Godfather Of Champions

“The Champions League semifinal games are about to begin. England once again has three teams breaking into the top four this season. This is a great revival of English football. Although our national team was knocked out of the UEFA European Championship qualifier, the English Premier League teams are still strong, which shows that our league tournament is still the world’s top league.” The Sun did a Champions League outlook and was back on track after some pointless compliments. “Manchester United and Chelsea will stage an English derby in the semifinal game of the Champions League, and Nottingham Forest is not having it easy either. Their opponent is Barcelona!

“Chelsea’s league title dream for this season is hopeless. They can put all their energies into the Champions League, which is bad news for Manchester United. In the league tournament, Nottingham Forest is close at their heels, and the two teams are only one point apart, with Manchester United temporarily in the lead.

“Nottingham Forest is challenging another powerhouse team from La Liga after they eliminated Real Madrid. Barcelona is suppressed by Real Madrid in their domestic league, and Rijkaard’s only chance to save himself is the Champions League title. Not to mention, Nottingham Forest and Barcelona still have their old grudge?”

In the end, the Sun did not let go of Tony Twain’s team.

Even though there were still a few days before the Champions League semifinal opener, it was apparent that the focus of the three English teams that had advanced into the top four had moved to the Champions League. Although the competition was fierce in the league tournament, there were still four rounds. The Champions League was based on the home and away matches elimination system. Making a mistake in any one of the games was likely to be fatal.

It was against that background that the 35th round of the Premier League went into an all-out battle.

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In the already-finished game, despite the impending Champions League, Chelsea won 1:0 against Moyes’s Everton team in the away game by rotating the lineup.

Immediately after Arsenal’s game against Reading, Arsenal got a home win of 2:0.

Before Nottingham Forest, Liverpool, and Manchester United played, the league table showed this:

Manchester United remained in the top spot with 80 points. Nottingham Forest was still number two with 79 points. Arsenal was in third place with 73 points. Liverpool remained in fourth with 72 points. Chelsea was in fifth place with 67 points, thanks to their win against Everton, and widened the point difference with the league’s sixth placed Everton.

There had not been any changes in the rankings. Apart from Nottingham Forest and Manchester United, the point differences between the other teams were just one or two points. Although Arsenal won their game, there was still a gap of at least six points between the top two teams. Their hopes of winning were slim.

It had not been easy to be able achieve that result because of Henry’s departure, changes in the club’s top echelon, and the first season of generational change in the players.

The Forest players watched the first half of Arsenal’s game against Reading on the bus and the second half in the City Ground stadium locker room.

The victory over Reading was not a surprise at all, and the players did not exclaim at anything. After they watched the game, Kerslake urged them to go warm up and get ready for their game.

Tottenham Hotspur was not considered a weak team. One of the more favorable things for the Forest team was that they were on their home ground this time.

It was April 19th. Nottingham Forest’s away challenge against Barcelona was on the night of April 23rd. By all accounts, Twain should have used rotation like Chelsea, but he did not.

He did not know how Ferguson arranged his team. Manchester United’s game would be held later than Nottingham Forest. Just as Forest’s game ended, the kickoff would start over there. He had not yet gotten the starting list for Manchester United, but the Forest team had already sent someone to the scene. When there was any news, he would inform Kerslake via his phone, and then Kerslake would update him.

The intelligence gathering on the enemies was becoming more and more important in the league tournament.

Back to this game at the City Ground stadium, Tony Twain deployed the main force lineup on his home ground. If everything went according to plan, the squad would be the starting lineup that would go to Camp Nou stadium.

The goalkeeper was Edwin van der Sar. The center-back partners were Pepe and Piqué. The left-back was Gareth Bale, who was stronger in offense, and the right-back was Rafinha, who was equally strong in offense. The midfield parallel positions were occupied by George Wood and van der Vaart in the middle. One was focused on defense and the other one emphasized offense. The left midfielder was Ribéry, and the right midfielder was Beckham. The strikers were van Nistelrooy and Eastwood.

Rotation was used to give the players a better rest, but it did not mean they could put it all at stake when it was time. It was time because Twain did not want to lose the league tournament and the Champions League.

He believed the same was true of his players. Who would not want honor and money?

The Tottenham Hotspur manager, Jol, did not expect Tony Twain to send the entire main force to play in a home game in the face of a impending Champions League semifinal. He was caught off guard.

