Chapter 67: Fight With One's Back To The River Part 2
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Tang En, who had just walked out of the bar, did not know where else to go. He did not want to go back to that dark and cold "home" of his. He decided to walk around aimlessly, and aid his digestion while he was at it.
The wind, which blew from the direction of the Sherwood Forest, blew through Tang En's hair and clothes, carrying away the entire day's worth of heat.
He stood at the entrance of a bar which he had been to before. Looking at the brightly lit streets, and hearing the sounds of good times and laughter coming from within the bar, Tang En curled his lips. He had actually walked back to Robin Hood Bar unknowingly.
He turned around and looked at the red color signal of the pedestrian crossing across the street, while waiting to cross the road.
At that moment, his phone rang. It was a call from Yang Yan.
"Mr. Twain, are you not at home?"
Tang En looked around him and said, "No, I'm not. Is anything the matter?"
"Sir... Don't you remember, we have a class."
"Ah, I remember. But..." The signal across the street had turned green, but Tang En remained on his side. "But I don't feel like learning today. Can you chat with me for a while instead?"
"Where? Over the phone?"
Tang En pondered for a while and asked, "Where are you?"
Yang Yan raised her head and looked at Tang En's house door, before she replied, "In school. I was just about to leave."
"Then let's do it over the phone. I don't feel like moving either. Let's talk about anything, your interests or your peeves... anything will do." Tang En leaned his back against the traffic lamp, and raised his head to look at the skies. "For instance, did you met any interesting classmates during your junior high school days."
It was already summertime in England, and six o' clock on a May evening. Hence, the sky had not yet turned dark. The Eastern and Western skies revealed two completely different scenes. The night scene, embellished with starlight, and the gossamer sunset, which resembled chiffon, intersected right in the middle of the sky as if it was a fantasy world, leaving Tang En in a trance.
The soft voice of Yang Yan beside his ear was so comfortable, it was as though he were getting an ear massage. Just like that, Tang En sat down on the street and chatted with Yang Yan who was sitting outside his house. His heart, which had sunk so low it had almost stopped beating, was revived once again.
The next morning, a group of birds residing in the forest next to the Nottingham Forest Wilford training ground was alarmed.
Tang En's hoarse and loud voice resounded, "All of you, get a grip on yourselves! Take a good look at your wimpy appearances! Time for training!"
"Michael! You're the captain. If you continue to look so listless, I'll remove you from your position!"
Although Tang En did not know much about the minute details of the training exercises and could only watch from the side of the field, this did not prevent him from making some suggestions, or occasionally shouting something to raise their morale.
Michael Dawson shrugged his shoulders toward Manager Walker, and Walker smiled when he turned around and saw Tang En making threatening gestures.
After that, he turned around and said to Dawson, "Tony is right. If you don't get serious, you will no longer be the captain, Michael."
"Understood! Guys, all of you better get your spirits up!"
Looking at the reinvigorated team, Tang En tightly pursed his lips.
Are you joking? Us, unable to make it to the Premier League?
Going to Premier League was my promise to Michael and Gavin. I won't let such a thing happen.
Due to the fact that Lawrenson mentioned the match prior to the day of the match, and on top of that, even wagered his beloved beard against Nottingham Forest, the League One playoff match, which usually would not garner much attention, became the focus of the media.
John Motson was in charge of commentating, and the other commentator seated beside him just happened to be Mark Lawrenson. The match had not begun, and the players on both teams had just completed their warm-ups and gone to the locker rooms. At that moment, they would be making their final adjustments for the match.
Seeing that they still had some time before their work started, Motson cracked a joke with his colleague from the BBC, Lawrenson. To Lawrenson, Motson was indisputably considered his senior. When Lawrenson was still playing for Liverpool, Motson had already begun commentating Lawrenson's matches.
"Mark, you know it..." John Motson looked at Mark Lawrenson and said laughingly, "I also agree with Gary's opinion that you look much nicer without that beard.
Lawrenson touched his big beard and asked, "John, are you also in favor of Twain?"
Motson shook his head and replied, "I simply feel that you look much better with your beard shaved. Ah, I'm just joking. As for Tony Twain... I don't know whether I'm in favor of him or not. Don't you think he is very weird? Sometimes he is very miraculous, but sometimes he seems very low-class. I feel that there is perhaps only one person who will always be in favor of him. "
"Who?"
"Tony Twain."
"Himself?"
Motson nodded his head. "He has so much confidence in himself, that even I find it unbelievable. No matter what the occasion, he will always display that confidence of his, even though I don't know where he gets it from. I've specifically examined him and discovered that his past and current personalities are worlds apart. The University of Nottingham Hospital concluded that it was caused by the injury sustained to his head that time his own player took him out. If that was really the case, I have to say, God cracked a very big joke with us."
