Godfather Of Champions

Without having to guess or even think about it, the person who looked for Twain and wanted to talk to him must be Allan Adams.

His nose was even more sensitive than a hound when it came to money.

Twain also knew that sooner or later he would seek him out. He had ruined two of what he had considered as good deals this summer. One deal involved Ribéry, and the other was the just-concluded van Nistelrooy's "blank check-gate." The club's financial situation would be greatly improved if one of these two deals was clinched.

This time if Allan did not come looking for him, he would no longer be the club's marketing manager.

"I know you would come looking for me. Look." Twain pointed to the table with two cups of steaming coffee on it. "I've been preparing two cups these few days."

Allan felt helpless and had very few ways of dealing with a hooligan like Twain.

"Well, Tony. Since you know I would come look for you, you obviously know why. I'm not going to talk nonsense. Can you listen to my opinion?"

Twain gestured for him to go ahead and sat in his chair.

"Honestly I don't know much about what's going on within the team, so I don't know what you think of Bendtner. But I think selling him will be the best option now."

Twain nodded to indicate to him to continue.

"On the one hand, Bendtner completely does not want to stay in the team now. It would be unwise to force such a player to stay. It can also cause unrest in the locker room." At this point, Allan glanced at Twain and found that he had his head down, as if he was in deep thought. After all, this touched on Twain's domain and he was afraid that Twain would react badly. Now, he was able to breathe a sigh of relief from the looks of it. So, he continued, "On the other hand, I'm not going to hide from you, Tony. The club is in great need of money now. After you promised to increase Ribéry's pay, the rest of the team also had the same idea. We have to meet their demands. In addition, the actual cost of building a new stadium is more than we have budgeted. Some of the expenditure is completely out of control..."

In this regard, Allan must admit that his inexperience caused it. After all, he had not undertaken any engineering projects before, and did not know a lot of inside knacks. He only discovered that a lot of things had not been fully considered before until the new stadium started construction. Consequently, he could only use money to fill in...

"Thirdly ... the global economic environment is not very good."

Twain did not understand what Allan said. He was an idiot when it came to economics. The term "global economic environment" sounded alien to him.

"We need money to deal with some emergencies." After that, Allan spread his hands. He had already said everything he could say to Twain. After working with Twain for several years, he became familiar with this man's character. Twain's character was very tough and could sometimes be a little outrageous, but he was not made of stone. There were only two ways to get him to accept what he was unwilling to do: the first was to persuade him with kind words and discuss the stakes clearly. He was a smart man and naturally knew which was the best choice; the second was to bypass Twain directly and keep him out of the loop which was simple and rough. He would only be informed once the matter was decided and began to be implemented, which was the so-called "the rice is cooked."

The second approach would certainly permanently damage the relationship between the two people. Allan would not choose to do so unless it was his last resort. As for the first approach... the only risk was not knowing if Twain would be persuaded each time.

Such as this time.

After quietly listening to Allan's speech, Twain was silent for a moment before he looked up at the other side. "That's right, Allan. I have to apologize to you."

"Huh?" Allan Adams was baffled.

"About the matter with van Nistelrooy. I did not have any discussion with you about what I was going to do. You must be angry, aren't you?" Twain said to Allan seriously.

Allan hurriedly waved and said, "I knew what you wanted to do, but I really didn't know how you were going to do. Besides, don't think of me as weak. Although I am a businessman, I am also a man of temper. That kind of nearly insulting behavior from Manchester City was unacceptable to me. A businessman values equal relationship when doing business. Everyone is equal, no one is more precious than the other."

Seeing Allan's earnest explanation, Twain smiled first.

"Can you give me some time to think about the matter with Bendtner?"

Allan knew he could not ask Twain to make a decision now. He was already giving him face by being willing to consider it, rather than rebuffing him right away. So, he stood up and nodded, "Remember you don't have much time, Tony."

※※※

Indeed, time was running out. It was August 27th now, less than four days before the transfer window closed.

Twain did not speak to Bendtner again and Bendtner's father did not call Twain again. Manchester City did not make another new offer. Did they perhaps give up? Was this matter going to be quietly resolved just like that?

It was obviously impossible.

