Godfather Of Champions

Tang En held onto his drink as he and Wood squeezed into his reserved seat and sat down.

Everyone could tell that he had dragged Wood here to have a discussion, so no one approached, not wanting to disrupt them. They drank the beer Tang En had treated them to and chatted leisurely. Of course, the main topic was still the match that had just ended.

"You've never come here before?" Tang En asked Wood after sitting.

Wood nodded. "Mum doesn't let me drink."

"Your mother is right." Saying so, Tang En started drinking, ignoring Wood.

Wood felt a bit awkward. As he sat there, he started to pay attention to the people around him. Those who met eyes with him would raise their mugs in a toast.

Tang En raised his eyes to see Wood gazing about. Then he asked, "Why don't you ask me why I brought you here?"

"Why?" Wood was very obedient, immediately asking the question. "Why should I ask?"

"You're really… What happened to the wisdom you showed during the match?"

"Are you still thinking about that?" Wood was referring to the yellow card.

Tang En nodded. "I thought about it even more after the match ended. If we had lost, it'd be easy; it wouldn't matter even if you'd gotten 10 red cards. Now that we have won, our opponents in the finals, whether they're Barcelona or AC Milan, will be a strong team. When I think about how we've lost one of our barriers in the midfield, my head hurts." Tang En said this while massaging his temple.

Wood looked at his manager continually massaging his temple. His mouth trembled for a while before he finally said, "I didn't want to. But there was no choice."

"Even if you didn't foul then, they might not have scored, right?" Tang En looked up at him.

"I don't believe in 'might not have.'" Wood's reply came resolutely.

Seeing Wood's determined expression, Tang En sighed. He leaned back on the chair and lifted both his hands, saying, "Alright. I'll admit that I'm too greedy. Not only do I want the team to advance to the finals, I even want it to be the entire team, with no one having any injuries or cards, so we can use our strongest formation to deal with our opponents."

Wood quietly listened as he imagined an impossibility.

"George, do you want to play in the finals?" Tang En suddenly asked, abruptly changing the topic.

Wood was momentarily stunned but still nodded.

"Very much?"

Wood continued nodding.

"Why? In the past, I remember you didn't even know or care about who Riquelme was. You didn't used to have such a passion for football."

"It's because mum hoped to see me playing in the finals."

The mug Tang En had lifted to his mouth was set down again. He raised his head to look at Wood somewhat disbelievingly.

"She told me today, before the match."

"You… Damn…" Tang En cursed lowly.

Kenny Burns walked over carrying bottles of beers. He placed them on the table and sat down. "Tony, looks like you're finishing up your beer."

"Thanks." Tang En picked up a bottle and filled his mug. As he was mid-way through it, he suddenly remembered. Pointing at Burns, he said to Wood, "I don't think I've introduced him to you yet. Kenny Burns, Nottingham Forest's core player during their two championship runs in the UEFA Champions League, and winner of the Matthews Award."

Burns smiled at Wood.

Wood turned to look at him and nodded. "Hello, Sir."

"Don't be so reserved, lad. I heard Tony mention you before when you were still in the Youth Team. He told us he had picked up a boy from the streets who can't play soccer. That time, we were all making jokes of him. I can't believe that in the three years since then, that boy who didn't know how to play soccer became Forest's captain."

Wood glanced at Tang En, who was drinking on his own.

"George, I've heard you found an agent?" Burns was the one chatting with Wood now.

"Yes."

"How is he?"

"Good. Very serious…"

"I mean… did he help you to contact other teams?"

Wood shook his head. "No. he's only managing my business contracts currently."

Burns took a glimpse at Tang En and laughed, saying, "Tony is very worried about losing you."

Tang En coughed.

"We're also worried about losing you. Allow me to say a few words of truth. I'm a little worried about that agent of yours. I heard he didn't start as a football agent, so his understanding of the field is very limited. In certain aspects, he would only consider matters from a benefit perspective. I just hope you can make your own decisions."

Wood naturally understood the meaning behind what Burns was saying. "I like it here. Mum likes it too. I don't intend to go anywhere."

"That's reassuring." Seeing Wood's serious expression, Burns smiled. But… Who could guarantee future matters? He was someone who had been in the professional football scene for a few decades. Even if he retired, he could still open a bar here and continue paying attention to the big and small matters happening within the circle. But how many of those who speak of "loyalty" now could really walk all the way to the end like that? Some would do it willingly, but some would not. Regardless, the movement of people only abided by one truth: benefits.

