Godfather Of Champions

The hotels in Madrid were having a booming business and it was impossible to get a room at this moment. The main reason for that were the English.

As the England national team had reached final of a major international competition for the first time in 50 years, there was a huge repercussion back in England. Many of the England fans who were not planning to watch the competition live in Spain initially, packed up and flew to Madrid. It was already extremely difficult to get a ticket to the final, but the English still hoped to meet people who were wanted to get a refund for their tickets outside the Bernabeu stadium.

As for the problem of no lodging? That was not a problem at all. They would sleep on the streets just to watch the match. Many England fans brought their own tents as if they were going to camp out in the woods. The passion of the England fans was obvious for everyone to see.

Due to the massive influx of England fans, the Madrid government had no choice but to announce that all the major parks in the city would be open to public at night for those fans who could not get a hotel room to camp in.

“I feel extra blessed watching them!” Skinny Bill exclaimed as he pointed to rows of colorful tents on the streets opposite the seat of a bar that he was seated in, “Not only do we not need to sleep on the streets, we also have tickets to the final!”

He was a little loud and he attracted the attention of the people around them. John noticed the look of desire in their eyes and he knew that those were the people without tickets to the final. They were very sensitive to everything about tickets.

“Keep it down you fool! Are you trying to get us attacked?” John gave Bill a slap on his head.

“Uh…” Bill looked down and drank his beer. However, it was not long before he stretched himself and said, “It’s five more hours to the match, that’s a long way to go… Why don’t we go wait at the hotel that the England team is staying in like the others? We might even get their autograph…”

John glared at him and said, “Have you forgotten what kind of person Tony is? Forget about the fans, he would even chase the reporters out at a time like this. What do you think you can achieve there?”

“Ah, that’s right… It’s the same situation every time Nottingham Forest got into a final. Hey, do you think Tony’s nervous?”

“Nervous?” The others asked, perplexed.

“Yes, even though he’s not a rookie who just started managing, this is the first final he has been to as the manager of the national team after all. And it’s the final of the European Championship which we’ve never won before.”

After hearing Bill say that, everyone grew silent. After a long while, someone muttered, “Has any of you seen Tony nervous before?”

He looked at the rest and they answered him by shaking their heads.

“Tony had never been afraid of anyone in my impression. He fought with Michael the first day he was at Burns’ bar, ha ha! Michael is well-known to be a good fighter in our area!” Someone laughed and said.

However, their moods dropped the moment they mentioned Michael. They thought about their old friend whom they had not met for a very long time. He was working hard for his family and career in America and they did not know if he was still paying attention to football, or if he even knew that England had reached the European Championship final. They were all football fanatics and the stories that they had with football were different for each of them. However, it only brought sadness to Michael once, and it was unforgettable.

The person who mentioned it realized that he should not have mentioned that name. He gave a couple of awkward laughs and looked down while drinking his beer.

“I know that Tony would send Michael a ticket every time the team got into a final. Too bad there isn’t a chance anymore ever since he resigned from Forest. I wonder if he did it this time?” Fat John mentioned their old friend deliberately.

Everyone became silent as John mentioned the past. They were thinking if their old friend on the other side of the earth received a ticket.

※※※

Michael was in his suit at his door with his suitcase next to him. It was seven in the morning in West America and he needed to get to work.

His wife carried their child as they sent him off.

“I’ll be back for dinner if I don’t have to entertain anyone at night…” He wanted to kiss his wife, but she avoided it.

“You have to come back for dinner no matter what,” His wife glared at him, “Don’t tell me you forgot about Shannon’s birthday?”

“Ah…” There was an apologetic look on Michael’s face.

“What are you thinking about recently, Michel? You’ve been very distracted, and you were even in a daze while eating,” His wife complained unhappily.

“I’m sorry, I was too busy at work. There were some personnel changes in the office and the pressure is mounting…” Michael could only appease her with that, “After this period of time, I’ll definitely take a few days off and take the two of you out for a good time.” After saying that, he pinched the pinchable cheeks of his daughter in his wife’s arms, “Sorry Shannon. Daddy forgot about your birthday, don’t be mad okay?”

His three-year-old daughter replied in her cute voice, “I——won’t——.”

Michael laughed and looked at his wife, “See, our little princess isn’t mad.”

“What am I going to do with you, “His wife pouted helplessly and gave him a goodbye kiss.

After a passionate kiss, Michael opened the door and left.

