champion godfather

Chapter 868 Volume Seven Heart of the Lion King Our City Stadium

As the final round of the league approaches, the number of fans who come to the city stadium every day is gradually increasing.Sometimes when Dunn drove home from Wilford, he would deliberately pass by the city stadium.Flowers were piled up outside the gate, and various fan scarves hung on the iron railings.Flowers and scarves sway slightly in the wind.

He knew that these people had come to bid farewell to the city stadium.

The red reflection of the city stadium is reflected in the clear Trent River, and across the river is the home stadium of Notts County - Maid Lane Stadium.Tang En and Tang were working in two places so close together.

But the two of them haven't seen each other since they separated that year.

Today is two days before the final round of the league. After Dunn finished his day's work, he drove to the city stadium. It was almost dusk.More fans came to the city stadium to see off than in previous days, and they also knew that time was running out.After the Forest team finishes their last game at the City Stadium, the City Stadium will be demolished this summer, and a new National Sports and Leisure Plaza will be built here.

Tang En parked the car by the river, turned on the car stereo, and heard Dolores' soft voice. He quietly enjoyed the last moments of the city stadium under the setting sun.

If he hadn't crossed over, and his life had never had such a period of time, then his feeling towards this stadium would only be icy and cold, and it would not be full of the warmth of the existing sunlight like today, There is also the same emotion as the afterglow of the setting sun.

He fought in this stadium for 11 years. He complained that the stadium was too small to bring more spectators to the team and create more pressure on the opponent.Evan Dalgety thought that this small stadium did not match the achievements, status, and prestige of Nottingham Forest today, and he nodded in agreement.

But I still feel a little bit reluctant to bid farewell to it.

He didn't buy a bouquet of flowers, tie a card and put it under the gate like those fans did.He pointed and leaned against the front of the car, folded his arms around his chest, and quietly looked at the city stadium.

Even though 11 years have passed, Twain still clearly remembers the initial shock that this stadium brought to him—at that time, he never disliked the smallness of the city stadium.

When his team scored two goals in a row and beat West Ham to a panic, he felt as if he belonged here. He liked the frenetic atmosphere in the stadium and enjoyed the cheering and singing from the stands.He didn't think those noisy voices were noise at all. To his ears, it was more beautiful than the best music in the world.

In 11 years, he changed from 34 years old to 45 years old.It is a period of time in his life that cannot be erased or forgotten, and he will never forget this moment.But for City Stadium, 11 years is only one-tenth of its life.It stands quietly on the banks of the Trent River and has witnessed countless glory, and it has long been humiliated.

Those heroes who have left their names in history have only become famous in its bosom, and it is older than all the champions displayed in the hall of honor.No matter how arrogant and arrogant Tang En was, he still couldn't hold his mighty head up in front of this stadium.

The five years of 110 passed in such a blink of an eye and became history.The red city stadium is inlaid with a circle of gold, which is still conspicuous even against the golden western sky.Countless people put down bouquets in front of it and sent their parting thoughts.

Tang En leaned against the front of the car alone, lost in thought, and someone recognized him.

"Tony?" The man who came up squinted his eyes for a while, because he couldn't see clearly because of the backlight.

"Kenny, long time no see." The person standing in front of Tang En was the owner of Forest Bar, Kenny Burns.

"It's been a long time since you moved."

"Why are you willing to leave the tavern and come here?"

"Come to say goodbye to old friends, what is business?" Burns pointed to the city stadium ahead.

It was only then that Tang En noticed that he was holding a bouquet of flowers like everyone else.

"Do you have a ticket for the last round of the league?" He wanted to say that if Burns didn't have a ticket, he would give him one.

"I'm a season ticket holder, Tony."

Tang En chuckled: "I've never seen you come to watch the game."

"I'll be there for the last round. And it's not just me, a lot of old guys will be here."

"Reporter Bruce told me that he was making a farewell plan for the city stadium. He tried his best to find many Forest players from different periods. It seems that he also found you?"

Burns nodded: "I will come if he doesn't look for me. Unfortunately, the boss can't come."

The "boss" he mentioned didn't mean Tony Twain, but the leader of his generation of players—Brian Clough.

"Mrs. Clough promised to come," Tang En said.

In fact, both of them knew that Mrs. Clough could not replace the boss, so there was absolutely no disrespect to Mrs. Clough.

