champion godfather

Chapter 4 Training Session

In the morning of Nottingham in winter, the dawn is relatively late, but there are already more pedestrians on the road, everyone is busy going to work, and those students studying abroad have to go out to school.This is an old and young city, full of vitality everywhere, not like the old industrial cities like Manchester and Liverpool, which are sluggish.

Tang En yawned while walking on the sidewalk.Young people ran past him in groups, in stark contrast to his listlessness.

Looking at those backs full of youthful vigor, Tang En could only complain in his heart about the terrible inertia left by his predecessor.Just like that rigid schedule, he opened his eyes on time at 06:30 this morning, and then couldn't fall asleep.He knew it was Tony's morning jog time, but he just didn't want to go for a run early in the morning. He hadn't done that kind of day since he passed the sports standard in the college entrance examination.

I stared at the ceiling in a daze on the bed until seven o’clock, then I got up and got some food, and then I was in a daze until seven forty, and finally couldn’t sit still, and decided to go to “work”.

The direct result of lack of sleep is that he has been yawning non-stop until now. In addition to the light rain falling in the winter morning, the temperature is very low. Wrapped in a black coat, he shrank his neck like a drug addict.

Twenty minutes later, when Tang En stood at the gate of the training base, he was a little surprised.He looked at his watch and confirmed that it was three past eight. "Why is it so quiet? Is the New Year's holiday not over yet?" Tang En was a little puzzled. The entrance of the training base was really deserted to the point of "a deserted place". When he came, he saw a few sparrows parked in front of the gate and heard his call The sound of footsteps flew up suddenly.

More surprised than him was the guard Ian McDonald: "Tony, it's not time to start training yet."

"Ah... oh. What time does the training start?" Tang En knew that he was ignorant again.Now he can only push all the reasons to the accident of landing on the back of his head.

"Nine o'clock in the morning." Macdonald said, looking at Tang En sympathetically. Of course, he had every reason to do so.

But Tang En didn't like being treated like a mentally ill person, so he glared at the other person: "Very well, then it's okay for me to come to the training base early, right?"

"Uh, of course..." Macdonald opened the door.

Tang En strolled in. This was the first time he had come to the training base of a professional team, and he felt somewhat excited.But a voice from behind spoiled his good mood: "Tony, your office is at the front, turn left, the third room in that white bungalow, with a huge floor-to-ceiling window..."

Tang En turned his head and thanked the enthusiastic old guard angrily: "Thank you Ian, but I know how to get there."

Yes, he knew.The memory of Tony Twain still remained in his mind, he was so familiar with this place, there was no sense of strangeness at all.

※※※

Entering his office and turning on the fluorescent lamp, the dimly lit room was suddenly filled with bright lights. This sudden change from darkness to light made Tang En involuntarily squint his eyes.

The first thing that catches the eye is a huge dark red boss desk.On the table is a computer, a pen holder, a phone, a few books, and nothing else.Behind the desk is a large swivel chair, which should be his place.It's just that the tables and chairs look a bit worn out and have a sense of history.

Tang En shrugged, English football is like this, emphasizing their history.

He walked over, sat down on the chair, and then turned back and forth, left and right, looking at the well-organized office and the empty training ground behind him, he just felt: cool!
Wow haha!I didn't expect that I would be the head coach of a professional team one day!Those people who laughed at me in the teahouse and bar all day long, if they knew that Tang En was sitting as the head coach of Nottingham Forest, I really don't know what their expressions would be... Tang En stroked his chin and smiled.

Tang En suddenly suppressed his smile, faced the direction of the door solemnly, and said in a very low voice: "Mr. Chairman, I promise to bring you a shining trophy at the end of the season. Yes, I promise... "

Then he got up, turned to the training field, pinched his chin, and frowned: "Hmm, I think that No. 7 seems to be out of shape, should we throw him to the reserve team?"

Immediately afterwards, he suddenly raised the volume and waved his arms: "Idiot! Cut in, don't just go to the bottom! Didn't you sleep at noon? Cut in and shoot from the enemy's ribs... insert it hard! Disturb Their defense, tearing their well-organized defense to shreds, resolved the battle unexpectedly quickly! Idiot!"

