Godfather Of Champions

There were definitely many issues in training and to a TV announcer or a spectator, the mistakes were very obvious.

For example, in the case of Balotelli, what surprised him was that this kid did not mean to be sloppy. On the contrary, he was very hardworking and competent during training. Before this, Twain thought that Balotelli was going to go against him for sure, but his current performance really surprised him. Initially, he even wanted to pick on Balotelli, to pick on his weaknesses and mistakes and suppress the rest of the team, using him as an example.

It seemed that he did not know anything about his players and it really was a setback.

Thiago Silva was not much of a worry. Would a 33-year-old full-back like him still want to be a starter? If Twain placed him in the reserves this instance and it came down to either him or George Wood, would he still come up with any tricks? For the external factors affecting the squad, just use realistic defragmentation measures to resolve the issues.

The formation of the Foreign Legion had something to do with the lack of a strong manager in the dressing room. Because they could not find a core player to trust, they would become individually attached to the people they thought were strong, and gradually form their respective small cliques. Now that there was a strong character in Nottingham Forest’s changing room, these people would need to reconsider their initial choice.

Twain decided to approach Eastwood to find out more about Balotelli’s situation. After all, Kerslake’s period in the team was short, and there was no way he could fully understand the individual situations of the players. Eastwood has been in the Nottingham Forest team for five seasons, and he definitely had a lot of information about those players who were added to the team after Twain left.

“Balotelli?” Eastwood frowned when he heard Twain mention this player. Twain noticed his unusual expression.

“He’s really talented…” Eastwood mused, weighing his following words. “However, he has a few traits that made him seem boastful and he has always wanted to leave the team so he’s not on great terms with the rest of them.”

“I could tell,” Twain recalled the situation during training in these two days. During the break times in between training, there was no one who would take the initiative to talk to Balotelli. During the team selection during training, not many were willing to be on the same team as him. However, he wanted to ask about something else. “Was he always as hardworking in training?”

Eastwood thought for a while, then shook his head. “No.”

“Oh…” Twain then turned silent. He did not question Eastwood further, because he generally knew what was going on in his mind.

“Are you thinking of transferring Balotelli out, head coach?” Eastwood was trying to guess the intention behind Twain asking him about the Italian player.

Twain shook his head. “No. Now the team is having a lack of players, and I would only complain about having insufficient players, so why would I transfer one out? During this winter transfer window, I do not plan to take any players out.”

Afterward, Twain went ahead to find a few more coaches to understand Balotelli’s situation. He really did not want to transfer Balotelli out of the team, unless the two of them argued like there was no tomorrow. Like the situation between him and Anelka, when both totally lost their trust for each other. It was just like what Eastwood had said: this person had talent, and the current Nottingham Forest team needed his capabilities.

So Twain did not have any ideas of transferring him out. Instead, he wanted to utilize him properly.

Nevertheless, just relying on his conversations with the other coaches was not enough. It seems like he needed to have a direct conversation with Balotelli. However, he did not have the time for this.

He took over the team in the middle of the week, and there was a match on the coming weekend.

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Nottingham Forest’s away game against Aston Villa was not the main show that was most talked about, but the game was selected by the BBC channel in the last minute to be broadcasted for the whole country to watch for free. The reason was very simple – this was the first match since Tony Twain’s return to Nottingham Forest. It made sense that this match was placed on high priority for all to view.

During the few days before the game, the media started to hype up the competition and there were many Premier League team coaches would were asked about their views on Tony Twain’s return to Nottingham Forest.

There was a variety of answers. Some were supportive, some simply did not care, and some even thought that Twain’s return was a mistake as he would definitely not be able to reach the peak he had achieved in the past.

“If I were him, I would definitely just stay at home.” Mourinho did not express any joy in his reunion with his rival. “His capability has long expired.” During the interview, his expression was cold and detached, as if he did not know who Tony Twain was at all.