Twain was trying to calm his heart, and then sort things out. Despite parting on bad terms with Bendtner during that face to face talk, Twain was still reluctant to let the Dane go. It was mainly... he did not want to sell him to Manchester City. The thought of those Arabs' faces made him feel sick.

As Twain stood alone on the sidelines of the training ground, he heard a sudden commotion coming from the training ground.

A fight?

Since the incident with Chimbonda and Bendtner, Twain had been very sensitive to this. He hurriedly came out of his reverie and stared over.

A group of people ran towards a point. Through the seams of the crowd, he saw the team's number one center forward, van Nistelrooy, kneading his thighs as he sat helplessly on the ground.

Was he hurt?

He ran over to see what happened.

The team members consciously cleared a path when they saw the boss came. He went straight to van Nistelrooy's side and asked Fleming, who was busy, "What's going on?"

"He pulled his thigh muscle." Fleming heard Twain's voice and glanced up at him. Perhaps he comprehended something else in the other man's frown, so he added, "It's not a big deal, but he certainly can't appear in this weekend's game."

Hearing him say so, van Nistelrooy smiled and comforted Twain, "I'm all right, boss."

Twain nodded and then withdrew. Dunn saw what happened on the side and rushed up to say, "The starting list needs to be adjusted. Bendtner..."

Twain shook his head and said, "We're playing 4-5-1 for the game the day after."

"And who's going to be the '1?'"

"Eastwood."

Dunn looked strangely at Twain.

Twain did not respond to his doubts and just turned to walk away.

As a result, Dunn looked back at Bendtner in the crowd. He stood on the side and drank water while his teammates chatted about van Nistelrooy's unexpected injury. Lennon seemed to be talking to him about something, but it was clear that Bendtner was distracted.

Did he hope to play in this game or not?

※※※

In the third round of the league tournament, Nottingham Forest definitely faced a tough rival---it was Chelsea, their long-time rival which they had been entangled with for these few seasons.

It was just that Chelsea's manager was not Mourinho or Grant, but "Big Phil" Scolari.

Although only two rounds had been started for the new season, this was also a focal match. The media started to hype the game, and they came up to ask Scolari on how Chelsea had not beaten Tony Twain's Forest team.

The Brazilian was very clever. He did not fall for it. He simply said it was another person's results which had nothing to do with him. Then he refused to answer such questions again.

Twain had been busy fighting with Manchester City during the period and did not have the energy to act in concert with the media and start a war of words with Scolari. Looking at how he was currently so busy, it was real worrying whether he was ready for the game against Chelsea...

The day before the game, Twain announced the squad list of the next day's match in Wilford. Nicklas Bendtner's name was not on it.

No one was shocked by this now. The players were not blind or deaf, much less fools. They all knew of the news that Bendtner and Twain had a falling out and were aware that this player was already determined to leave the team. Some people understood the reasons for his leaving, while the others scoffed at it.

Therefore, when Bendtner did not appear on the squad list, everyone knew the boss intentionally did this. It is punishment, isn't it? Yes, it must be a punishment and warning to a traitor.

Bendtner looked terrible standing among the team. When Twain gave the word "dismissed", he was the first to turn around and walk away.

He knew he must leave, but he could not accept being treated like this before his departure. There was no longer the slightest bit of yearning for this team in his heart. He had decided that if the team did not let him go, he would return to Denmark and boycott the training!

"Tony, can you explain to me a little, your purpose in doing what you did?" Dunn asked on the way home. He had noticed Bendtner's behavior just now and was somewhat worried.

"A certain someone pointed the finger at me and questioned my tactical thinking. I want to let him know who's the boss on the team." Twain's voice was frosty.

Dunn sighed. He knew that Twain was truly furious.

"But ... have you decided what you are going to do about the matter?" He was referring to the matter about Bendtner's transfer.

Twain shook his head this time and sounded somewhat lost from his tone, "I don't know..."

He really did not know. On the one hand, he was angry at Bendtner's betrayal. On the other hand, it was not easy to put aside four years of time and the efforts that he once poured into him. Should he admit defeat and let him go? Or should he force him to stay in the team and neither side would win?

While Twain felt helpless, the cell phone in his pocket rang.

He fished out his cell phone to take a look. Twain smiled and said, "Bendtner's father is calling. He must have known that his son is not on the squad list for tomorrow's game. I didn't think that Bendtner is still such a good boy. He tells his father everything at the first instance. Tsk tsk..."

