Godfather Of Champions

Evan Doughty had not deceived Twain. The next day, all of Nottingham’s pro-Forest media gave lots of coverage of the contract renewal. The one with the best relationship with the Forest team, The Nottingham Evening Post, even used the corny caption “The renewal that defines the future” to determine Wood’s contract renewal with the Forest team.

The media had not even been this positive when the Forest team had introduced Mikel Arteta a few days ago. It looked like Evan had really put in a lot of effort.

Encouraged by his agent, Billy Woox, George Wood gave an exclusive media interview for the first time. Twain glanced at the news story and knew that Wood’s answer was scripted by Woox. The meaning of the words was close enough; his expression just seemed more fluent.

Twain believed that, since Evan Doughty handled the publicity of Wood’s renewal in such a high-profile manner, he must be prepared to continue the spending. In the next half of the season, there would definitely be other players in the Forest team who would propose amendments to their contract requirements.

George Wood had striven for a better deal for himself based on his outstanding performance. But did that mean that the other players did not perform well? Leighton Baines, Ashley Young, Freddy Eastwood, Peter Crouch… Those players were probably going to need better contracts to inspire them to contribute to the team.

Twain thought about it. Instead of waiting for the other agents to approach and wasting time with each of them, he should just be realistic and issue new contracts across the board to save time and boost morale.

Naturally, now was not the time. At this time, the Forest team was about to go up against Manchester United on their home ground. This was the focal battle in the fourth round of the FA Cup.

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Because Manchester United had conceded on their home ground to Nottingham Forest, the Forest fans were filled with wonderful expectations of victory for this game.

Ferguson did not mention to the media the past painful loss of three points in the league tournament’s final moments. Whenever the media asked, he would evade and gloss over the subject. But before the game, he did, consciously or unconsciously, recall a wonderful moment when Manchester United had been here before.

“My team and I have a very good memory here from six years ago. Even now, I’m still thrilled when I think about it. I’m sure Ole Gunnar Solskjær will agree with me.”

The moment that Ferguson referred to was February 6, 1999. That season was Manchester United’s most splendid one: The Treble. On February 6, Manchester United had played in an away game in the Nottingham City Ground stadium to challenge the already declining Forest team. Before the UEFA Champions League final of the season, this match was the super-sub’s, Solskjær’s, most brilliant game. It was the perfect interpretation of his moniker, “the super-sub”.

In that game, Manchester United created a bloodbath on the field. They wiped out Nottingham Forest by 8:1. Solskjær, the substitute at the last moment, scored four goals alone in twenty minutes and created a Premier League record.

For Ferguson and Solskjær, it was indeed a wonderful moment to remember and cherish for a long time. But Ferguson should not have mentioned it in front of the Nottingham Forest fans.

That match and score was simply a nightmare for the Forest fans. It was the last thing they wanted to mention, and they especially did not want the Manchester United team to bring it up.

The Nottingham media had used that 2:2 tied game from more than a month ago to mock Ferguson. They had not expected that they would “court a rebuff” instead. Ferguson’s casual mention of how he had enjoyed that game six years ago was like a slap in the face. To have him say it with such delight was a major humiliation.

This was Ferguson’s most commonly used psychological tactic: enrage the other party and let his opponents lose their heads in their tactical arrangement. It did not matter now whether the Forest team and Tony Twain were provoked; the Nottingham Forest fans and media were aggravated.

Tang En was neutral about the feud between the two teams. He had still been in China in 1999. At that time, he had not known much about the English Premier League and did not care about the performance of a declining team like Nottingham Forest. He had only heard of the 1:8 game from other people down the road. Ferguson’s provocation had little effect on him.

But his players did not feel that way. Although none of them had experienced that fiasco, none of them wanted to be belittled as a player.

What did Ferguson mean when he said that? The Forest players felt that Ferguson’s unspoken words were, “If I could conquer Nottingham Forest with 8:1 six years ago, then I can defeat them today, too!”

They felt deeply insulted.

Even though Albertini and Hierro remained calm, their calm aura had only a small effect on a few people among a large group of enthusiasts.

Twain seriously considered the issue. Ferguson’s speech had angered his players before the match. So should he deliberately avoid this outrageous mood during the game, or should he go ahead and take this opportunity to motivate his players and inspire their potential?

Anger had two possible consequences. One was that the angry side was torn to shreds by emotion, and the other was that they would use their anger to tear the provoker to pieces.

Twain had to choose between the two outcomes. He could not choose the middle way. The middle ground was useless on the football field.

He took a while to learn how each player on the team felt. He discovered that the overwhelming majority of them were infuriated by Ferguson’s remarks and thought that they had been disrespected. Those who thought that the Forest team should treat the game as an ordinary FA Cup match were pitifully few. Consequently, Twain decided to add fuel to the fire.

In the last few minutes before going onto the field, he managed to convince the players that Ferguson was a detestable old Scottish man and make them feel genuine animosity towards Manchester United. He even convinced himself. He was very satisfied with his incitement.

As a result, when the players were actually on the field, Twain sat in the technical area and found that he seemed to have gone overboard.

Amidst the harsh jeers of the home fans, even the Forest team was affected. The anger inside of them was intensified by the jeering, far beyond Twain’s anticipated level.

There was a fine line between irrational fury and inspired anger. Now, the Forest team was showing clear signs of losing its rationality.

The livid Forest team took the lead. They got off to quite a good start. Just seven minutes after the start of the game, Manchester United’s goal was breached by Mark Viduka of Nottingham Forest. It was cracked open. With Ribéry’s cross, Mark Viduka had the upper hand in the confrontation with Ferdinand. He crushed his opponent and shot Ribéry’s pass into the goal guarded by Roy Carroll.

The American goalkeeper, Tim Howard, had completely lost Ferguson’s trust. Carroll was the one standing guard for Manchester United during this game, but it seemed that his performance could not satisfy Ferguson either.

Before the game, the reason for Ferguson’s mention of the 8:1 was clear. On one hand, he had angered his opponents. On the other, he had motivated his players. If the Manchester United team lost in the end, it would be Ferguson’s own humiliation. He would have to find a way to win.