บท 5: This Is Professional Football
บรรณาธิการ: Nyoi-Bo Studio
That night, Tang En suffered from insomnia once again. Ever since he came to Nottingham, he had been unable to sleep well for three consecutive nights. The first two nights were due to the apprehension toward the unknown future, but this time's insomnia was completely unrelated to those trivial things. After that night, he would have to direct his first professional match.
A normal football fan who used to be able to only watch others play football in front of the television; a pathetic otaku who could only express his passion for football through computer games; a pathetic virgin who did not have any luck with woman was actually able to have a chance to take part in a professional football match, directing and giving instructions as a manager in a professional football match which always seemed to be very impressive. It was a chance to enjoy the thunderous cheers of the audience on-site, to be interviewed by the various media after the match. No matter what was said, it would always influence the viewers in some way...
This sort of thing was like a dream for Tang En. It was not Football Manager or Champion Manager, but a miracle that truly happened! As soon as he thought of the next day's match, he would be too excited to sleep. Just like that, he opened his eyes wide and stared at the ceiling, while he fantasized about how he should conduct himself the next day.
He did not know what time he had fallen asleep, but he knew that he had not gotten enough rest. From the time that he got out of bed, he was yawning uncontrollably. He yawned when he was putting on his clothes, brushing his teeth, and eating his breakfast. Even when he was walking to the training ground, he was still yawning.
This was the third time that Wilford training ground's security guard, Ian Macdonald, was shocked to see the team manager early in the morning. "Tony..." He opened his mouth, before Tang En interrupted him.
"I know, the match is taking place in the afternoon, and there is no training in the morning. I merely wish to start doing my work now. Is there a problem — haaawwhh—!" Twain said as he yawned again.
"Erm, of course you can." Macdonald came out to pull open the metal gates.
When Twain walked past him, he heard Macdonald say, "Good luck, Tony." He stopped in his tracks and turned his head around to look at Macdonald.
This old man, whose head was full of white hair, had a steady source of income—the welfare provided by the government after his retirement, but he continued to come here to work, insistent on taking the insignificant salary of £100. When the club was in financial crisis, he even stopped taking that £100. He did this because he loved the club and team, and that was why he treated his job at the club as an honor. He was polite to everyone, and he always looked at the players and managers who entered and left the place, and the chairman who occasionally appeared, with respect. Even if the team performed poorly, he did not grumble or sigh at all.
Macdonald was frightened by Twain's look. The Tony Twain of the past, although quiet, treated everyone gently. He would always stare impolitely at your face for a while, before greeting you with his head lowered. Afterwards, he would leave. He would not do something like stare at you with a scorching look that made you feel uncomfortable.
Macdonald did not know that when he was still in China, Tang En would always use this kind of "impolite" look to stare at people, which made others look down upon him. However, Tang En had never thought of changing his actions.
Just as Macdonald felt slightly uneasy from the stare, Tang En suddenly smiled and asked, "Ian, do you like victory?"
Macdonald was momentarily stunned, before he reacted and said as he nodded his head, "Of course, I doubt there's anyone who loves to lose, right?"
Tang En's smile widened as he said, "Me too. Where will you be watching the match?"
Macdonald pointed toward the guardhouse behind him and said, "I will be tuning in to the radio here, same as with City Ground's match.
Tang En nodded his head, "I hope you get to hear us scoring goals. Goodbye, and good luck to you, Ian."
"Goodbye..." Looking at Twain as he left, Macdonald stood in his original spot, taken aback. He had not returned to his senses from the conversation that just took place. He had never seen Tony Twain talking so easily, filled with such energy and wearing such a friendly smile.
Was it possible for one's character to change greatly after sustaining an injury to his head? The uncertain Macdonald thought as he rubbed the back of his head.
