Godfather Of Champions

The next day, Clarice faxed over the detailed schedule for the shoot. It was indeed very detailed. Twain took it and went to look for Evan Doughty. Evan was very satisfied and thought it was a great opportunity to publicize the Forest team. With the new replacement of the club chairman, the rising Nottingham Forest needed a chance to let the world get reacquainted with them. It was also a form of publicity that Twain had led the team to win repeatedly on the field. However, the official publicity from the UEFA was a more powerful weapon that would save their efforts and lead to better results.

The club chairman decided on the matter right away, and the rest was simple. Miss Barbara Lucy, who was in charge of external communications, formally informed the UEFA Champions League Magazine program unit that they could come to Nottingham for the filming and interviews. In addition, with Twain’s consent, they were given permission to enter the locker room and shoot.

After that, the message was posted on the official website of Nottingham Forest and then republished by more media.

Very soon, everyone knew that Nottingham Forest had received the attention of the UEFA officials.

Clarice and her team worked efficiently. After they received the confirmation and notice from the Nottingham Forest Club, ten of them arrived at the London Heathrow Airport the next day with various equipment and luggage. In the afternoon, those people already appeared on the sidelines of Nottingham Forest’s training ground with their cameras on their shoulders.

“You guys are really dedicated in your jobs, Miss… Gloria.” Twain met the lady from the phone call at the sidelines of the training ground. He stuttered a little because he was surprised when he saw her appearance. He had thought about this young lady’s appearance. She had a pleasant voice, but he often met people who did not look as nice as their voices. He had not expected Clarice Gloria to not only sound nice but also look as pretty as her voice. Was that a surprise?

She was young and beautiful, with a head of bouncy, curly blond hair, blue eyes, and a perfectly straight and slightly upturned nose. She also had a pair of very nice lips. What attracted Twain the most was her eyes. When she smiled, her eyes curved like the crescents of the moon and twinkled expressively.

At that moment, Clarice Gloria regarded Tony Twain with that pair of expressive eyes.

“How did you recognize me, Mr. Twain?”

“Simple.” Twain looked at the busy production crew milling around, “You’re the only woman among all of these strangers.”

Gloria tittered. Her lips opened to reveal her white teeth, and they glittered in the afternoon sun.

Twain turned his gaze. It reminded him of a Colgate commercial.

After she laughed, Gloria turned to look at the training ground. The team was in training under the guidance of Kerslake.

Although the manager and assistant manager were present on the sidelines, the arrival of the production crew still affected the team’s training. The players were somewhat distracted and looked around. Their gazes finally settled on Twain and Clarice Gloria.

“Mr. Twain…”

“Yes?”

“I just noticed you’re wearing sunglasses, but the sun today is too glaring…”

Now that Twain had taken his sunglasses off and put them in his pocket, he said, “I admire your observational skills, Miss Gloria. It’s just a personal habit of mine.”

“That is interesting, a manager who wears sunglasses to direct training.” Clarice Gloria nodded.

Twain also noticed that the players had lost their concentration and were looking in his direction. He knew that the boys were not looking at him, and must be looking at Clarice Gloria.

Ah, what a headache. The production crew has promised not to disturb the team’s normal training and competition, but who would have thought that such a beautiful woman would show up? Even if they really don’t want to disturb the team’s training, it’s hard to not to distract the players with such a woman on the sidelines.

“I’m sorry, Miss Gloria…” Twain pointed to the training ground.

Gloria expressed her understanding. “OK, I’ll let you get back to work. We also have to start working. I guarantee we won’t disturb you.”

Twain gave a wry smile. It’s already disturbed…

After he took his leave of Gloria, Twain turned and walked back to the training ground, while he took his sunglasses from his pocket and put them back on.

“David, gather the team.” He waved to Kerslake.

The production crew set up the equipment on the west side of the field. Twain brought the team over to the most eastern side. Everyone gathered in a circle with him standing in the middle. He did not speak loudly, just enough for the people around him to hear.

“As you can see, we have a group of guests here. I’m sure you all know that they’re here to do something. I gave them permission to shoot in the locker room, so…” Twain extended his index finger, “If you don’t want to be reprimanded by me in front of the camera, then do well in training. Look at your behavior just now. It’s just a blonde lady, and you can’t move your legs to run. Are you guys children who saw a woman for the first time?”

The players hooted with laughter.

The laughter spread to the other side of the field where the production crew was. They could not hear what Twain had said, but they could guess it was related to them. Gloria stood next to her colleague. She currently had nothing to do and was content to be idle and carefully observe this mysterious manager.

Before she had come here, she had read up on a lot of information about him, including some of the interviews he had accepted before he became famous.

Her final conclusion was that she was unable to draw any conclusions. She could not define the manager, and could not determine the subject of this filming.

Perhaps only by coming to Nottingham, England, personally seeing the manager who currently on the television screen, personally experiencing working with him, and interacting with him, would be able to draw her conclusion.

As a result, she tasked the production crew with shooting everything they saw, like filming a documentary. They had to record every second and minute of the manager at work, and then they would go back, cut and edit to summarize.

“Clarice.” A man walked over, the head producer of his interview. He was the one who had agreed on this interview with Twain at the draw ceremony in the first place. “Did you see something?”

“No.” Gloria shrugged. “We just met. It’s not in-depth yet. But…he’s a very interesting person. I’ve met a lot of people in football; players, coaches, club chairmen, general managers… He was the first one to make me feel like he’s not a part of that circle.”

The man looked at the Forest team in a distance. Twain was surrounded by his players and was barely visible. But everyone knew he was the focus of all eyes. It was not because he was the manager of the team and not because he was the subject of the interview. It was because he seemed to have something special about him that attracted people to get close to him and to want to get to know him.

In the spotlight, Twain gave a lecture to his team to keep them in order as usual.

“I know it’s a little hard for you to treat so many people like they’re invisible. I just hope you don’t let these things outside the field affect your performances. We’ve all undergone interviews before. Only this time, it’s longer. Okay, guys, stop acting like you’ve never seen a woman before. If you lose the game because of that, you’re going to be a laughing stock all over Europe!”

There was another burst of laughter.

Twain waved his hands and Kerslake continued to lead the team in training while he stood on the sidelines. He did not go back to Clarice Gloria to strike up a conversation. Instead, he watched the team’s training as he normally did, as if there was not a production crew of up to ten people working on the sidelines.