After shouting, he lowered his arms, feeling dull.Although he is called the head coach, he is actually a rookie.He didn't even know his own team. This was his first day of training, and he was terrified and uneasy.I don't know how my players will think of myself, the head coach who just made a fool of himself.Do they laugh at themselves?Will you look down on yourself?Will you despise yourself in your heart?
Tang En is like a fresh graduate waiting for an interview with the leader. This is related to whether he can find a job smoothly. This is a lifelong event!

He sat down again, leaned against the back of the chair, and stared at the training ground ecstatically.He didn't know how long he could stay in this position, maybe a week, maybe two weeks?Or stay until the end of the season?That's a good ending.A rookie head coach with no experience and no knowledge is facing a huge challenge. Can he succeed?
A knock on the door woke Tang En up. He turned around, not knowing who would come to him at this time.He straightened his appearance, put on the expression he thought was most suitable, and then cleared his throat: "Please come in."

The door was pushed open, and more than a dozen people rushed in all at once.The originally spacious office immediately became crowded.

"You guys are..." Tang En was puzzled and didn't understand what was going on.

The young man who was pulling Tang En to persuade him to come back to direct the game that day stood up and said, "Tony, Chairman Dougherty thinks it is necessary to introduce your colleagues to you again."

Tang En thought of yesterday at the gate of the training base, the old man patted his shoulder lightly and said to him: "I won't put pressure on you, Tony."This old man is very thoughtful, but this scene...isn't it a bit too formal?

"Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman, for your kindness. But actually, I don't need..." Dun En was observing the crowd's reaction when he said this. caught in his eyes. "Go back to work, training is about to start." He pointed to his watch.

The crowd hesitated and dispersed.But the young man was left behind.

Seeing the last person walk out of the office, Dunn closed the door, and said to the young man, "Des, I know you're doing it for my own good. But what you do will make things difficult for me."

Des Walker was a little strange: "Why?"

"I am the team's coach and manager. In front of them and the players, I have to retain my authority and dignity. To be honest, I hate people looking at me with crazy eyes, sympathy, ridicule... everything If this continues, how can I lead the team? Players will not listen to a head coach who has to be reminded of everything in person."

Des Walker was no fool, he understood what Tang En meant. "I'm sorry, Tony, I didn't think about it that much..."

"I said I don't blame you. You are the only person I can trust now. They..." Tang En looked towards the door, "They are all waiting to see my joke. You have to help me."

Des Walker announced his retirement at the end of last season. Now at the age of 37, he has become an assistant coach of the first team. It was suggested that he become an assistant coach after retiring.Walker is a very emotional person. Hart, who was kind to him, resigned. Twain, whom Hart admired the most, became the head coach. He hoped that Twain would succeed, and that would prove that Hart's vision was correct.And helping Tang En is helping himself. He has just retired and has no reputation and experience in the coaching world. Following Tang En is a good way to accumulate experience.These days, it is not easy to find a so-called past job after retiring.

Walker nodded: "No problem, what help do you need?"

Tang En pointed to his head: "I'm still not working well here, sometimes I will suddenly short-circuit, you are by my side, remind me in time, but pay attention to the method a little bit."

Walker said that he knew, and then he asked: "So today's training plan..."

"You arrange."

Hearing this answer, Walker was a little taken aback, but he quickly realized. "Then follow the usual plan."

"Well, that's it." Tang En laughed. "We will cooperate very tacitly."

Walker shrugged: "I always feel like I'm cheating people."

"Ah, don't take that feeling to heart. Cheating is good sometimes, like when you do it for a good purpose. That's not 'cheating', that's 'white lying'. Trained At that time, I was watching from the sidelines, unless it was necessary, I would not say anything, you do everything. You go to prepare, it is almost nine o'clock, they are coming."

Walker saw that Twain told the training start time very accurately, and believed that he had really recovered a little.So he nodded and went out in relief.

