Godfather Of Champions

Despite the fact that it was only July, Nottingham Forest slowly closed its doors on the transfer market. Twain decided to keep his team away from the distracting rumors in the transfer market and single-mindedly prepare for the new season. Last season’s Champions League title was not the end point for them. In the face of the achievement, there were higher achievements waiting for them to pursue.

While the Forest team was still training in Moscow, Allan had flown back to Nottingham to assist Evan in dealing with various aspects in the construction of the new stadium.

The Nottingham municipal government and the Nottingham Forest Club had unveiled a real estate development program in Clifton. A large residential and business districts were to be built in the small town of Clifton, southwest of Nottingham, as well as a modernized new stadium that could accommodate up to 60,000 people.

This was followed by a tentitive exercise opened for the whole of Europe.

Just as the Russian Railways Cup was about to begin, the Nottingham Forest Football Club’s official website announced the tentative results for the construction of the new stadium.

In the end, Wilson Bowden, the fifth-largest housing developer in the United Kingdom, won the bid and would be responsible for the construction and development of the new stadium and residential areas. One of the most attractive factors in their bidding proposal was to save money. By adopting new technologies and working with the city government on the development of a new transport infrastructure, they could reduce the costs by about eight percent. In addition, the residential areas and a football theme park around the stadium could also yield substantial returns to the club after the completion — according to the plans. When the time came, the new Nottingham Forest Stadium would be more than just a football stadium. It would also be a theme park and a satellite city collective of dining, entertainment, residential and leisure.

The early stage funding for the new stadium came from a bank loan and new televised broadcast revenue, as well as the Champions League bonus and the funds provided by sponsors used to maintain the team’s daily operations. Therefore, Allan also sought wealthier investors for the huge plan to ease the club’s financial constraints over the next few years. Twain, who had always been more hands-off with the club’s operations, was also particularly concerned this time. How many hard years did Wenger have to tighten his belt while Arsenal repaired the Emirates stadium? Twain did not want to be a second Wenger. His savings in the transfer market this time made Allan happy, but Twain could not make himself save so much every year. If he had no money to buy good players after he had seen them, Twain would be boiling mad.

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Before the Russian Railways Cup, Twain’s team played two friendlies in eastern Germany. One of which was a friendly held in Cottbus against the local Bundesliga team, FC Energie Cottbus. Twain deployed all his reserves, First Team substitutes and young players in the starting lineup.

There was one player in Energie Cottbus that Twain somewhat cared about, and that was the Chinese player, Shao Jiayi, Sun Jihai’s national team teammate. Since they were all Chinese, he naturally showed more consideration during the selection of their friendlies’ opponents. Therefore, the Forest team chose the Energie Cottbus team, who had kept its status in the Bundesliga every year.

Energie Cottbus used the entire main force, but Shao Jiayi was not in the starting lineup. He was on the bench.

Energie Cottbus, who used all its main players in the first half, led the European champion, Nottingham Forest’s “Second Team” by two goals.

The Energie Cottbus team was greatly boosted by this result. It also stirred up the Energie Cottbus fans who came to watch the game live, and the stadium atmosphere heated up. It did not look like a friendly match. It was more like a knockout game in the Champions League group stage game.

During the halftime interval, Twain made several adjustments and changed five players to van Nistelrooy, Arshavin, Petrov, Lennon and Kompany in one go.

After the main force was brought on, the situation changed immediately. The Energie Cottbus players planned to continue to expand on their gains in the second half during the halftime interval. Their success made them forget who their opponents were. The cheers of the Energie Cottbus fans also made them think they were omnipotent at their home ground.

Just thirty-eight seconds into the second half, van Nistelrooy breached the goal after he received a header pass from Arshavin’s side on the flank and narrowed the score to 1:2.

Twain did not stand up and wave his fists in celebration. It was just too easy to him to get a goal into a team like Energie Cottbus.

Energie Cottbus wanted to continue to fight. Ten minutes later, the Forest team scored another goal by Petrov which equalized the score.

This goal thoroughly sobered Energie Cottbus up — this was a friendly. There was no need to strive to win this game, and there was no need to be upset about the defeat of this game. They started to change players.

Energie Cottbus changed more players than the Forest team. They switched a total of nine players in one breath and Shao Jiayi was one of them.

Then it was the Forest team’s turn to change. Twain also did not care about winning or losing. He mainly chose the games to assess if the new players had integrated into the team after so many days of training.