Nottingham Forest scored two goals in the opening twenty-five minutes. The Forest players were in a high fighting spirit. Making use of their advantage, they pursued and attacked amid the surge of thunderous cheers from the home fans. By the end of the first half, they were 3:0.

It was the second time that Jol had been surprised. After seeing Twain deploy his main lineup, he froze for a while, but he soon smiled again. He thought that if Twain had sent a rotated lineup, it was actually worse for him. At least that group of players would play to two hundred percent of their strength in front of the manager. If it was the main force, there would be players worried about getting hurt ahead of the Champions League semifinal and play at their minimum level. In that case, he would have a chance.

But how would he know what Tony Twain had said to his players before the game?

“Ah, I know you’re going to worry about getting hurt before an important game, and I’m worried, too, but I don’t want to lose the league title. So, what can we do? It is very simple. As soon as you go out, actively look for opportunities, and strive to end the game in the first half, so that the opponent does not have the idea of a deathbed struggle. We will be safe. The longer the game time drags on, the more we can’t score to establish an advantage, the more the opponent will become threatening, and the greater their resistance will be, which is bad for us. So what would be the safest thing for us to do? We will not hide or evade, but as soon as you go out, use your mightiest force to crush them completely! The only ones in the world who won’t pose a threat to us are the dead.”

Therefore, the poor Tottenham Hotspur team was beaten without the strength to retaliate in the first half. After a storm of raids, they realized with a shock that they were three goals behind.

Martin Jol was livid on the sidelines. Tottenham Hotspur was considered a traditional powerhouse team but played like a newly promoted, inexperienced team at the City Ground stadium. The club’s top executives had invested a lot of money this season, but his results in leading the team was inversely proportional to the investment — thirty-four rounds of the league tournament had passed, and they ranked twelfth with more than twenty-one points from their UEFA Europa League goal. They were doomed to a dismal end this season — a fact that left the club’s top brass very unhappy. He knew the upper echelon meant to fire him, and they were actively reaching out to Juande Ramos, the head coach of the La Liga elite team, Sevilla Football Club, with the intention to replace him at the end of the season. But he refused to quit, and still wanted to prove himself. How would he prove himself? He should at least win a few rounds so that he could leave on a high note, right?

During halftime, he chewed everyone out in the locker room. He wanted to emulate Ferguson’s or Twain’s bellowing to stir up the players’ fighting spirit and sense of shame, but he was an amateur. He was not that type of manager at all. Instead of motivating the players’ fighting spirit, he made the locker room atmosphere even more awkward. Some people knew Jol’s time at Tottenham Hotspur was not long, so they did not listen to the manager at all.

After the start of the second half of the game, Tottenham Hotspur still did not show any morale, skills, or tactics that could turn the game around. There was nothing at all. Besides Jol repeatedly getting up from the technical area and growling on the sidelines, he had no hope because he knew that he had lost control of the team. It was sad, and even more sad that he could only accept this fact.

Twain began to replace his players according to his plan to allow the important players to rest and avoid injuries. He brought on the keener rotating players to continue to destroy Tottenham Hotspur.

The players were full of fighting spirit, but because Twain changed the core players, the offense seemed a little chaotic and lacked coordination. George Wood took over the task of organizing the attack after van der Vaart left the field. He shone a few times, but it was just a blip. For a long-time defensive midfielder, he still lacked his own tactical ideas. His offensive organization was very casual and undisciplined.

The Forest team did not score again in the second half, but the Tottenham Hotspur managed to score a face-saving goal in the final minutes. Without any impact on the outcome of the game, the Forest team easily won a home win.

In another game held at the same time, Liverpool won 2:0 against Fulham and accumulated 72 points to catch up with Arsenal and shake off Chelsea. Although they had no hope of winning the title, given the predicament that Liverpool was only able to play in the UEFA Europa League in previous seasons, the current fourth place in the league was enough to solidify Benítez’s position.

Benítez was known as the “King of Cups” as Liverpool’s recent nearly twenty years of performance had proved they were better at playing the cup competitions. The rapport between the team and the manager was quite high. No wonder Benítez helped Liverpool regain the Champions League the first season he arrived at Liverpool to establish his place at Anfield in one fell swoop.

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At the end of the game, Twain gave plenty of compliments to the team. Like his previous admonishment due to a loss, he was equally exuberant when he praised people. His forte was making his actions, words, and tone extremely exaggerated, making everyone who listened very happy. The only difference was the degree of strength in their pleasure.