Despite Team Nottingham Forest suffering a miserable defeat in the previous match, their fans were still passionate about this match. The match would only start after three o' clock in the afternoon. As such, after eating their lunch, there were already people from all directions assembling at City Ground. Opposite City Ground was yet another football field. That was Team Nottingham Forest's archrival, Notts County's football field, Meadow Lane. The two football fields were only 300 meters apart and were most likely the world's two closest archrival football fields.
Similar to most cities in England, Nottingham had two professional football teams, and these two teams were rather famous in the history of football. Team Nottingham Forest (established in 1865) and their archrival, Notts County Football Club (established in 1862), were two of the four oldest teams in the world. The other two were Team Stoke City (established in 1863) and Team Chesterfield (established in 1866).
It is noteworthy that the currently famous Juventus and Arsenal football jerseys originated from these two teams from Nottingham. Juventus' black and white striped shirt was because Notts County had given its own football jersey to this Italian football team. Whereas Arsenal was affiliated with Nottingham Forest from the day it was established—the founders of the club were two football players who were from Team Nottingham Forest: Fred Beardsley and Morris Bates. Before the team's official match, Beardsley made use of his relationship with Nottingham, to ask for a batch of football jerseys from Nottingham. As such, Arsenal's football jerseys were mainly red, same as Nottingham Forest's. It wasn't until 1925 that they changed to the current classic design of red shirt with white sleeves.
During the early history of English football, the two teams from Nottingham were very successful, and both of them had won the Football Association Cup before. However, during the later years of development, the paths of the two teams began to show signs of deviation. The Notts County, which were comprised of the miners' class, lacked the financial support, causing them difficulties. On the other hand, Nottingham Forest, which represented the middle-class people, welcomed their club's most glorious days toward the end of the seventies.
Under the leadership of the legendary manager, Brian Clough, the team's performance rocketed.
The legend of Kaiserslautern was very impressive. In the first year the team was promoted to League One from League Two, they won the championship title. This kind of achievement had been accomplished by Clough's football team 20 years ago. They had been promoted to First Division (the top-level division in English football at that time, equivalent to the current English Premier League) for coming in third place in League Two. That's when they began to create an unsurpassable legend which ruled over English football. After they were promoted to League One, Team Nottingham Forest attained first place that season, with a record of 25 wins, 14 draws and three losses, and a total score of 64 points. (That was still when world football utilized the two-point system, whereby those who won got two points, the tied teams were awarded one point each, while the team which lost got no points.)
During the 1970s, English football and European football were mainly dominated by Liverpool. At that time, the only team that had the qualifications to challenge Liverpool, and the only team which could beat Liverpool three times in a year, the only team which could let Liverpool experience fear, was the red-clad Nottingham Forest. Upon successfully winning the championship in League One, Team Nottingham Forest had, in the next season, defeated the reigning champions, Liverpool, in the first match of the League. In the end, they managed to defeat the Swedish dark horse, Malmö FF under Bob Houghton, to become the champions of the European Cup for that season.
During this period, what was even more astounding was that starting from their draw with West Bromwich Albion on November 26th, 1977 until their 0:2 defeat over Liverpool on December 9, 1978, Clough's Nottingham Forest had created an undefeated 42 consecutive no-lose streak match record among England's top leagues. This record would only be broken 26 years later in the 21st century by Wenger's Arsenal, with a record of a 49 consecutive no-lose streak.
Of course, history is always glorious when looking back upon it. This was especially so for England, the place of origin for modern football. It was no cause for wonder, no matter how glorious a history a team had. Compared to its glorious past, the current Team Nottingham Forest and Notts County's predicament could only be described with the word "heartache." Notts County was faced with financial crisis multiple times and even had a dark period of being placed in administration for 18 months early in the century. In the end, a financial group and a match with Chelsea in the FA Cup, saved the team—before that match, Chelsea agreed to let all the proceeds from the tickets go to Notts County, so as to save this oldest football club in the word. Nottingham Forest was slightly better than their fellow team from the same city. However, as its past was just too glorious, the fans tended to have hallucinations regarding their glorious past and their current miserable state. They felt that it was a given for them to obtain results similar to the past and not continue worsening and being content with low-level league matches like Notts County.