As soon as the deceased Clough was mentioned, the topic was automatically cut off, and silence fell between the two of them.

Under the light of the setting sun, Dolores hummed softly:

"I had a dream, a weird dream now... I opened my eyes and I realized that this day was perfect... May you be forever young, may you be forever young, may you be forever young, may you be forever young... " (from "Never_grow_old" by The_Cranberries)
"Tony..."

"Ok?"

"I'm speaking from the bottom of my heart, I hope you don't mind."

"You said."

"I have to thank you. No matter what kind of achievements you have achieved, you never said that you can make people forget Brian Clough."

Tang En laughed happily: "I'm not a fool. I also respect the boss."

"Maybe this is the stubbornness of our group of people. No matter how good your grades are, the boss is irreplaceable." Burns said, looking in the direction of the city stadium.

Tang En said with a smile: "If you dare to say that someone is better than him, there will definitely be a bolt of lightning in the sky that will strike you in the head. Neither you nor I want to be struck by lightning."

Burns was amused by Tang En's words, and the slightly sad atmosphere dissipated.

There is an allusion to this sentence.When Nigel Clough, the son of Brian Clough, met Manchester United in the FA Cup, the reporter went to interview him and asked him if he agreed that Ferguson is the best player in English football today. Excellent head coach.Nigel Clough said: "It's too difficult for me, because of my family, if I say it's Sir Alex Ferguson, the sky may immediately split a bolt of lightning and hit my chest." head."

There is a similar famous quote on the base of the bronze statue of Brian Clough in the center of Nottingham, which was said by Clough himself: "I dare not say that I am the best head coach in the industry, but I am definitely One of the top."

"You and him are really a bit like..." After laughing, Burns looked at Tang En and shook his head. "Seeing your achievements today, he should be very proud."

"No." Tang En shook his head and denied, "He will write an article in the newspaper and scold me bloody. It's just because I complained about the injustice of the referee."

Burns smiled even more happily. With a smile, he looked at the court again and became fascinated, as if thinking of the years when he was young and followed Coach Clough and fought with those teammates.It's still the same stadium, even the cheers are exactly the same.The stadium is still there, but the people are gone.Now the stadium is about to be demolished, and all the memory dependencies are gone, so I can only remember it with my brain.But one day when I get old and my mind is confused, what else can prove that those memories really happened?
Tang En's mobile phone in the car rang, and he reached out to take out the mobile phone.It was his wife Shania who called and asked when he could go home.

"Ah, I'm on the side of the stadium and I met Mr. Burns..." Tang En explained to his wife on the phone.

Burns came back to his senses and smiled at him: "Go back, Tony, your wife is waiting for you."

Tang En shrugged at him: "I still want to chat with you for a while."

"We'll be here to watch the game this weekend, Tony."

"Are you putting pressure on me?" Tang En, who opened the car door, turned to look at Burns.

"Are you still afraid of pressure?"

Tang En smiled: "We will definitely win. But whether we can win the league championship or not depends on the results of the match between Arsenal and Manchester City."

"What an exciting season. Good luck."

Sitting in the car, Dunn poked his head out and waved to Burns: "Good luck to Nottingham Forest."

In the afterglow of the setting sun, Tang En drove away from the city stadium.Burns, on the other hand, turned in the opposite direction, slowly walking towards the gate of the city stadium where fans gathered with a bouquet in hand.

※ ※ ※

The Nottingham Forest players who had just finished training the next day saw their old acquaintance Pierce Bruce enter the field accompanied by Alan Adams with a photojournalist before they left the training ground.

Seeing Alan Adams next to Bruce, Tang En frowned, but he didn't say anything. When the three people walked up to him, he showed a warm smile on his face: "This is really a rare event. See, I don't know what you, Mr. Reporter, are doing at our training ground?"

Just as Bruce was about to speak, he was interrupted by Alan Adams: "It's like this, Tony. Mr. Pierce Bruce intends to make a special project to bid farewell to the city stadium. He needs to interview the team and let the team talk about the city stadium. Feelings……"

Bruce nodded beside him, smiling.

"That's it...then please. But let me remind you, don't delay too long. They have just finished training and haven't had time to change their clothes. If they catch a cold..." Tang En sternly said, "All of us It's not pretty, is it?"

After speaking, Tang En turned and walked away.

Bruce was a little embarrassed, because his first interviewee was Tony Twain...