Lawrenson touched the beard on top of his lips out of habit, while he thought about what Motson said.
Motson smiled. "What's the matter, starting to worry about not being able to keep that beard of yours?"
"That's not it." Lawrenson once again "blew his beard and stared with his eyes".
While these two were chatting in their seats, Tony was looking at the quiet players in the changing room.
None of the players, managerial staff, or team doctors uttered a single word. Even Tang En, was no exception. The loud cheers for Sheffield United could be heard clearly, which added to the heavy atmosphere in the changing room.
Everyone was looking at Tang En. Tang En had established his trustworthiness through his actions over the second half of the season. This was an extremely crucial match, and at that moment, everyone chose to believe in their manager, their head, their "Boss."
Tang En finally spoke. His voice was not loud, but it was able to suppress the home team fans' cheering noises coming from outside.
"We've matched against Sheffield United four times in this season, and the past three times have all ended in our defeat. In the 17th round, we even lost 0:3 on our home ground. The first round of the playoffs, we lost to them 1:2 on our home ground. Not only did we lose three points, we also gave two goals away. From the looks of it, the current match is not in our favor, either. People have been saying that the third team to be promoted to the English Premier League will be Sheffield United, but I know that they are wrong. And I know that all of you know that, too."
"Yes!" Someone shouted in response, unable to hold back.
Tang En looked at the person who shouted. It was Andy Reid. The young chap's eyes glimmered as he looked at Tang En. Tang En continued, "I admit that Sheffield United is stronger than us in terms of overall strength. However, the individual strengths of the two teams is not the sole deciding factor of a match's outcome. There are still other factors. Do you all want to hear a story?"
Nobody knew why Tang En wanted to tell a story right before such an important match, or what kind of story it was. However, they knew that Tang En must have had his reasons for doing so. Therefore, they all nodded.
"It was said that a long, long time ago, during an extremely distant era, two countries waged war against each other. This war lasted for a very long time. It was finally the time for the final battle, and one side's army left for the battlefield. However, the leader of the army made the soldiers set up their tents on a beach, with their backs facing the flowing river. His advisors strongly advised him against it, and they said to the general, 'General, there are turbulent waves behind us. If we set up our camp here, we will have no means of retreating! In the case that we are caught in a disadvantageous situation, we won't have any means of escaping!'" Tang En said as if he were acting out a drama, imitating Han Xin's advisors. Tang En slightly tweaked the story which was widely known throughout the whole of China, and narrated it to the group of Englishmen. They listened intently to the story, enjoying it thoroughly.
"The general told his subordinates, 'This is the final battle. If we are to engage the enemy, our soldiers will flee for their lives the moment the situation appears to be at our slightest disadvantage. Do you expect our fleeing and disorganized soldiers to be able to win the war? The reason I asked them to set up our base at the beach, with our backs to the great river, was in hopes of telling all of the soldiers that they no longer have any means of retreating! If they don't wish to die, then defeat the enemies and win the war!' Do you all know what the end result was?" Tang En raised a finger and said, "The morale of that general's army was raised to its peak. Holding on to a 'do or die' resolve, they managed to defeat enemies who were several times larger and stronger than them."
"Don't all of you think that this is very similar to our current situation? Our current situation is so bad that it can't get any worse. It is even worse than when I was knocked over by David at the sidelines, and landed on the back of my head!" Tang En said as he pointed to Johnson, causing everyone in the room to laugh. As a result, the tense atmosphere in the changing room eased slightly.
After pausing for a moment, Tang En waited for the players to finish laughing and look back at him in anticipation, before he continued with a serious look on his face. "An extremely strong opponent, disadvantageous away match, Gavin's death... We are faced with a heap of internal and external problems, and placed in a tough situation that is several hundreds of times harder than what we have ever dealt with! But I firmly believe that we can win, because today, we are the strongest that we have ever been! We may not have any means of escaping, but in actual fact, there's no need for us to escape. Finish off Sheffield United, and enter the finals! And then...." Tang En paused and took a deep breath. "And then we participate in the next season's English Premier League!"
"Why have we practiced various tactics over and over again for the past week? Let me tell all of you, today, we have our backs to the river. It's either they die, or we die! Those who don't wish to die, get out there and kill them!" Tang En strode to the door and pulled it open.
The singing and shouting sounds of Bramall Lane Stadium's viewing platform surged in like tidal waves, instantly enveloping the tiny changing room.