Seeing Walker gently close the office door, Tang En heaved a sigh of relief.It's really not good to cheat, and it's good to be exposed by others. He is worried that one day he will be dizzy and confess by himself, and he will be embarrassed.

Everyone's impression of Tony Twain was that old-fashioned medieval man, and he didn't want to change himself just to cater to other people's impressions.He, Tang En, was a bit grumpy, stubborn, and uneducated country bumpkin.He hoped that through his own efforts, he could tell them that this was the real Twain. As for the former Tony Twain... well, let him disappear with that collision from the sidelines.I don't have the leisure to care about where he went, and I won't feel guilty about it. You must know that I have lost a lot of things!God damn it!
He glanced outside and found that the rain had stopped.On the training ground that was empty just now, there are already turf maintenance personnel checking the condition of the turf today.

A new day of training has begun.

The players were training according to the usual schedule on the training ground, but their minds were all on the head coach Tony Twain on the sidelines.There's always someone who keeps glancing this way during training.

It's not just the players who are so abnormal, even the coaches who are busy on the sidelines can't restrain their curiosity.

Anyone who saw their head coach Twain's current appearance would find it strange, and he would pay more attention to it.

Tang En was wearing a pair of sunglasses, black clothes, black pants and black leather shoes, black from head to toe.Standing on the sidelines with an unsmiling smile on his face, he looked extraordinarily gloomy.Against the hazy sky, everyone who passed by him seemed to feel a gust of wind.

Even Walker didn't expect Twain to appear on the sidelines of the training field in this style.In the past, Tang En was a coach who was dressed in smart sportswear, with a whistle hanging around his neck, and running laps with the players in sneakers.Now that it's so complete, it's more like a club chairman.Don't expect him to come down to demonstrate moves or something.

In fact, this is exactly the effect Tang En hopes to achieve.What he was worried about was that someone on the coaching staff would ask him to demonstrate his movements and other physical things, but he didn't know how to do it at all.After watching football for so many years, playing football is called a stink.Simply dress up like this, and clearly tell some people with ulterior motives-I will not end today.In addition, wearing sunglasses can also prevent others from seeing his eyes, so naturally they don't know what he is thinking.

Walker took good care of him. During training, his voice was much louder than usual, and he tried to call out the players' names as much as possible.Compared with him, another assistant coach, Ian`Bowyer (Ian`Bowyer), is not so active.He was one of the people who showed mocking expressions in Tang En's office just now.According to Walker, Bowyer is the veteran of the team. He played for the team for many years, then retired, and then became a coach.The seniority is very old.

When Walker said this, Dunn understood.It must be that Paul Hart was fired this time. The old man Bowyer thought that the club would let him be the head coach. Unexpectedly, Paul Hart recommended himself as his cronies, which made the old man jealous.

Tang En expressed his understanding of human nature.But it doesn't mean that he has to give in. Twain has never conceded defeat in front of anyone.

Bowyer was upset, and he wasn't happy.

If someone had asked himself to abdicate two days ago, he would have been very happy to be relieved.But the situation is different now. Since I have come here and become the acting head coach of a team, I have to do something and leave something behind.This is both a challenge and an opportunity.Anyway, he used to watch the football before, and he was always in his mind. If he was the head coach, he would make some arrangements, and he would also play a lot of football manager games.

Now he is standing on the sidelines, looking like a wooden stake on the surface, but in fact he is trying to match the name Walker called with the players on the field.

The black man with pigtails and hairstyle very similar to Rijkaard was the striker David Johnson who injured himself on the sidelines that day.Look at his performance on the training ground... he is very fast and has good explosive power.At present, I can only get such an intuitive impression. The specifics need to be observed in depth. Let's go through the competition...