He shook his head as he answered the call.

"Hello, Mr. Thomas Bendtner. I'm glad you still remembered to call me. I waited all day for your call yesterday to no avail. I thought you gave up."

Twain spoke politely and full of warmth. But Thomas Bendtner did not smile at all on the other end of the line. His biggest fear was that his son would become a target of Tony Twain's retaliation. Now it appeared as if his fears came true.

"I think it's time for us lay our cards on the table, Mr. Twain."

"What's that?" Twain pretended to be surprised. "Did we not already lay our cards long ago?"

"..."

"Your son insists on leaving but I won't let him go. Isn't that the case?"

Twain held up the phone to deal with Thomas Bendtner as he walked.

"I think I need to remind you, Mr. Twain. My son's contract with the Forest Club expires in July next year. Furthermore, we have already discussed and settled with my son's agent, Mr. Juric, that we will not negotiate any renewal with the Forest team. I'm suggesting this based on kind intentions. Let my son go now, and you'll still have money to earn. If you wait a year..."

Twain suddenly clutched the phone and then threw it out. The quality of the new phone was better than the previous one. It just bounced once on the ground and chipped a corner.

Next to him, Dunn watched in astonishment at the scene happening in front of him. He did not know what Bendtner's father said to Twain over the phone to actually make him so angry. He twisted his head to look over to find Twain looking furious.

"Son of a bitch, you dare threaten me!"

Dunn ran to the front to pick up the cell phone and discovered the chipped corner before he handed it to Twain. He said, "You have to change your bad habit of throwing the phone every time you get angry."

"I only have this thing on my hand to throw ... Give me the phone, yours... Don't worry, I won't throw it." Twain did not take his cell phone, but asked Dunn for his.

Dunn gave his phone to Twain, who dialed Allan Adams' cell phone number.

"Allan, give Manchester City a response and just say that don't think about buying Nicklas Bendtner for less than thirty million pounds!"

"Tony..." When he heard him say so, Dunn was a little worried and asked, "Isn't this price too high?"

Twain hung up and returned the phone to Dunn. He said to him at the same time, "Doesn't Manchester City like to be a rich sucker? I'll let them be one!"

He looked so fierce that it frightened Dunn even more... "What did Thomas Bendtner say to you?"

"He told me that Bendtner's contract is one year away and they do not plan to talk to the club about renewing his contract." Twain looked at Dunn and said, "I've forgotten about this matter before."

Dunn went, "..."

※※※

On the morning of the match against Chelsea, the Nottingham media were still waging a war of words with the Manchester City Football Club. The asking price of thirty million pounds caused Mark Hughes to lash out at Tony Twain for being insatiable. Pierce Brosnan helped Twain to hit back in the Evening Post, saying that Nottingham Forest's future star and the number one goalscorer for the next decade, had a promising bright future, and was tagged as van Nistelrooy's successor. Moreover, it was only fair that the handsome Nicklas Bendtner was only selling for thirty million...

Allan Adams stuck to his guns and refused to budge from the asking price of thirty million pounds. He was not afraid of Manchester City. Because now all of England knew that Manchester City's problems with their strikers had reached a point where it must be resolved.

Manchester City had previously contacted Jô, a young Brazilian striker who had scored thirty goals in fifty-three games for CSKA Moscow. Although Jô would like to play in the Premier League, the transfer would be extremely complicated. Jô's ownership was not in the hands of CSKA Moscow, but in the hands of Media Sport Investment Limited (MSI), just like Mascherano and Tevez did at the time. MSI did not agree to release him this time due to unhappiness over Tevez's transfer to Manchester United that year. The English Football Association had also stated they wanted to block the transfer. In addition to the current owners not wanting to let go of the player, there was another factor that plagued Manchester City---he was not eligible for a work permit.

Jô's matter dragged on like this. MSI did not intend to relent even though the transfer window was about to close. With no other choice, Manchester City had to go all out for Bendtner.

It was against this background that Allan dared to drag his heels and demand an exorbitant amount from Manchester City.

Over here, Allan demanded a high asking price from the Manchester City club. Over there, Twain's team met with a hard battle.

There was no gain without a loss. On the verge of a major victory in the transfer market, Nottingham Forest could likely face the end of a minor record...