After he said goodbye to the players, Twain and Dunn, as well as Kerslake, remained in the locker room of the stadium. They were going to watch the live broadcast of the game that was about to start — Manchester United in an away challenge against Blackburn Rovers.

Rushing back to the hotel or their own homes to watch would cause them to miss part of it, so they watched it in the locker room. There was a television set in the locker room and moreover, it was their club’s stadium. It proper that they, as the team manager and assistant managers, were there to watch the TV.

When the game began, the crowd at the City Ground stadium gradually dispersed and the lights went out one by one, the hustle and bustle disappeared as the fans left, calm was restored in the stadium. The victory already belonged to other people’s topic of idle conversation. For the three in the locker room, it was the past, and now they were more concerned about another team’s win or lose.

One hundred and fifteen minutes later, the locker room door was knocked open.

Before anyone came out, Twain’s excited voice could be heard. “I’ll buy you guys drinks! Haha, that was so awesome!”

The sound from the television mingled with his laughter. “… The game is over… Ferguson’s face looks so ugly that his players are going to suffer again… to be forced into a draw in the away game by what was seen as the non-threatening Blackburn Rovers. Manchester United moved to the second place just as Nottingham Forest had already defeated Tottenham Hotspur!… Eighty-two and eighty-one, it’s still a one-point difference, but the order of the first and second places has changed… At this moment, I’m afraid the happiest person in the world is Tony Twain…”

The song sung by the home fans at the Ewood Park stadium from the television set was the best contrast to the commentary.

Kerslake smiled from ear to ear. Although he was not as blunt as Twain, he was just as happy. No one actually expected Manchester United to suffer a setback at the hands of Blackburn Rovers. The draw was an unexpected gift for the Forest team. The coaching unit had thought that as long as they kept winning, the final outcome should be in the final round of the league, when Nottingham Forest challenged Manchester United in an away game.

Unexpectedly, Manchester United could not carry the pressure of being the front-runner and ran into a big problem with Blackburn Rovers, which was least likely to go wrong. A draw was enough to make Ferguson furious.

When the three watched the live game on the television, the television station repeatedly showed a close-up of Ferguson growling on the sidelines. Twain laughed every time.

Though not as exaggerated as the two men, Dunn still had a smile on his face.

After working hard for a season and biting hard at Manchester United, no matter what kind of opponent and situation they faced at the final stages, their efforts were not given in vain. Finally, the bellwether, Manchester United, has stumbled and our team will complete our reversal! As long as we win the remaining three rounds, the league title will be in our hands!

The opponents for the next two rounds of league tournament, Reading and Aston Villa, were not strong teams. Provided that the Forest team worked in unison and carefully dealt with them, the six points would not be an issue. Then it was going to be a tough away challenge in the final round against Manchester United. It would be explosive, but Dunn was confident of winning. Nottingham Forest was born for victory and championship. The stronger the opponent, the more dangerous situation was, the more amazing the energy they exploded with.

It really was a game worth celebrating.

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Half an hour later, in Kenny Burns’ Forest Bar, plenty of excited fans who found it hard to sleep gathered after they watched the game between Manchester United and Blackburn Rovers. Tony Twain and his two aides were among them.

Twain climbed up the table with a full glass and stood where everyone’s eyes looked upward. A group of fans below him also raised their glasses in anticipation.

Kerslake also held up a glass, and Dunn had a glass of soda in his hand — he still did not drink, and Twain did not try to persuade him.

Smiling from ear to ear, Twain lifted his glass, and whooped as the people below looked up at him.

“Guys, this toast is… for Blackburn Rovers! Cheers!”

“To Blackburn Rovers, cheers!” The people, whose faces were filled with smiles like him, cried in unison. These were the same people who cursed at Blackburn Rovers, who defeated Nottingham Forest, a month ago.

The clinking of the glasses could be heard and and golden beer showered the entire room.

In the last Premier League game of the day, the Manchester United team was unexpectedly forced into an away draw by “the end of season’s giant killer” Blackburn Rovers and handed over their top spot, which they had held since the league’s 29th round on March 9th, to Nottingham Forest, led by Tony Twain.

With just three rounds left before the end of the league tournament, the throne of the English Premier League changed owners.

Nottingham Forest was three rounds away from the second top-flight trophy title in their club’s history.