Even though his mind was filled with all those messy things, Burns was not about to destroy a young man's ideals.

The chat between Burns and Wood ended. He patted Wood's shoulder and stood, walking away. There were still many customers he had to entertain. Forest Bar was packed to the brim tonight.

After Burns went off, Tang En put down his mug.

"George, I don't care how you see it… but, I owe you one."

Wood did not understand, and Tang En did not plan on explaining. That's right. He really owed Wood one. Wood had sacrificed himself for Tang En's success. On May 17, when he lead the team into Stade de France in Paris, he would become the youngest ever manager since its establishment to appear in the finals of the UEFA Champions League. Regardless of whether Forest would eventually become champions, his name, Tony Twain, would already be carved into history.

And the greatest contributor behind that? At that moment, he could only sit on the spectator's stands.

"I will give you an opportunity to make up for it."

Wood shook his head. "The semi-finals have already ended."

"That's right. It's already ended. But what's ended is only this season. Next season, the season after the next, and ones that come after, we still have those chances. This absolutely…" Tang En shook his index finger in front of Wood, "absolutely will not be our only chance. Look at them…" he pointed at the joyous fans. "They are treating tonight as one of their best memories. And in the future, we will bring to them even more such nights. George, you know about how Demi will be retiring after the end of the next season, right?"

Wood nodded.

"He originally said he wanted to retire after this season ends."

Hearing Tang En say that, Wood was a little shocked. Clearly, he did not know what had trespassed between them.

"He didn't tell you? Oh… I can understand. I persuaded him to stay, but I didn't have any suitable reason. His condition isn't very good. You also saw how his appearances in the field became so few in the latter half of the season. Then, I brought you up. I told him that I hoped for him to stay for another year and train you to be a well-rounded talent in the midfield. No matter in offense or defense, to be as outstanding a midfielder as Demi is. He agreed."

Tang En put out his index finger again. "You only have a year's time, George. A year from now, I don't want to have to search all around the world to find a midfield core for Forest. Your mum says she hopes to see you appear in the finals of the Champions League. I hope so too."

Wood quietly listened but said nothing.

After saying that, Tang En raised his hand to look at his watch. "Go on back."

Wood stood.

"Not to the hotel. Go home. Go accompany your mum." Tang En waved his hand. "You can get your stuff tomorrow from the locker room during afternoon training."

"Alright. Aren't you heading back too?"

"Me? My nightlife is just beginning!" Tang En winked at him.

Wood picked up his glass of fruit juice and finished it. "Goodbye, Boss."

"That's right, George. Did I tell you that your performance in the match was simply too perfect?"

Wood shook his head. "I thought you would criticize me."

"That was just to scare you." Tang En made a face at him. "Perfect. I give your performance 10 points. I can't expect you to do any better. Go back and tell your mum that though you won't appear in the finals of the Champions League, you're the hero of the team. She'll be proud of you."

"Yes." Wood nodded. Then, he turned to squeeze his way out of the crowd.

Seeing Wood was about to leave, the fans in the bar all started shouting, "Bye George!"

"I'll ask you for a signature when I go to the training ground tomorrow… damn. I didn't know you would be here today…"

"George! Keep going! Keep going!"

The door opened and closed. Wood departed from the noisy bar. The place soon recovered its usual atmosphere; everyone was excitedly discussing the match that just ended or chatting about other unrelated topics.

Burns returned to sit next to Tang En. "I didn't expect you to bring the team's captain to the bar. How many main managers would do that?"

"Hmm… it just came to me."

"Because of George's yellow card?"

"I'm still brooding about it… but well, after a few shots of alcohol, I won't have any troubles. So what if we don't have Wood? Regardless of if our opponents are AC Milan or Barcelona, we must still play. Maybe our opponents even think that Nottingham Forest couldn't last a blow without Wood. I'd hope for them to think that way."

"You've already done well enough, Tony. Whether or not we're able to end up as champions, you've already done enough.

Tang En pointed at Burns and said, "Are you consoling me?"

"No," Burns said, shaking his head. "I understood it as a compliment."

The two exchanged glances with a smile.

"It's been three years, Tony. You did a good job. You're still young. If you want to, you can stay on in this field for 30 years. Don't be in a rush. Take your time."

Tang En looked at the ceiling. 30 years… That's a long time. He had never thought so far about the future. To him, the future was tomorrow. Next year was already too far.