Of course Allen could see the emotion Tang En expressed, and he also knew the reason.Since he forced his hand to sell Lennon, the team's head coach has never spoken to himself again.But he didn't want to expose Tang En's conflict with himself in front of the media, so he explained to Bruce: "The competition is coming up, he doesn't like being disturbed..."

"Hehe, we understand. Mr. Adams." Bruce laughed.Of course, his understanding was not "The competition is coming soon, Twain doesn't want to be disturbed", but his understanding was "Tony is such a moody person, it is normal for him to be fanatical and indifferent towards you".

The interview went smoothly, because Alan Adams followed the two reporters all the time. The players knew that this was the club's second-in-command, and his relationship with the chairman was extraordinary.Tang En has been standing beside him with arms folded, watching with cold eyes.

After interviewing the players, Bruce still planned to interview Twain. When he walked towards Twain, Alan Adams hesitated for a while, deliberately pulling away from him.

"Tony, talk about this last game at City Stadium."

Tang En looked at the two reporters and said with a straight face: "We will bid farewell to the city stadium with victory." He did not give an enthusiastic speech about his determination to win the league championship.

If another reporter came, he would definitely ask: "Why didn't you say 'use the championship to bid farewell to the city stadium'?"

Bruce didn't ask that question, because he knew Tang En well, and also understood the complexity of this last match.Even if the Forest team can beat Sunderland at their home court, it depends on the result of the match between Arsenal and Manchester City.

Before the last league game, the Nottingham Forest team surprisingly did not show the slightest optimism.Even the always arrogant head coach Tony Twain never mentioned the league championship.

Carl Spike announced on his program that he had ordered the latest table from IKEA for Tony Twain, and hoped that Twain would like it.Tang En did not make any retaliation, which disappointed many media who were waiting to see the excitement.

Because there is really too much room for hype in this last round of the league.

The suspense between Nottingham Forest and Arsenal to win the championship, whether the two former Nottingham Forest players in the Manchester City team will give Arsenal a break because of their personal grievances against Twain...

Bendtner clarified this rumor in an interview a day ago: "I am a professional player. What I care about is not who wins the championship, but my own victory."

Ashley Young has confirmed that he will leave Manchester City next season and join Liverpool. He also expressed that he hopes to bid farewell to Manchester City with a victory.

They never mentioned Tang En.

※ ※ ※

When there was one day left before the last league game, Fat John and Thin Bill were working with their guys in the Forest Bar to make banners and flags that would be displayed at that time.Something like this can happen in any pub where Forest fans gather.

The players of Nottingham Forest were in Wilford for their last training session. Tony Twain took the time to study Sunderland with his coaching staff.Although they have studied their opponents badly this week, they can't find anything else to do. Maybe a deeper study of Sunderland can help Manchester City beat Arsenal?

When the day entered dusk, fewer and fewer fans gathered at the gate of the city stadium, leaving only flowers and scarves swaying in the night wind.

The figure of Thompson Isaacson appeared in front of those flowers. He was a turf maintenance worker at the training base and the stadium. If someone asked him whether the most memorable thing in his life was helping Tony Twain create a " A unique home", thus helping Forest eliminate Barcelona, ​​he must shake his head.For him, stepping on the turf of the City Stadium and starting the work of maintaining it is the most memorable thing.

He has decided to step down at the end of this season and it is an honor to retire with City Stadium.

Today, he is coming here to say a separate farewell to the City Stadium.On the second day, he hopes to join 110 of his partners to witness Nottingham Forest say goodbye to the city stadium that has served them for [-] years with a league championship trophy.

Looking at the city stadium in the dark night, Isaacson seemed to see himself when he was young.He stood quietly in the evening wind, with a slight smile on his ravine face.

"...this is our City Stadium and he's the size of our granddad. He was there when we were granddads, on the banks of the Trent...if I die one day, he's still there, On the banks of the Trent. . . . we shall all be like this one day, but he shall neither grow old nor die, for he is our city ground . . . "

Few people can sing this song from a long time ago. It was when Isaacson was young, and the fans sang the song of the city stadium. The melody is very simple and the lyrics are also very simple. At that time, it was not as developed as it is now. In the sound cultural environment, there is no professional company to record the songs sung by the fans, and then package them to market.

The night is getting darker and the lights are on.

Isaacson hummed the song softly, turned and left.

(End of this chapter)