In the end, both sides changed eleven players each, which switched all the starting players. Nottingham Forest defeated Energie Cottbus by 4:2 which proved that their European champion’s strength was genuine.

Next, the team found a local amateur team to hold a friendly. It was a fully closed-door warm-up match. In fact, calling it an internal team match might have been more appropriate. It was played in the training ground with no spectators or media present. Under Twain’s constant adjustments, the Forest team eventually crushed its opponent by 9:1. Twain was not quite satisfied because his team had conceded a goal. At the end of the game, he roundly criticized the defensive players on the bus back to the hotel.

After the two friendlies, the Forest team flew back to Moscow and began to prepare for the Russian Railways Cup.

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The draw ceremony was simple because it was just an ordinary pre-season invitation tournament. Everyone knew the purpose of such games. Other than the media from the countries where the four teams were located, it did not attract much attention.

The final outcome was quite interesting.

The managers of the four teams sat side by side on the stage. Twain sat together with Real Madrid’s new manager, the German “madman” Bernd Schuster, AC Milan’s manager, Carlo Ancelotti, and FC Lokomotiv Moscow’s manager, Yuri Pavlovich Semin.

After the host drew lots, the results were released to the media and the managers on stage.

Everyone who watched the Forest team and Real Madrid drawn together laughed knowingly. It was not the first time these two teams had played together. The Forest team’s first encounter with Real Madrid in the Champions League led to the dismissal of the former Real Madrid coach, Luxemburgo and the resignation of the former club chairman, Florentino Perez.

In the last few years, there had been talk of Real Madrid’s interest in George Wood. Just that summer, Twain had turned down Real Madrid’s 20 million euro offer for Ribéry.

At the same time, David Beckham chose to join Nottingham Forest on a free transfer after ending a four-year contract with Real Madrid. No one anticipated that he would meet his former team so soon on the field.

Twain was also a little surprised by the result. He even thought that it was a stunt arranged by the organizers to capture the attention of the media and public and to attract interest.

He glanced at Schuster seated next to him. Everyone knew that the media wanted to watch a good show, but they were not going to give the people below what they wanted.

At the press conference of the draw ceremony, Twain was asked about his opponent in the first round. He did not directly answer the question. Instead, he praised Real Madrid and congratulated them for winning La Liga. The perfunctory answers did not satisfy the media. They asked Schuster, too. As the manager of a powerhouse club, Schuster appeared to be circumspect as well. His answer was the same as Twain’s: he congratulated the Forest team for winning the Champions League title and stated that the Forest team was a worthy opponent.

The media was disappointed. Perhaps there might have been more to talk about if the Forest team and AC Milan had been put together.

If the Forest team could advance into the final, then such a scenario would not be too far fetched — no one thought that AC Milan would lose to FC Lokomotiv Moscow, except for their manager, Yuri Pavlovich Semin.

In the face of the three powerful teams, the host was more like a supporting character and of little interest to anyone.

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On July 26th and 27th, the first round of the two Railways Cup games officially launched. The first game was the much talked about highlight — Nottingham Forest versus Real Madrid.

One team was the upstart who had just become the Champions League winner, and the other was the traditional powerhouse club who had won the most Champions League trophies in the fifty-two-year history of the Champions League. Both sides were filled with dazzling star players. Furthermore, with a player like Beckham on the tip of everyone’s tongues, the game attracted all the attention. Although the organizing committee scheduled the second game in tomorrow, compared to this, the match between AC Milan and FC Lokomotiv Moscow was doomed be relegated to the background.

It was supposed to be an ordinary invitation tournament. However, due to Beckham’s presence, the situation became different. Beckham was shockingly not on the starting lineup list when both teams publicly announced them before the game, which made the media and many fans unhappy.

Therefore, the media took great pains to ask both managers questions about Beckham. They asked the Real Madrid manager, Schuster, “was it a mistake to sell Beckham?”, “did Beckham not contribute to the team at all?”, “what do you think of Beckham as a player? Is he good?”, and “was he treated fairly last season?” The question for Twain was simpler: “why is David Beckham not on the starting list?”

It bothered Schuster because he had nothing to do with the matter regarding Beckham. He had never coached the Englishman. This newly appointed manager had nothing to do with bringing him to Real Madrid or clearing him out. He was a little upset that just because he was now the Real Madrid manager, he had to accept such harassment.

