Godfather Of Champions

The reporters gathered in the mixed zone had dispersed, with no players waiting there for the reporters. The focus was no longer on them by this time.

In the press room at the San Siro Stadium, a rather special press conference was being held.

The Inter Milan manager, Mourinho sat on the left-hand side while the Nottingham Forest manager, Tony Twain sat on the right-hand side. The English media had not seen this scene for more than three years, so they appeared to be a little excited. But the Italian media thought it was just a normal press conference.

Twain and Mourinho soon showed them what kind of press conference it was…

A practical reporter from <La Gazzetta dello Sport> raised his hand and asked Mourinho to give his opinion on the game.

Mourinho snorted, “We were unlucky to have not been able to win. I’m not happy with the two goal concedes, but that’s the way football is. You can only accept the result…”

Then he said some nonsense which was tantamount to saying nothing.

The same reporter threw the question at Twain, who laughed and said, “Mourinho said they were unlucky? I think they were lucky instead. Otherwise we should have taken three points from here, and not just one. The game is over, so I don’t want to evaluate the referee’s work anymore…” In fact, he did not want to give himself any more trouble. “But I think Mr. Mourinho really should thank God for letting them get the one point.”

A tense situation had already emerged.

Twain took the initiative to provoke, and Mourinho could not resist.

The press conference continued.

Asked by an English reporter this time, he was clearly more aware about the story between Twain and Mourinho than his Italian counterparts. He said, “Mr. Mourinho. You never seemed to have beaten Tony Twain whenever you led the team. It was no exception this time. Do you think this matter has become a vicious circle?”

Mourinho had answered many such questions during his years in England. He was long tired of such questions. So, he decided not to answer.

The atmosphere suddenly became a little awkward. Next to him, Twain raised his hand and saved the situation with a smile, “I can answer your question, Mr. Reporter.”

Mourinho knew that no good words were to be expected from a scoundrel like Twain, so he gave Twain a cool glance.

“Well, it’s like this. Mr. Mourinho and I never cared about this kind of record.” Surprisingly, Twain’s first words were to help Mourinho. “Because it does not illustrate any issue. After all, I have nineteen opponents in the league tournament. Even if I could obtain a complete victory every time I encounter Mourinho’s team, it was only six points. Was six points enough? Not at all. So, I’m more concerned with the championship title than the unbeaten record against Mourinho.”

At this point, everything was still normal.

But then Twain changed his tune.

“But while I don’t particularly value the unbeaten record against Mourinho, I don’t want to lose for no reason. No manager wants to lose. So, I don’t regard Mourinho’s team alone, but treat it as any opponent and try to win. Therefore, the result is… what you’ve seen!”

Twain smugly laughed in the end.

Everyone understood. Twain had gotten what he wanted and still bragged!

His way of handling it was too annoying!

Mourinho very much wanted to silence Twain because he could not refute the matter. What could he say? If he were to say, “I don’t really care about that shit record. I only care about the results,” but the result was that he did not defeat Tony Twain in the game once again. It also led to a stalemate on their promotion path to the Champions League. Or he could say, “Although we haven’t won this time, I promise to win the next time!” It was a little too meaningless. It lacked class to say words like they would definitely win the next time. It was like the promises which a crazy-eyed gambler said when he found someone to borrow money from. Mourinho absolutely could not say such a thing.

With a dark expression, Mourinho wanted to turn and leave abruptly, but he could not. Because his boss, Moratti had already warned him more than once that this was Italy, and not England. He must pay attention to his image, which was also the image of Inter Milan.

The next question was slightly more normal, which was to ask the managers to comment on the performance of the players in the game. Mourinho praised Quaresma’s goal and performance. His words, which were disseminated through the media, would surely delight Quaresma. On the other hand, Twain praised the team. He did not praise anyone alone, even though George Wood played brilliantly in the game. However,…Twain was undoubtedly the reincarnation of a mad dog. He could also create an explosive situation with such a question.

“… I don’t praise any player alone, not because they did not do well. Instead, they played so brilliantly that I couldn’t just praise a few players individually. If I really wanted to name them, I would have to list all the names of the Forest players that played. I’m very pleased with the team’s performance tonight. Even though the game was a draw, we scored two away goals. It was the result of everyone working together. Inter Milan, by contrast, only had a few players that performed normally…” The unspoken implication was should Mourinho have praised Quaresma alone? Because he had no other player to praise except him.

Mourinho was not a fool, but he could only pretend to be dumb at this point. Because he actually lost to Twain. A draw at home was a loss.

The result made him feel sullen. What was even more dour was that he might have faced the result of a home defeat had it not been for the referee’s last-minute extra favor.

Pierce Brosnan stood up and asked Twain if the away draw with Inter Milan could be considered a revenge for when Inter Milan eliminated the Forest team two seasons ago.

Twain shook his head to correct Brosnan’s question, “First of all, we did not force a tie with Inter Milan. It was the home side that forced us into a draw. Secondly, I don’t think this can be considered a revenge. It’s just a draw. We still haven’t play one more game. After that game is over, I might be able to answer according to what you asked.”

Mourinho finally found a chance to fight back, “Don’t speak too soon, Mr. Twain. I don’t think you can win against Inter Milan when you get back to your home ground. Since you can score two goals at our home ground, why can’t Inter Milan score at least two goals at your home ground?”

Twain gave a laugh, “Well said, Mr. Mourinho. It doesn’t really matter what we say here right now. I think football is played with the legs and not with glib talk. I’m looking forward to the game.”

“I’m looking forward to it too.” Mourinho responded with a cold face.