The current Team Nottingham Forest, even when faced against West Ham, would appear to be severely lacking, despite the fact that West Ham's historical achievements were far beneath those of Team Nottingham Forest's.
This was the first match of the English FA Cup's third round, and there were originally no plans for it to be broadcasted live. However, because both participating teams were in a tight spot and needed a win desperately, BBC decided to have a live broadcast for this match as they felt that it would be a hot topic. Of course, Tony Twain was also one of the hot topics, because he had just become the first manager in the entire of English football history to be injured by his own player during a match.
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The day's weather was not bad, and the bright sunlight gave off the feeling that it was not winter. It was the complete opposite of the gloomy rain of the past two days. When Tang En stepped down from the big bus and saw the bright sunlight, he could not help but squint his eyes.
As the manager, he was the second person to hop down from the bus. The first person to come down was the assistant manager, Des Walker, who was warmly welcomed by the fans. They shouted Walker's name loudly and clapped for him. Walker had served Nottingham Forest for many years and was one of the witnesses of Nottingham Forest's final moments of glory. It was understandable that he would receive this kind of respect from the fans.
However, right as Tang En exited the bus, what welcomed him was a sharp jeering sound. He raised his head, only to discover that the people who were jeering at him seemed very familiar—they were the few middle-aged people who had a confrontation with him at the bar. He could recognize them in a single glance, as the person who led them had gauze around his forehead. His ridiculous appearance stood out.
Walker obviously did not expect the manager to be met with this kind of situation, which was apparent from the way he stood aside, not knowing what to do. Similar to him was the player, Michael Dawson, who was preparing to get off the bus, when he heard the resounding jeers in the air. With a face full of shock, he raised his head and looked at the fans, as he really thought that he was the one being jeered at.
It was Tang En who extended a hand to him and pulled him down. Seeing the new hope of the team, the jeers immediately stopped. After that, the fans were met with an extremely awkward predicament—Michael Dawson, the team's future hope, was popular amongst the fan. The appearance of this kind of player would definitely receive cheers and applause. However, the person pulling him was the substitute manager, Tony Twain, whom they were just jeering at moments ago. If they cheered, would it not be mistaken as cheering for Twain?
Tang En was extremely satisfied with the fans' behavior, as it had turned out the way he expected it to. He patted Dawson's shoulders, and told him to proceed to the changing room. The fans saw that Dawson had finally left Twain and were just about to jeer at Twain, who was still in front of the bus door. This time, Twain walked up to it and pulled along Andy Reid, another handsome young man and the future hope of the team, just like Dawson. The crowd had just started to turn ugly again, but had no choice but to stop.
Tang En looked at the facial expressions of those awkward people and smiled triumphantly.
Reid, who was beside Twain, felt that it was strange. It was the first time that he had seen the manager so enthusiastic, to go as far as to personally bring them from the bus. "Boss, why are you smiling?"
This time, he did not leave Reid, and they both walked into a narrow passageway leading to the changing room. Although they were prepared to, the fans did not have a chance to jeer at him.
"The sly fox!" Michael, who was leading the group, put down his hands frustratingly, before he punched the metal handrail in front of him.
Twain's behavior those past few days had been slightly abnormal. Or rather, to be more specific, it was the past four days—ever since he had been knocked over by David Johnson during the match on January 1st, he had been acting strangely, as if he were a different person from the old quiet and gloomy Tony Twain. The players had been very worried because of this, as they did not know whether his cranial nerves had been damaged, and whether there would be any terrifying consequences such as mental delay, forgetfulness, or worse...
As such, even though the person deploying the tactics in the changing room was not the manager, but one of the assistant managers, Des Walker, nobody felt that it was strange at all. Instead, it was the old man Ian Bowyer at the side who was more quiet and gloomy than Tony Twain, who appeared to be out of sorts. It was usually him who did these, and now it had become his inferior, Walker's job. Even a fool could tell that ever since Tony Twain was promoted from the youth team to the manager of the first team, Bowyer had been very disappointed.
