!! A beautiful turn to shoot! Just three minutes into the game, Inter Milan obtained an incredible lead! Now Inter Milan is already 3:0 ahead of Nottingham Forest! Poor Nottingham Forest… Of course, they want to bring down Inter Milan at home, but they did not expect to concede another goal. It’s not easy to play this game…”

Many of the Forest players in the locker room changed faces. They might have made a lot of guesses, but no one expected the boss to show them this … The players who had experienced that game would not easily forget the humiliation—the home fans actually booed the team they originally supported team. They clearly had the drive but could not execute it. They could only run back and forth behind the opponent. The pace of the game was controlled by Inter Milan right from the beginning. They did not even have the power to fight back.

He did not even have to worry about the Forest players who had not played the game. Dunn’s excellent clip was enough to give them an immersive experience of that 0:3 game.

Three minutes into the opening, Ibrahimović scored a goal.

Then it was followed by another goal at the start of the second half. By this time, Inter Milan already had a 4:0 lead over Nottingham Forest and even had scored two away goals. Nottingham Forest needed to score at least five goals in the remaining forty minutes if they wanted to qualify and not let their opponents continue to score. It was an impossible task for a team like the Forest team.

Eventually, there were fans in the stands who could not stand the ordeal and emitted shrill boos. Finally, the sporadic boos joined together, and became an unstoppable mainstream voice. The commentator’s voice sounded even more piercing amid the booing, “Even since Tony Twain became the manage of this time, there had never been anything like it in a game. The fans, labelled as the most loyal fans in the Premier League, actually boo their home team… I don’t even know what to say… The Nottingham Forest players’ performance are really terrible!”

The players who had played in that game seemed to go back to that day and relive the scene, which made them all bow their heads and not want to watch the television screen. If possible, they even wanted to cover their ears. The booing was so shrill that it was as if there were needles poking at their hearts.

Whereas the players who joined the team later understood when they watched the game—to Nottingham Forest, which was the defending champion at the time, it was a heavy blow for Nottingham Forest, which was once successful, fearless and thought that the whole world was in their hands…

this time? Samuel! In the chaos in front of the goal, Samuel got the ball. There was no Nottingham Forest player around him! It’s incredible! … 3:0! Inter Milan is ahead of Nottingham Forest by 5:0! The game ends in twenty minutes, but I’d say… looking at the performance of the Nottingham Forest players, the game has now entered garbage time ahead of schedule.”

No one could stare indifferently at the screen after hearing that, except for Tony Twain.

The coaches, including Dunn and Kerslake, averted their eyes from the television screen. They also did not want to relive the nightmare.

Twain was the devil for forcing them to recall such a cruel game. And he was still smiling—the light from the television screen shone on Twain’s face. That expression should be a smile!

After the video clip of the game finished playing, Twain did not turn on the lights immediately. Instead, he told everyone in the dark with his hoarse voice why he did this.

In this kind of environment, his voice sounded as if it came from the depths of hell. It was hoarse, sometimes low, sometimes sharp, and uncomfortable to listen to.

“Is anyone still speculating as to why I’m showing you something like this? I know that game is definitely not a ‘good memory’ for some people. I just hope you know that we can laugh at some failures and they will pass. Some failures we absolutely cannot forget! What do you do if the enemy wants to humiliate you? Obediently climb through under his pants?! No! That’s not our style! You should use your head to knock their testicles above when you climb under his pants! Knock him to the ground and stamp with your feet! Stamp! Crush! Until his balls burst! If you don’t want this game to happen again to you, if you don’t want your own supporters to switch sides and cheer for your opponent, if you don’t want the enemy to mock you as a bunch of sissies after they beat you, then remember to win this game! We lost by 0:3! It’s like being pinned under and gang-raped by eleven strong men, too powerless to fight back! Do you like to be gang-raped? I don’t like it! I feel sick!”

Twain finished saying that before he turned on the lights in the locker room.

The light was restored instantly which many people had not adjusted to yet. They covered their faces and squinted their eyes to hide in the shadows.

“How does it feel to be back to reality?” Tony Twain’s tone and emphasis did a one hundred and eighty degree turn when he opened his mouth again, completely without the previous sternness and rebuke. His squinted eyes and smiling face looked really harmless. But anyone who knew him was aware that this version of Tony Twain was more dangerous. “A lot of you must be relieved—fortunately it was only a dream, right? But dreams and reality are closely linked. Now that Inter Milan is at our door, is this still a dream? If you’re not careful, the nightmare just now will come back! I don’t want to hear the boos from the home fans on my own pitch. I’ll never want that in my lifetime ever! You know what to do, don’t you?”

“Yes, boss!” Was there any fool who would say “I don’t know?”

“That’s great.” Twain put his hands together and said, “Remember the feeling you had in the dark just now. Never forget, guys! That’s the most valuable asset of your career…”