"Yes…" he nodded. "You're right, Kenny. Compared to those old men, the likes of Ferguson and Wenger, I'm still young."

Yes. In this line of work as managers, the 37-year-old Tony Twain was indeed still very young.

※※※

The next day, all major media groups reported about the match in the limelight. Nottingham Forest appeared on the headlines of all sports media publications. Their experience of having returned to the Champions League's finals again after 26 years, as well as how quickly they soared and rocketed through each stage year after year, made everyone even more interested. It enveloped the young manager, Tony, even more so with a legendary hue.

When the team resumed their training in the afternoon, the outer grounds of Wilford were surrounded by countless reporters. And they were mostly non-local reporters. The team had already attracted the attention of the whole of Europe.

Naturally, what most of the media paid attention to was George Wood's yellow card, as well as the impact his absence would have on the team. Any sort of question regarding this was dodged or faced with Tang En's refusal to discuss it. He did not want to overly play up Wood's function within the team, even if Wood truly had such a crucial role.

There was also another portion of the media who cleverly set on another path. Since stirring up the topic about Wood's absence would get them refused during interviews, they decided they might as well shift their focus onto the final penalty shoot-out.

In truth, prior to this, Edwin van der Sar did not make his name as a goalie by being good at stopping penalty kicks. The reasons contributing to his name as a world-class goalkeeper were his height of 1.97m, outstanding reflexes, nimble skills, as well as the ability to go up against solo face-offs against players. All of these were performed in active battles. Conversely, in competitions such as penalty shoot-outs, he had no lack of painful memories:

In the finals of the 95-96 Champions League, Ajax failed to defeat Juventus, scoring 2:4 in the penalty shoot-out. That was his first taste of the penalty shoot-out nightmare. Following that was the 97 European Championship; the Netherlands National Football Team, who had entered the top eight with much difficulty, was eliminated by the French in a penalty shoot-out. Year '98 World Cup semi-finals, the Netherlands National Team once again stumbled because of a penalty shoot-out; that time, Brazilian goalkeeper Taffarel, who excelled at defending against penalty kicks, shone. Of course, his most painful memory came from the 2000 European Championship. In a match that was organized right at their doorstep, Team Netherlands lost to Italy. The reason for their loss still came down to penalty kicks. Toldo shot to fame in that battle while Edwin van der Sar only felt despondence. With those experiences, it was not hard to understand why everyone felt surprised seeing Edwin van der Sar's successful defense against Gilberto Silva's penalty kick at such a crucial point.

Based on the photos last taken by press photographers, people noticed that Edwin van der Sar would rustle through his socks each time before defending against the penalty kick. He would take out a small piece of paper and glance through it before stuffing it back in.

Some media outlets pointed out that to be the secret of Forest's eventual victory. And, their guesses were quickly ascertained. After training ended, Edwin van der Sar accepted the reporters' interview. At that time, he revealed the contents on the paper. That resulted in much surprise among numerous media outlets; they had not expected Nottingham Forest to put in such comprehensive effort for the semi-finals.

Of course, it was also natural for Wenger, who intended to research on Tang En, to notice that news. Upon seeing Edwin van der Sar say it was Tang En's idea, what else could Wenger do but shake his head with a bitter smile?

The mysterious slip of paper thereon became famous. Later, in the finals of the World Cup, Germany's National Team would use the method to deal with Argentinian penalty shooters. After the match, Germany's main goalkeeper, Lehmann, admitted that he himself had been inspired by this match. Of course, that all only happened after.

The UEFA Champions League finals were set to be on the evening of May 17, while the last round of the English Premier League was on May 7. This way, Forest Team would have 10 days to prepare. They did not need to be distracted by the Premier League or any other domestic league. They would be able to devote all their focus to preparing for it. To Tang En's team, that was probably good news.

A day after, Forest's opponents in the final round emerged fresh from the oven: Barcelona, on their home ground, had drawn 0:0 with AC Milan. Based on the goal they had gotten in the first round during their away match, their overall score was 1:0. They eliminated AC Milan and advanced into the finals.

Nothing was different from Tang En's recollection of it. Barcelona entered the finals. In the current soccer scene, this team, also known as the "Dream Team II," was the hottest and strongest proponents of offensive-style football. They receive cheers from fans everywhere they went because they represent the most entertaining form of artistic football.

But Tang En cared nothing for artistry or the lack thereof. To him, how entertaining the match was could not compare with becoming the champions. He intended on making the prideful Barcelona suffer in Paris!