That was very normal, because even though Bowyer had been working for the team for quite some time, he was already 51 years old, and was one of the oldest among the managerial team. He had contributed greatly to the team twice, and was one of the main players during the two times which Nottingham Forest won the UEFA Champions League. However, he had pathetically few ties with Tony Twain. Twain had been following Paul Hart around previously, leading the youth team's trainings and matches. After Paul Hart had been promoted to first team's manager, Twain became the manager of the youth team. On the other hand, Ian Bowyer had been the first team's assistant manager for the longest time, and had assisted many generations of managers. From Brian Clough's successor, Frank Clark, to Stuart Pearce, to Dave Bassett, to Ron Atkinson, to David Platt and finally, to Paul Hart. However, Tony Twain's name was not inside this list.
Although the two of them were in the same club, they were at a different training fields. The youth team and the first team's training grounds were separated by a small alley which was less than five meters wide, but appeared to be separated by half of Nottingham City. Twain, a person of few words, was not enthusiastic in engaging in any form of social interaction or gatherings, and therefore he and Bowyer had almost no interaction whatsoever. The most they did was to acknowledge each other with a nod when they bumped into each other at the training grounds, before going their separate ways.
The current atmosphere in the changing room was similar to that of two strangers passing by each other on the streets. Tony Twain's handy assistant, Des Walker, was briefing the players on the match later, while the other assistant manager, Ian Bowyer sat by the wall and assumed the role of an on-looker.
What about the real main character, Tang En?
He was not in the changing room, but in the bathroom instead.
Aside from the toilets in the two changing rooms, the entire City Ground still had 10 other bathrooms of different sizes. Most of them were open to the fans, while there were two toilets located at the resting corridor outside the VIP lounge reserved for the VIPs. There was still a remaining small bathroom that was reserved for the staff of the teams. The managers of the team could smoke there to relieve the stress before the match.
Tang En was currently doing so.
He had originally thought that his nervousness had gone away after an entire morning. However, when he saw the nicely placed football jerseys and boots inside the changing room, his heart began to beat uncontrollably. As such, he found an excuse to go to the restroom, in order to dump everything on Walker and escape this place.
The bathroom reserved for the staff was located in a very discreet corner below the main viewing platform, so not many people would go there. Through the glass window outside the bathroom, the view of the football field could be seen, the green turf that was bright under the sunlight, as well as the seats which were being filled, gradually.
Out of sheer habit, Tang En reached in his pockets and tried to take out his cigarettes, before he remembered that Tony Twain neither smoked nor drank.
This was unlike any other football related game he had played before. It was not Championship Manager, nor was it Football Manager.... it was a professional league match and football team which existed in reality, on this planet. Upon losing, there was no reloading of saved game data, nor was it possible to defeat difficult opponents just by adding new managers. A loss was a loss, and perhaps, you might even lose the most important match of your life. In this game, there was no backing out halfway, even if you used Alt + F4...
Actually, wasn't life supposed to be like this? Everyone always grumbled about "If only I had done so and so, I would not be like this now." In that case, Twain would even have to thank fate for giving him a chance to reload his saved game data. Although he only reverted back four years in time, and the game data which he read was someone else's.
But so what? Since this body now belonged to him, he might as well give it his best shot, and not waste away his time again. From another perspective, it was also a way of not letting the previous owner down.
At that moment, music could be vaguely heard from the outside, and gave off the feeling similar to what Tang En had seen on the television broadcast, except that it was slightly softer. He decided to listen carefully and tried to make out what they were singing. However, this song was soon disrupted by jeering sounds. Tang En stopped trying to listen, as he smiled helplessly.
All of this is so real. This is professional football.
He discovered that the apprehension in his heart had unknowingly disappeared, leaving behind anticipation of the future. He took another glance at the green field and the viewing platform, before he turned around and walked toward the football team's changing room.
Professional football, I'm coming for you.
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