The little player who just kicked a beautiful cross was Andy`Reid, an excellent young player trained by Tang En himself, and he was promoted to the first team with him just before the new year.Dunn took a few extra glances at this kid. Based on his memory, he had the impression that this guy later appeared in Tottenham Hotspur (Tottenham).Unexpectedly, he was transferred from the Forest team. From this transfer, we can see his ability. Will players without strength be favored by the old Premier League teams?
Now that Reid was mentioned, another person had to be mentioned. Twain turned his attention to the backcourt.Among the group of people who were doing header practice, a tall man caught Tang En's attention immediately.He has short blond hair, a childish face, and delicate features, but he behaves like a general.Even the defensive training of the coaching staff is arranged with him as the core.This is the central defender Michael`Dawson, known as Nottingham's future hope, and Andy Reid followed their mentor from the youth team to the first team.The game the day before yesterday was his first match in the League One, but unfortunately the team lost a lot and his performance was not very good.But this didn't affect his mood, and there was still an optimistic smile on his face.

Dawson was promoted to the Nottingham first team together with Reid. Two years later, he also left Nottingham with Reed and switched to Tottenham Hotspur.Twain watched a few games he played in Tottenham Hotspur. The young man performed well, and he cooperated tacitly with Ledley King in the back line. He dared to command the entire back line at a young age.He has also been the main defender of the England youth team, and later has the possibility of entering the national team, but that was all in 2007.Now Dawson is just a young boy, full of hope and longing for the future.

As soon as he thought that this person would be cultivated by himself, Tang En felt a sense of accomplishment in his heart - he didn't care which "Twain" took the credit, it all belonged to him now.

He carefully observed the team's training, not only remembering the names and appearances of these players, as well as their respective technical characteristics, but also the methods and styles of the team's training.He can't ask others too much, otherwise it will expose the fact that he is actually a rookie, and what's worse is that he may be sent to the hospital as a patient with amnesia...

According to his observations, the strength of Nottingham Forest must not be said to be weak. Many players have very outstanding characteristics. Such a team is capable of reaching the top in England's second-tier league.But halfway through the league, Nottingham Forest ranked No.10, in the middle.For the teams that hoped to compete for the first division championship before the season, this result is naturally considered bad.Worse still is the club's economic situation. After selling Jenas to Newcastle, most of the transfer fee income was used to pay off debts, leaving little transfer fee to the then head coach Paul Hart, and Hart himself He no longer has the confidence to lead this team to accomplish the chairman's goal.In the 27 league rounds in the first half of the season, the team had ten wins, eight draws and nine losses.

Although he had never watched Paul Hart lead a team to play, Twain believed in this person's ability. A coach who can bring out so many outstanding players should not be doubted.Even if some people were sold away, such as stars like Jenas, the strength of the team did not drop to such an extent.The strength of the team's players is not a problem, so what is wrong with this result now?

Tang En noticed that the players were still looking at him. Although Walker was the coach who led their training, everyone's attention seemed to be on himself, the outsider.From those eyes, he saw things that he was familiar with these two days and could no longer be familiar with. He didn't like the feeling of being seen as a monster.

So his voice suddenly sounded on the training ground.

"Hey! Are you visiting the zoo?! Where are your eyes looking? Focus on training! Watch what I do!"

He really became a zoo animal now, and everyone turned their attention to the angry head coach.The coach who thought it was a wooden stake suddenly yelled, and anyone would be surprised.But what surprised them even more was that Tony Twain, who had a restrained personality, never yelled loudly, and always spoke in an orderly manner, would actually say such strong emotional words.

Perhaps, their coach Tony Twain is very different from before.

Because tomorrow is the game day, the training intensity of this day is not high. The training with this intensity twice a day is only carried out in the middle of the week, and it must be in the case of non-weekly double games.After the morning training, Walker let the players go home.The staff, like the players, left one after another after training, and Des Walker followed Dunn back to his office.

"After watching the training in the morning, what do you think?" Walker asked casually as he entered the door and sat on a chair without waiting for Tang En to signal.He found that this Twain seemed to get along better than the previous Twain, because he was no longer taciturn, and could laugh and shout, which felt good.

Of course, Dunn couldn't tell the truth about the many doubts in his heart.Because his identity is not the first time to watch the team's training, and he didn't know anything about the Forest team before, but a coach who really came out of the team. He should know everything here.Even if the head is hit, it should not forget to be so clean. "Not bad except for the lack of concentration."