What seemed to be specifically asked to embarrass him, this time an English reporter asked, “Since the home side conceded two goals, the situation is grim for the team’s promotion. What do you think of the current situation, Mr. Mourinho?”

“I admit the competition is going to be tough. But I’m confident. We’ve eliminated them once, and it’s no exception this time.”

Twain pursed his lips. But he did not say, “that’s because I wasn’t there.”

It was pleasurable to win against Mourinho in the war of words. But it could in turn hurt the feelings of the coaches such as Dunn and Kerslake. Because that indirectly meant that his aides were incompetent…

The press conference eventually ended in an awkward and tepid atmosphere. Mourinho did not even shook hands with Tony Twain and hurried away from the scene. However, Twain still smiled and posed for the photojournalists present to take a few more photos.

To be able to score two away goals and compel Mourinho to yield at the press conference, both matters made him feel good.

※※※

Despite Twain’s failure to name George Wood in his post-match press conference, Wood’s outstanding performance in the game had also attracted a lot of attention. Nottingham Forest’s rivals were scared to discover that the silly boy who used to defend the entire field like a headless chicken had grown into a powerful offensive weapon in the Nottingham Forest lineup.

“He can freeze the other team’s midfield core one-on-one. He does not have to worry about attendance rate due to his excellent physicality and never-been-injured abnormal physique. He can shoot world class long shots to score, and now he can even start dribbling the ball from the backfield to bypass a few players to send the ball all the way to the other side’s penalty area … What more can you ask? Tony Twain has been focusing on developing Wood’s offensive ability since the start of the season. He intends to develop George Wood as the double core of the team—Wood has been a spiritual core before, and now he has signs of moving closer to becoming a tactical core. He can make interceptions directly in the midfield and then deliver the shells to his teammates. In some cases, he can even dribble the ball himself to break through and create opportunities. Such a midfielder is what every manager dream of.”

The media’s appraisal was good. Now that George Wood was in perfect form and his physical fitness was also on the rise, his status in the national team was increasingly important. Although Lampard had not announced his retirement from the national team, he was no longer likely to rock George Wood’s dominant position.

The players who partnered Wood were sometimes Gerrard, Barry, or Joe Cole. Only Wood’s position was immoveable. Capello liked this boy with a serious attitude. The only headache was that Wood received more yellow cards. Although he did not get red cards, it was still frustrating to be suspended due to the accumulated yellow cards.

Nottingham Forest was warmly welcomed by many fans since they returned to England. They scored two away goals and the public unanimously thought highly of them. Nottingham’s local media even could not wait and started looking at the clash between the Forest team and Barcelona. Poor Mourinho was tossed aside…

Even the Forest players were pleased with the result during an interview and were optimistic about the team’s prospects of a promotion.

Some people even spoke out about their next opponent, Barcelona, in the interview. For people who did not know what happened must have thought that the game that had just ended was the second leg between Nottingham Forest and Inter Milan…

That kind of optimism continued into the league tournament, with Nottingham Forest’s 3:0 home win over Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League. For a time, the media touted Nottingham Forest as an invincible warship.

Subsequently they came with this kind of thinking in their encounter with Bolton Wanderers in the 28th round of the Premier League. It was played at Nottingham Forest home ground. Everyone thought that with the Forest team in top form, it would be easy to defeat Bolton Wanderers, which was ranked sixteenth in the league.

But…

The twenty-one-year-old young player, Nathan Woolfe magically scored his second goal in the game and helped his team to defeat the mighty Nottingham Forest. The score for that game was 1:2, with the home team’s score in front and the away team behind.

At the end of the game, Twain sat in the chair in the technical area and did not express any anger. He did not throw his suit jacket nor kick a water bottle. He did not even swore incessantly. He just got up and expressionlessly shook hands with the Bolton Wanderers manager, Phil Brown.

Some people thought that Twain did not even take a stand due to his anger. The Nottingham Forest players also thought so. To have lost to a weak team like Bolton Wanderers which was on the edge of relegation zone at home, wouldn’t such a result be enough to make the boss angry? So, they hurriedly thanked the fans in the stadium and hurried into the locker room. Everyone waited in trepidation to shoulder for the boss’ fury.

But what happened next came as a surprise to them.

Twain smiled and told them they “lose well.”

“Do you know why I say that? I’m definitely not making an ironic remark, so you don’t have to worry about me scolding you next. I’m also not muddled and speaking nonsense from being angry. I’m clear-minded. I remembered your previous performances. I’m not reminding you because I just don’t think it’s persuasive enough to say those words when your spirits are high. But it’s different now.” He spread his hands and continued, “You just lost a game, and you lost a weak team like Bolton Wanderers. I think it will be very persuasive to say it now. No one will whisper in their hearts, ‘The boss is always an alarmist.’ Now I’ll tell you—if you continue to use this mentality to play against Inter Milan, you will lose everything including your underwear!”

“Am I being an alarmist? Just look at the game that has just ended. I bet you must have thought before the game that it would be effortless to beat such an opponent like Bolton Wanderers, which was about to fall into the relegation zone, right?”

No one made a sound, but everyone knew in their hearts that the boss was right… Few people could take an interest in the placed last fourth team, especially when a major Champions League match was about to begin.

“We have lost to a team like Bolton Wanderers because we momentarily underestimated our opponent. Do you think Inter Milan can’t even be compared to Bolton Wanderers? So, this game came just in time. If you must lose a game because you underestimated your opponent due to your pride, I would rather lose a regular league game than the Champions League. So, I can laugh now because I know I’m not going to lose the Champions League game. Will I?”

“No, boss.” Someone answered him.

“This is what you said.” Twain pointed to the players and said, “A man must keep his word. If you lose, then you’re not men.”