After the game, the Portuguese media addressed Tony Twain as “The Arrogant Englishman.” The English people were delighted. They liked the label and accepted it on Twain’s behalf.
“…I’m sure Benfica will remember Tony Twain, this ‘The Arrogant Englishman,’ for a long time.”
Back in England, the speculation about Bale continued. Twain decided to pay close attention but not to intervene too much. He believed that Bale himself must have been certain about what he should and should not do if he wanted to succeed. He understood Bale, a young player who liked to use his brains to play football. If he could use his head to play on the field, he must have known how to deal with the things that followed closely at his heels outside of the field.
Besides, he still had his good father.
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Due to the continuous battle, the Forest team’s fitness coach reminded Twain that the strain on the players’ physical fitness was extremely high over a short period of time and that injuries were likely to occur under such circumstances.
Twain was well aware of that.
Therefore, in the 12th round of the Premier League on November 5th, the Forest team sent its second lineup. Except for George Wood, the goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, and the striker Anelka, everyone else in the starting lineup had been rotated.
Wes Morgan and Matthew Upson formed a center back partnership. The left back was the young Gareth Bale, and the right back was the Chinese player, Sun Jihai. The left winger was Kris Commons and the right winger was Aaron Lennon, who was a year older than Gareth Bale. The two midfielders were Albertini and George Wood. The strikers were Anelka and Bendtner.
Sun Jihai’s appearance in the starting lineup made the Chinese media very excited. The day before Twain released the team’s starting list in advance, the Chinese media arrived in throngs.
Although this was the Forest team’s away game, there were still a lot of Chinese people who came.
The resurgence of the Forest team in the Champions League attracted more and more interest from the East. Since Sun Jihai had joined the team, he had few opportunities to appear because the team’s performance was good. Twain did not need to replace the starting lineup. So Sun Jihai could only play as Chimbonda’s substitute.
This time, Sun Jihai’s appearance in the starting lineup roused the Chinese fans’ interest in the Forest team. The Forest team’s popularity in China had risen steadily.
Twain’s hands were tied. When he had bought Sun Jihai, he had said that Sun Jihai would not be a substitute once he joined. However, who could have known the team would play so well when the season started that he would have no reason to change the team’s main lineup? As a result, he could only arrange for Sun Jihai play in the domestic cups and some unimportant league games. Fortunately, Sun Jihai did not have any conflict with Twain so far because he played less. He still trained diligently every day as he waited for his opportunity. In addition, he had a good relationship with his teammates. Everyone was very fond of the Chinese player. The atmosphere of the team was very good. Even Anelka, rumored to be terrible by the outside world, was not too difficult to get along with. Perhaps that could be a reason for him to feel at ease to stay on the Forest team.
In this game, the Forest team challenged Birmingham City in an away game. As their opponent was not very strong, the lineup which Twain had deployed somewhat underestimated their competitors.
But if he could have known the results of another league tournament in advance, he would have regretted his decision, preferring to send all the main players to win the game.
The Forest team’s last round of the league tournament was closely watched by the media because it was a competition between the league’s second-ranked team and the top dog. For this round of the league tournament, the media, which had previously given them attention, had all rushed to Manchester. Beside the supporters of Nottingham Forest and Birmingham, no one else cared about the two teams.
After all, there was a big battle going on in Manchester.
It was the battle between Mourinho and Ferguson.
This game was more intense by a hundredfold than the one between Chelsea and the Forest team. It might not be brilliant to watch, but it was certainly fierce.
During the game, the referee presented a total of seven yellow cards, three for Manchester United and four for Chelsea: Alan Smith, Cristiano Ronaldo, Darren Fletcher, Didier Drogba, Paulo Ferreira, William Gallas, and Claude Makelele.
Manchester United was in the lead in the 31st minute when Fletcher scored a goal. Then the game entered a stage where the players from both sides continually fouled and received yellow cards.
Martin Taylor, who was the commentator for this game, explained, “An equally high-profile game, of course, the rivalry between Chelsea and Manchester United is much bigger. In the game with the Forest team, the competition was still focused on the football. But for this game, the focus of Chelsea and Manchester United players are on each other.”
“A red card has not emerged so far. The referee has been lenient!”