“I welcome Tony’s return, and I personally think that was a very brave decision.” This statement made by Everton’s coach Moyes seemed to make everyone think that he was on the same side as Twain, but the following speech was not well-liked by Twain’s supporters at all. “But it’s best if we don’t get our hopes high for the results his team is going to bring. His return to the team is already a victory of its own kind.”

“I think you all are very lame in hyping up this topic. It’s simply a head coach returning to his old team.” There were people who were not very concerned with Twain. The one who delivered the aforementioned statement was John Robertson, the current head coach for Aston Villa. His team was going to face Twain’s team very soon. It was certain that he did not want the crazed media, which was exaggerating in the amount of attention they gave this topic, to disrupt his team. “He could change today’s Nottingham Forest overnight, but he would definitely not be able to get the team to return as the current season’s main character. What is there to talk about?”

Of course, it was impossible for Twain to have everyone’s good opinion.

“I don’t think that Tony’s return was just for show. I know him very well. If he decided to get back to the team, it must have been after endless consideration. He must have thought that he would be able to take on the role properly before he agreed to the decision.” This comment was made by the head coach of Leeds United. He was Twain’s golden partner in coaching the England team, so he definitely knew Twain a lot better than others. “Hence, I don’t think that his return was simply just to hype up Nottingham Forest’s reputation. Anyways, I just want to remind the rest to be wary of him.”

Regarding all these comments, Twain kept his silence throughout, neither rebutting nor agreeing. This was because he was busy trying to settle all the internal relations within the team so there was no time to fuel the media circus.

It was almost as if he wanted to prove right those who were looking down on him. On the debut match after Tony Twain’s return, he had suffered a terrible loss. In Aston Villa’s home court, Villa Park, Nottingham Forest was flattened with a 1:2 defeat and their ranking fell to 17th place.

This match puzzled many people, including those who knew a lot about Twain. For instance, the one who was commentating about the match, Mortensen, was shaking his head throughout. “I really don’t know what Twain is thinking…”

No matter what situation his team was facing, he was simply sitting at the coaching seat and did not stand up at all. Throughout the whole match, he did not make any adjustments. Some people even joked about whether the actual Tony Twain had really returned to Nottingham Forest to coach. Maybe this was just a wax model that was stolen from the museum that came back to coach.

There was not much difference in the tactics employed by the past Nottingham Forest and the current team, save for the fact that Balotelli was back in the forward line, partnering with Mitchell. George Wood continued to stay on the middle path and Gago was assisting him from the side. The spectators did not see the fatal side flank attacks by Nottingham Forest, the attacks made by the team concentrated in the middle path, creating huge congestion in the middle sector.

Aston Villa was happy to see how Nottingham Forest concentrated their offense in the middle path as this made things a lot simpler for them during the match.

Twain used all three substitutions in the game but none of those had much purpose. Agbonlahor replaced Mitchell and Balotelli stayed on the pitch for the full 90 minutes. Alex Teixeira replaced Gago, as he went forward and played as the offensive midfielder, Cohen replaced Wijnaldum in hopes to strengthen the offense. After the substitutions, the Nottingham Forest’s flanking offense looked a lot better, but it was too late. The score was already 0:2 with Nottingham Forest being behind.

After the end of the match, the reporters were all waiting for the press conference that came after the match. They were excited to hear Twain’s statement after that defeat – he definitely would not be able to escape from this topic.

Twain was sitting on stage and looking at those reporters who were mocking him. He knew exactly what the reporters were expecting. He surely would not be able to escape this freely. That way, the media would definitely talk about his integrity.

“Aston Villa played well, so they won the game. We played badly, so we lost the game, that’s all there is to it.” His post-match comments were very brief.

The reporters showed no mercy. “Can you elaborate on how badly you guys played?”

Twain was not infuriated upon hearing this provocation. Instead, he gave a detailed evaluation of the issues in the tactics implemented by his team and this really caused a shock to those in the media waiting for a good show.