Twain was like Schuster. He did not want the media to focus only on Beckham, which would arouse some people’s adverse reactions in the locker room. Consequently, he refused to answer any questions about Beckham after he replied that the reason Beckham was not on the starting list was due to injuries. If a reporter mentioned Beckham, Twain would turn away and pretend not to hear the question until someone asked “how is Nottingham Forest…” Then, he would smile and answer the question.

Because of Beckham, both the managers and the media were a little unhappy before the game.

Many of the people who came to watch the game live came for the star players. Most were female fans who came specifically for David Beckham. As Beckham was not on the starting list, hisses greeted Nottingham Forest when they came out.

A large number of female fans even held large posters of Beckham and screamed Beckham’s name to demonstrate to Twain. Although the Forest team did not lack superstar players, it appeared David Beckham was the only player with that influence.

Twain did not pay attention to those fans. He was not here to serve those people.

This was not a typical friendly match. This was a competition with an award for the champion. He could not deal with Real Madrid like he did against Energie Cottbus. Twain basically sent out the main squad from the last season in the starting lineup except for the striker’s position. As Eastwood had a minor injury, Twain let Arshavin take Eastwood’s place out of caution. At the same time, he had Bendtner and Arshavin start.

Van Nistelrooy sat on the bench with his good friend Beckham.

Real Madrid did not deploy its main squad that won the title. The new manager had a new lineup. Their captain, Raúl González, was not on the starting list and was replaced by his young teammate, Soldado.

The game entered a fierce pace right from the start. Compared to Real Madrid, who had just finished their physical training, the Forest team’s offensive was more ferocious since they had trained together for nearly half a month. Arshavin was particularly motivated because he was playing in front of Russian fans.

Just three minutes into the opening, the Forest team used a corner kick to break through the goal guarded by Jerzy Dudek.

Arshavin’s corner shot accurately landed on Pepe’s head, and all the center-back, with his outstanding header skills and jumps, had to do was to jump and move his head. The football continued into the net.

Once they led over Real Madrid, the Nottingham Forest fans who had traveled all the way there were very excited. They were few in numbers, but their voices were loud. They were the group of extremely hardcore fans who would follow and cheer for them live at the scene, no matter where the Forest team played. Their leader used to Michael Bernard. Now John and Bill, a fat guy and a skinny man, were their leaders.

After the lead, the Forest team did not give up the attack. Instead of switching to defense, the momentum of their offense became fiercer. The Forest team known for its conservative play in Europe did not appear. Their offense made it feel like Real Madrid was the team that wore the red jerseys instead.

Real Madrid did not enter the pace of the game throughout the first half and trailed behind the Forest team. They could not adjust to the Forest team’s quick offensive pace and pressing in the front field. Just as the first half was about to draw to a close, Nottingham Forest’s forward push finally paid off. Their pressing caused Real Madrid’s rear defensive line to make a passing error. Petrov suddenly swung into action and quickly plugged into Real Madrid’s rear defensive line. He intercepted the pass, and then tricked Dudek and successfully shot from the far corner.

With a score of 2:0, Nottingham Forest was in the lead with two goals!

The goal and the first half made the live television commentator exclaim that Nottingham Forest could no longer be labeled as “a dark horse” or “a shooting star.” The power chart of the Continental European football had to be redrawn due to the emergence of this strong team.

The two teams switched sides in the second half. Schuster made some adjustments in an attempt to save the situation. He brought on the Argentine striker, “El Conejo – The Rabbit” Javier Saviola, who joined on a free transfer from Barcelona. After the Real Madrid players had warmed up and adapted for forty-five minutes, they got into the zone and their offense began to pick up.

Within twenty minutes, Guti scored two goals in a row to help Real Madrid equalize the score.

Twain began to change players. He sent out van Nistelrooy and David Beckham to play at the same time.

Once Beckham was spotted on the sidelines, the countless neutral fans in the stands directed their cheers at Nottingham Forest. The piercing boos from before turned into enthusiastic cheers and applause. There was even a round of applause from the Real Madrid fans — they had a deep respect for the English player who had helped their team regain the league title. The scene where he had knelt down and affectionately kissed the turf at the Bernabéu stadium during the farewell ceremony remained fresh in their memories.

Beckham became the only one in the spotlight for this game as he stood on the sidelines.

“David Beckham is making his appearance! When he announced his departure from Bernabéu to join Nottingham Forest, no one expected that we would see him make an appearance so soon in a game against his former owner.”