It was only then that Walker noticed that Tang En didn't have the notebook he usually carried with him. "Didn't you write something down? Where's your notebook?" He pointed to Tang En's hands and asked.

But Tang En pointed to his head and replied: "I wrote it down here." He didn't lie about this. Tang En has a good memory since he was a child, so even though he has never liked the teacher, his grades are very good.

Walker shook his head and said with a smile: "It seems that the change is so great that I wonder if the person standing in front of me is Tony Twain."

Tang En felt that this was an opportunity for others to gradually accept him, but he couldn't express it directly, but needed to be more tactful.He pretended to be surprised and said: "Ah? There are some things that I can't explain clearly, but it just happened. Isn't this good? Then I'll change it back..."

"No no." Walker quickly interrupted him, "This is very good, this is very good, it's the best. You are much easier to get along with now than you were before."

Tang En snickered in his heart, this was the result he wanted.He needs someone to introduce the new him to others, and no one is more suitable than Des Walker, who has played for the team for more than a decade.

After seeing Walker off, Dunn began to rummage through the office.Walker mentioned "notebook", and he decided to look for it, maybe it could help him.

In the third drawer of his desk, he finally found the somewhat worn notebook.It's only a little smaller than the tactical board, but it's very thick. The edges of the black leather jacket have been frayed, and the margins are yellowed and hairy. The bronzing "Notebook" on the cover is also mottled due to excessive friction. It's really old.

Tang En carefully opened this thick notebook, for fear that some pages would fall out of it, or this antique-looking notebook would break from it.

"He really is a person from the Middle Ages." Tang En said with a slight sarcasm.Nowadays, in the era of computer networks, there are still people who hold paper notebooks to record things. Wouldn’t it be enough to hold a laptop?It is convenient and chic, and can also be used to pick up girls.Think about it, go to a place like Starbucks, order a cup of coffee, sit alone by the window, open the notebook, ignore the hustle and bustle of the surrounding environment, fingers jump nimbly on the keyboard, and the coffee exudes a thick fragrance ...

Tang En shook his head, interrupting this inexplicable fantasy.He has never been to Starbucks. A migrant worker like him who is struggling with food and clothing does not have the financial strength, nor does he have the leisure to go to a coffee shop. He would go to the kind of bar where he can watch the football or the teahouses that are blooming everywhere in Chengdu.

Opening the cover, there is a neatly written sentence on the title page. Even though the color of the ink has faded, the sentence is still legible:
Football has nothing to do with life and death, football is higher than life and death.

Seeing these words, the disdainful smile on Tang En's face slowly disappeared.

As a fan, of course he knows what this is saying, and he also knows the weight of this sentence.Only fans can understand the meaning of this sentence.Football is no longer just a sport, or a game played on the street, but a religion and belief, which melts into the life, life, and blood of fans...

The former Tony actually wrote this sentence on the title page, which shows that he respects this sentence, and it would not be too much to say that it is his football motto.I really didn't expect that "medieval ancient man" with a dull appearance and taciturnity would like such famous sayings with strong emotions and even some ignorance of reason.

Maybe the real him is not as gloomy as people think, maybe there is an eternal flame deep in his heart.

He roughly flipped through the notebook, and compared with the rigid and stubborn timetable on the refrigerator door at home, the content in this notebook was much more messy.If the time is not marked, I don’t know their order at all. Some of them are even written directly in the margins. Divide the place, see every stitch.

The first was written on March 1998, 3, and the last was dated December 21, 2002.One more page and the thick notebook is at an end. On December 12, 31, a lot of things were written, all about the information about the next opponent, Walshal, and his own countermeasures.He calculated many possibilities and countermeasures, but he just didn't calculate that he would be possessed by another Tang En.

Tang En sighed.He doesn't plan to record anything more in this notebook.One is because there is not enough space, and the other is because he doesn't want to destroy this person's hard work, and he doesn't want to add more money to it.Holding the notebook in his hand, Tang En felt its heavy weight.

(End of this chapter)