Other than the supporters of both teams, no one would think that this 1:0 game was enjoyable to watch. Manchester United had the last laugh in their game against Chelsea. They defended the dignity of a powerful old Premier League team and a former overlord.
Meanwhile, in Birmingham, the Forest team was dragged into a deadlock by the home team. They scored a goal, which was then equalized by their opponents. Both teams scored 1:1. No one had another way to threaten the opponent’s goal again.
The match ended in a draw.
Initially, Twain was still in a very good mood, as he had not conceded the game by sending a lineup mostly made up of substitutes. He was ready to praise the players in the locker room.
At that time, Kerslake ripped off the earphones stuffed in his ears with a dark expression. He had followed the other game closely on the radio—Manchester United versus Chelsea.
“Chelsea lost,” he told Twain.
Twain was stunned for a moment upon hearing the news. He immediately turned aside and swore. The only word to describe his mood at that moment was regret.
Why didn’t we defeat Birmingham? If we had beaten them, we would have had the same points as Chelsea now. And what’s more, we’re short a damn game! F**k!
Kerslake looked at Twain, who turned his head around with clenched fists. “Tony?”
When Twain turned back again, he had already returned to normal. “I’m alright, just feeling a little regretful, that’s all.”
“We didn’t even expect…” said Kerslake with a bitter smile.
“I want to call that Portuguese man and ask how he could have lost the game!”
Kerslake laughed aloud when he heard Twain’s angry retort.
“Forget it, the game’s already over. It’s useless to say anything. Let’s go to the locker room. We should commend the players on their performance.” Twain put up his jacket collar to withstand Birmingham’s chilly night winds. Then he walked towards the home team’s technical area to shake hands with the Birmingham City manager waiting there.
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From the looks of it, the Forest team not winning this game meant that they had lost a great opportunity to catch up with Chelsea. No one had any idea the effect this would have on them in the long run.
As Chelsea had lost to Manchester United and the Forest team had tied with Birmingham City, the gap between the two teams had narrowed to just two points. Chelsea had twenty-eight points after the twelfth round of the league tournament, while the Forest team followed closely by twenty-six points with one game short.
Except for Tony Twain, most people had not expected the team ranked third in the league.
Placed after Chelsea and Nottingham Forest, the third-ranked team was Wigan Athletic.
This newly promoted team had lost to Nottingham Forest in the league’s first game. Since then, they had relied on their tenacity and an unyielding spirit unique to a grassroots team to achieve seven victories, two draws, and two defeats within their twelve rounds in the league tournament. Like the Forest team, they were also short one game. With their twenty-three points, they were ahead of Manchester United with twenty-one points and Arsenal with twenty.
The media exclaimed that Wigan Athletic was replicating Nottingham Forest’s “dark horse miracle” of last season.
Since Nottingham Forest was mentioned, the media pulled in Twain again to talk about his views on Wigan Athletic. Twain did not give any face to the media. He said, “You can just refer to the words I said at the press conference after the first round of this season and reprint them. I said what needed to be said two and a half months ago. I don’t want to repeat myself.”
He was still brooding about not defeating Birmingham City.
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After the match against Birmingham City, the league tournament was paused to make way for the national team competition. Currently, the Forest team also had a number of players who were summoned to their respective national teams. From a certain perspective, a team’s strength could be seen from the number of national team players it had, even though a football club’s manager was always reluctant to have so many players leave his own team for the national team competition.
The First Team training base in Wilford suddenly became empty.
Twain still came to the training base early in the morning, but he did not go in.
“The team isn’t training today, Tony.” Old Ian was a little puzzled when he saw Twain standing at the gate.
Twain turned to look at the old man and laughed. He suddenly felt that this scene was similar to when he had first come here.
“I know, Ian. I’m waiting for Evan.”
“Ah, the chairman… Do you both have an event to attend?”
“Yes, a business promotion.” Twain was referring to the agreement with their partner company, Sports Interactive. Twain was the spokesperson for the Football Manager simulation games. Within the contractual period, he must be involved in the company’s promotional activities for the launch of each edition of the Football Manager game. They were going to attend the FM 06 promotional event today.
“Tony, you’re a busy man now,” Ian chuckled.