Perhaps the neutral fans cheered for him because he was a world-renowned star player, a well-loved idol in the women’s hearts, a handsome man, an English gentleman… and because of his fame. But the cheers and applause from the Real Madrid fans were the best affirmation of Beckham’s performance last season. They appreciated Beckham for his dedicated work ethic even when he was abandoned by both the club’s board of directors and manager. They were grateful to Beckham for being able to disregard any enmity and strive to turn the tide at the last minute to help the team overtake Barcelona to successfully ascend to the top. They were moved by Beckham’s professionalism. In their eyes, David Beckham was not the “entertainment star” on advertising posters and front pages of tabloids, but a real professional footballer.

Twain smiled as he watched the scene. He was pleased with what his friend had achieved.

The happiest person to see Beckham play was not a fan in the stands, nor Tony Twain, but van Nistelrooy standing beside him.

It was the first time in four years that the two men would play alongside in a game wearing the same team’s jersey — excluding the friendly game with Energie Cottbus that changed all eleven players.

Since Beckham left Manchester United, the “King of the Six-Yard Box” van Nistelrooy’s number of goals scored plummeted. The limelight he received for being in the Premier League’s list of top strikers was also snatched by Arsenal’s Henry. It could not simply be attributed to van Nistelrooy’s increasing age, declining form, and rise of injuries. One reason that could not be ignored was that van Nistelrooy was accustomed to Beckham’s passing and at a loss after the departure of his good friend.

Now, it was all good. David was back, and the terrifying “King of the Six-Yard Box” was going to be resurrected.

Twain was well aware of the friendship between the two men and how the friendship could help the team. Therefore, when the rooms were allocated during the team training, he made a point to put van Nistelrooy and Beckham in the same room to let them have a good catch up. Then they would have rapport on the field to help him to besiege the opponents’ strongholds.

Beckham replaced Lennon, while van Nistelrooy replaced Arshavin.

Schuster was a little surprised by the second change. He had thought Twain would replace Bendtner, who was also a center forward, with van Nistelrooy. He did not think he would bring Arshavin off… A pair of center forwards? That was really rare…

Beckham’s first contact with the ball was when he made a cross pass at a 45° angle into the box that nearly assisted van Nistelrooy. If van Nistelrooy’s header had not shot slightly to the side, the score would have been 3:2 with Nottingham Forest in the lead.

Schuster had a sudden realization when he saw this attack. Twain was trying to use Beckham’s precise flank pass capability to carry out the tactic of aerial bombardments.

Everyone knew that Real Madrid’s rear defensive line was mediocre in aerial defense. Even 2006 FIFA World Player of the Year, Fabio Cannavaro had no way of dealing when faced with a strong center forward with an outstanding header ability. The club was currently still searching for a center-back with excellent headers in the transfer market. However, progress had been slow. For this game, Schuster relied on the partnership of Cannavaro and Sergio Ramos to play the center-back position and handed the right flank to the young player, Miguel Torres Gómez.

It looked like Twain was also well aware of Real Madrid’s weakness, so he used the most direct tactic to win. He did not seem to have the intention to use the game to train the team. He did not want anything except victory.

The female fans holding large posters of Beckham in the stands screamed and shouted Beckham’s name and cheered for his performance in this attack. Among these people were the local Russian, as well as Beckham’s diehard fans who had come from Germany, England and Spain.

Amidst the female fans’ ardent cheers, Beckham shepherded his first free kick in the game since he joined the Forest team — the friendly game that allowed eleven players to be changed was still excluded.

Beckham’s free-kick did not score but brushed against the crossbar and flew out. The Forest team’s previous two goals did not move Twain, but he actually crouched down in frustration on the sidelines because the ball did not go in.

Real Madrid also won a free kick. Beckham and Roberto Carlos had left the team that summer, in addition to the previous departures of Figo and Zidane. Originally filled with players with a talent for free kicks, they were left with none. Guti would take charge of Real Madrid’s free kick. As the “Gold Wolf” pursued accuracy in his shot, it lacked speed and curve. It was easily plucked up by the well-positioned Edwin van der Sar.

Next, van Nistelrooy took the ball toward the right of the front of the box. He should have diverted to the side but chose to force a breakthrough. Eventually he was stopped by his opponent with a foul and once again got a free kick for the Forest team. Or rather, another free kick for Beckham.

He personally tucked the ball into Beckham’s hands. “Warm up and get the feel.”

Beckham shrugged and smiled helplessly. “If you had diverted the ball just now, I would have been able to pass on the right flank. Bendtner was waiting in front of the goal.”