“Our offense was stacked in the middle, it was over-congested…” Twain spread his arms. He noticed the changes in the expressions of some of the reporters. That was the effect he intended. You all want to watch a good show, but I simply will not give you what you want!

The whole press conference continued for fifteen minutes, and the loser Tony Twain instead became the focal point. The head coach of Aston Villa, John Robertson, was extremely depressed. He realized that even when he won over Twain, he was still unable to become the main character.

Twain was very comfortable on stage, so much so that he was able to prevent the media from getting hold of too many of his weaknesses. After the end of the press conference, there were some who were uneasy and thought Twain was simply too cunning. They were unable to adapt to this low-profile Twain. Actually, it was most unfair to John Robertson. Though he was the winner, he had only been asked two questions throughout the whole press conference. Twain had completely stolen his limelight.

Even though Nottingham Forest scored a goal before the end of the match, it only won them back a bit of fame. None of their pride was regained. Twain and his team had become the target of the mockery from the media.

“Look, I’ve said it from the start, you guys should not have high hopes about the results from the team he is coaching.”

“Twain needs some time to fully adapt to his new job after having left football for four months…”

“The main takeaway from this match was not the score. I feel that one should focus on the process instead – commenting on the process, this match was a total disaster!”

“I discovered a problem. In the face of questions from so many about his ability to coach, it was unusual that Tony Twain did not fight back like he did last time. Then recalling his attitude during the press conference after the match, it is most probable that Tony Twain had already predicted this loss. Expanding on this fact, regarding this situation on returning to Nottingham Forest, he might not have sufficient confidence in handling this issue…”

※※※

“These media people really guessed one matter accurately,” Twain said during his meeting with the coaches. “Before the start of the previous league match, I was indeed not sure if we would be able to win. After this match, everyone might have realized that taking the middle path was not the right way. We must ensure that Nottingham Forest returns to the same track it took in the past.”

“Now that we have a week’s time, let’s throw away the tactics used in the past and start from the beginning.”

“From now on, adjust your mentality before the training, expand on the focus on the defensive, and strengthen the tactics on the offense after the free-kick. Before January, we will rely on these two tricks to stabilize the position of the team.

The coaches had no opinions on the arrangements made by Twain. They were professionals who knew that defense and free kicks were tactics that would immediately show effect. Change the offense? Take your time. First, they needed to restore the confidence and the morale of the team, then they would be able to see an efficient offense.

After the routine tactical meeting, David Kerslake and Freddy Eastwood stayed.

“Tony, you’re really tolerant,” Kerslake shook his head. “The only thing media hasn’t called you was an infamous liar.”

Twain laughed dismissively. “It is only a game, the media is often like this. You must understand them, David, it’s rare for them to see situations like this.”

Eastwood, who was beside him, was frowning upon another matter. “The next match will be on our home court, head coach. We definitely can’t lose this one…”

It was normal for him to worry about this; there was nothing much to losing on an away court. But on the home court, the expectations that the Nottingham Forest fans had of Twain were different. They definitely did not care about those theories of “head coach needing time to familiarize with the team he just took over”, they only knew that Tony Twain was the savior of the team, and were sure that once he took over the coaching seat, no matter how tough the situation was, he would be able to achieve victory. This did not sound possible for a human, but in the hearts of the Nottingham Forest fans, Tony Twain was comparable to a god.

Eastwood was thinking about this point. If Nottingham Forest lost on their home court, then Twain would have a difficult path ahead of him. The doubt and the disappointment of the fans and the segregation within the team would send the team sinking too deep into the abyss.

Although their opponents were not strong in the upcoming match, it was extremely important for Twain that there would be no room for errors.

Twain clearly knew the importance of this match. The issues behind the tactics were entrusted to the coaches and the daily training was thoroughly settled, so it did not require much effort from him as well.

The thing that really required his attention was the players; he felt like he needed to quickly find Balotelli for a one-on-one chat as soon as possible.