Godfather Of Champions

Having eaten dinner alone at home, Dunn asked Twain where he was as usual when he saw him come home. Twain did not completely tell the truth, and his answer was ambiguous. “I had dinner with the production crew.”

Clarice Gloria was part of the production crew, so having dinner with her could naturally be considered “dinner with the production crew.”

He did not wish to tell the truth to Dunn because Dunn knew a lot about his personal affairs already.

He suddenly could not bear Dunn looking at him with that expression- the sort of expression that was without any meaning and was just looking wordlessly. Twain did not understand what it meant and it was a bit annoying.

Dunn did not ask any further. It would not correspond with his character.

After a brief chat, Twain went straight upstairs to take a bath and rest.

After being with Dunn for a long time, the two of them had influenced each other. Influenced by Twain, Dunn gradually became livelier and would take the initiative to speak. And Twain’s daily routine became more regular under the influence of Dunn.

Clarice Gloria ran into the program’s head producer, John Trafalgar, at her room door.

“You still haven’t arrived at a clear conclusion?” Prior to that, Gloria had said to Trafalgar that if the answer could not be found during the course of the normal shooting, she would not mind using unconventional means. “I thought I wouldn’t see you here tonight.”

Gloria shrugged. “No. But I figured it out. It doesn’t matter if there’s one or not. Maybe he’s just a person who can’t be defined. But…” Looking Trafalgar leaning against the door, Gloria smiled slyly. “I almost let him take me to another hotel.”

Trafalgar rolled his eyes.

“But…” Gloria swung her small satchel to her back and placed her hand on Trafalgar’s shoulder. She looked at him and said, “He’s not good for a one-night stand.”

“Why?” Trafalgar looked at her and asked.

“Because that would be a waste.”

Gloria winked at Trafalgar and turned to open the door to go in.

“Good night, John.”

“Nite, Clarice.”

And the door closed between them.

※※※

The next day, the production crew started work as always. Twain and Gloria loudly greeted each other on the sidelines and went about their respective busy schedules. Gloria addressed Twain as “Mr. Twain,” and Twain still called her “Miss Gloria.”

As tomorrow was the game, there was not much training today. It was only half a day and mostly focused on tactical drills. Therefore, the production crew only filmed for fifteen minutes before they left the training ground.

They certainly did not disperse to return to the hotel. There was another important job: interviewing the club chairman.

As the person who had once fired and re-hired Twain, Evan Doughty was destined to carry his “crime” of error in judgment for a lifetime. The machination that he and Allan had pulled must not be publicized; or, to be accurate, it absolutely could not be revealed at this time.

“…You’re asking me for my thoughts on Tony Twain? I only have one thing to say: I want to thank him.”

Those were Evan Doughty’s heartfelt words.

For Clarice Gloria, who had interviewed many football celebrities, it was not surprising to find that conflict existed between a club chairman and a manager in the football world. Even the incumbent managers would have some complaints about their own club chairmen. No matter how much they praised each other when they were in front of other people, one could feel the dissonance somewhere behind the false fronts.

However, as Evan Doughty faced the camera, he offered no exaggerated exaltation nor were there any long-winded clichés. He only gave a plain and simple “I want to thank him.” It was rare.

Gloria believed the young club chairman was sincere.

What was the secret to Nottingham Forest’s resurgence? An unknown secret? When a team, from the chairman down to the ordinary players, were united in solidarity, when the relationship between people was simple and happy and they had the same goal, would it be difficult to create good results?

To apply an often-used sentence, Tony Twain and his Nottingham Forest and his club chairman were in a honeymoon period. During this time, the team’s performance was good and there was no discord in the locker room. Everyone was flushed with success. Fame and money followed as well. It was the natural course of things. When there was no interference from messy external factors, the players could play to their fullest potential on the field.

Those teams that had achieved brilliant successes in history must have been in such a honeymoon phase.

A few examples like Barcelona in the last two seasons, AC Milan in the early 90s, “The golden age era” of Inter Milan, and Manchester United’s feat of a treble in 1999.

As to why every dynasty could not last long, it was because people always changed. Gloria did not know how long the honeymoon would last for Twain and the Forest team. That was not what the program wanted to investigate.

※※※

The next day’s game was held at the City Ground stadium. It was the 30th round of the English Premier League game, which belonged to the “let the viewers get to know all about the new Nottingham Forest” section in the plan. In addition to the daily training, a game was the natural next step to getting to know a team. Normally, the viewers watched a game from the perspective of a television broadcaster. The shooting angle of the production crew was not focused on every minute of the game, but the technical area, substitutes’ bench, locker room, and the stands.

Gloria’s filming plan covered two games. One game was the domestic league and the other was the next round of the Champions League on March 29th, which was Nottingham Forest’s away challenge against Inter Milan.

Nottingham Forest’s home game against Bolton Wanderers was not chosen by Sky TV for a national broadcast. However, there was still a lot of media. That was not due to the official influence of UEFA, nor a special phenomenon of the game. The English media had long understood that, as long as there was a Nottingham Forest game, it was important for them to pay attention, regardless of whether it was a national broadcast or not. Nobody knew when the manager would create new news and antics.

Letting slip the news would be to go against the national readers.

Gloria looked at the media, which there was more of than she anticipated. She exclaimed at the rising influence of Twain in England.

The game went well. Perhaps it was because the players were exceptionally energized with the presence of the UEFA Champions League Magazine. It could also be that they had not won for two consecutive rounds and that that put some pressure on the team, driving their desire to win.

In short, Twain’s team decisively won by 4:1 over Bolton Wanderers at home and used the victory to fight back the people who were in doubt.

The camera of Gloria and her crew recorded everything that happened in the jubilant City Ground stadium. She did not expect the frenzy shown in the City Ground stadium, which could only hold twenty-seven thousand people, during and after the game. She felt that the atmosphere was not like winning a normal league game, but more like winning the league title.