“Ah!” Van Nistelrooy scratched his head in surprise. “I only thought of a free kick. We have not played together for four years, I’m still a little rusty. Heh heh.”

Beckham gave him a nudge. “Go and wait to make up another shot.”

“Don’t need to,” van Nistelrooy muttered as he walked in the box.

Beckham put the football on the ground and quietly waited for his opponents to line up the human wall.

In front of him was a white wall, and the clothes they wore were familiar. Because just two months ago, he wore that jersey to celebrate the 30th league title in the team’s history at the Bernabéu stadium. He was still familiar with some of the faces on the opposite side, as they had played football together for several years.

He really did not think that they would meet again so soon, and as opponents too.

He had never experienced such a situation. After he transferred to Real Madrid, he had not encountered Manchester United in the Champions League, so he did not know what it was like to face a former owner. Now he understood.

He had mentally prepared himself for this when he chose to join Nottingham Forest. Joining the Forest team was not the same as joining Real Madrid. Being in the English Premier League, the Forest team had a chance to play against Manchester United at least twice a season.

Out of consideration for his feelings, Twain put “David Beckham does not need to play in any games against Manchester United” in the contract, but Beckham himself rejected the condition. He said that he was a professional player and professional players should have a professional work ethic.

It was just like what van Nistelrooy said as he tucked the football into his hands, “Warm up and get the feel.”

Beckham stepped back and prepared to take the direct free kick, which was only twenty meters from the goal.

Casillas, who was brought on in the second half, hunkered over the front of the goal line, dropped down his center of gravity, and stayed alert. As a former teammate who had trained and competed with Beckham in Real Madrid for four years, he was familiar with his free-kick prowess and did not dare take it lightly at all.

With up to six people in the human wall, the area in front of Beckham was completely blocked. He stepped back and glanced at the human wall and the goal behind. Then he began to run.

David Beckham’s run for the free kick was not long. He took only two or three steps to get to the front of the ball. He leaned to the left, swung his right leg, opened his arms to maintain his balance, and used his core muscles to turn his body. When his right foot kicked the ball, Beckham’s body tilted until it was almost parallel to the ground, and his left ankle that propped up his entire body looked as if it was going to break… his swinging right leg, as accurate as a whip, drove into the lower part of the football and exploded into a huge ball of energy.

The football soared in the air and bypassed Real Madrid’s jumping human wall to draw an obvious arc in the air and fall to the closest corner of the goal.

Casillas fought to pounce on the football. Unfortunately, when he saw that the football suddenly emerge from behind the human wall, it was too late for him to take action. Furthermore, the slight disadvantage in his height made his outstretched hands not long enough when he leapt and reached out with his hands.

The football wiped the inside of the goal post and touched Casillas’s fingertips before it flew into the goal.

Thunderous cheers erupted in the stands of the stadium, louder than the cheers for any of the previous four goals. There was no doubt that it was the goal that satisfied the audience and was worth the price of the return ticket — the highly-anticipated Beckham had scored a goal and moreover, it was against a former owner.

“David Beckham! Although this is just an invitational tournament, it’s a thrilling goal! He penetrated the goal of his former owner, Real Madrid! Decisive and clean!”

“His excellent form continues from the final stages of last season, but it’s not Real Madrid that benefits now, it’s Nottingham Forest! Tony Twain did not have to pay a single cent to sign a world-class player. This deal was a real bargain!”

Beckham did not celebrate his goal in front of the Real Madrid fans and players. He just opened his arms, clenched his fists and was embraced by van Nistelrooy who rushed up.

“David! David! Ha ha… David!” The Dutchman could only shout.

Looking at the man surrounded by the Forest players celebrating the goal, Schuster thought it was a stupid move on Calderon’s part to let the man go. Everyone else could leave but the departure of this man was a real shame.

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The ninety-minute game was over. The La Liga champion, Real Madrid grudgingly lost 3:4 to the UEFA Champions League winner, Nottingham Forest, and was disqualified from advancing to the final.

Although in the final moments of the game, the Forest team’s van Nistelrooy and Real Madrid’s Saviola each scored a goal, making the game a terrific battle of goals. But in the hearts of everyone who watched this game, David Beckham’s iconic free kick break was the most striking. The fans who bought the tickets to watch the game live left the Lokomotiv Stadium with content expressions. With a total of seven goals and the return of a world-class player, it was truly an exciting night.