On his Ford, Michael was waiting for the traffic light at the crossroad. Even though his hands were on the steering wheel, his eyes glanced towards the black suitcase on the front seat. His wife was really observant. He was indeed distracted recently, but it was not because of stress from work. He was busy, but after being so busy for so many years, he did not forget about the death anniversary of his son, Gavin Bernard.

The reason for his distraction recently was sitting quietly inside the suitcase.

Michael looked up at the traffic light and thought that the red light was a little longer than usual. It was normal for there to be traffic during morning rush hour anyway. He grabbed hold of the suitcase and took out an envelope. The handwriting on the envelope was familiar to him, and it reminded him of that person’s face.

Michael opened it and took out something from inside——A ticket to the European Championship final.

The passion that Americans have for football was pitiful when compared to the Europeans. The European Championship which had no relationship to America was something that they had even lesser interest in and there was hardly any news about it on the news media. The media was all over the NBA grand finals between the Lakers and the 76ers. That attracted the attention of all the basketball fans in the world. It was a totally different world here when compared to Europe.

Michael was not a basketball fan. Not before, not now and probably not ever. But he had indeed not cared about football for a very long time. Looking at this ticket, he knew that Tony Twain must have led England to the European Championship final.

That was something to be happy about. After all, England had not reached the final of any major international competition for the past 50 years. However, this ticket brought back many memories. Memories that had nothing to do with England or the European Championship.

He was keeping his promise made to his wife so many years back. Therefore, when Twain did not send him tickets to any finals for the past two years, his life had no relationship with football at all. He lived like any other normal person, working hard everyday for a living and to support his family. Three years ago, they had a daughter and the focus of their lives turned to his daughter, Shannon Bernard. He loved this daughter of his and gave her all his love. He did not want the story that happened to Gavin to happen to Shannon too. His wife loved their daughter too and her smiling face will always make her forget about the pain of losing a son.

However, two years later, a ticket from the continent of Europe brought Michael back to the days when he was fanatical about football.

He started to seriously think about finding a quiet place during breaktime in the afternoon for him to watch a match.

A sharp horn woke the reminiscing Michael and he realized that the traffic light had turned green, and there was a line forming behind him. There were horns all around him, hurrying the bastard who was blocking traffic ahead.

Michael placed the ticket back into the envelope and drove his car out.

※※※

Kerslake was standing in the quiet cemetery alone. This was a place of few visitors and the trees covered the skies. The temperature there was a couple of degrees lower than outside and there were some birds chirping. Other than that, there was no sounds from any other living creatures.

This was his second time there. The first was during Gavin Bernard’s funeral. All the Nottingham Forest members attended it. Even the old club chairman sent his assistant so he, as the youth team coach, naturally did not absent himself from it.

After that, he had never returned here. For some people, the child who passed away that day was one of the most important people of their lives, but to David Kerslake, he did not have that feeling.

Two days ago, Kerslake received a call from Twain while having a break at home. Twain asked Kerslake for a favor over the phone. Twain would usually do this himself, but he was far away in Spain then. He could not possibly leave the team and fly back to Nottingham himself, therefore, he could only ask his friend in Nottingham for help.

On the next day, Kerslake received an express mail with a ticket inside.

Today, he was here to send Gavin Bernard a ticket.

Of course, he did not forget to buy some flowers. Twain did not ask him to do that but since he was here to visit Gavin, some flowers was just the necessary etiquette.

Placing the fresh flowers on the grave carefully, Kerslake noticed the line of words on the bottom of the tombstone.

He suddenly felt that the world was so unpredictable. The most loyal fan of Nottingham Forest was buried here yet he was still loafing at home after leaving Forest where he had worked for more than a decade.

He did not know if Twain would ever return, but maybe the period of time in his life which belonged to Nottingham Forest had reached the end. He should seriously start to think about the invitation of the other clubs.

“Gavin, this is the first time I’m talking to you but I didn’t expect it to be under this kind of circumstances,” Kerslake laughed and said, “Tony asked me to give you a ticket, and I want to take this chance to say farewell to you. Thank you for your support towards the team, I bet you’re very sad at the state of affairs of Nottingham Forest now, aren’t you? I tried my best, too bad… Maybe this is for the best. At least we’re still in the Premier League. 14 years ago, we were still struggling in the Championship. Maybe this is where Nottingham Forest belongs to. No team can win forever, and no team can conquer Europe forever. We’ve done it before, there’s nothing to regret about.”

He took out the ticket and did as Twain instructed. He lit it on fire with a lighter and held on to it until the fire reached his fingertips. The ticket burnt to ashes on the way down and landed on the fresh flowers.

“It’s not bad to be a fan too… Goodbye Gavin, remember to watch the final.”

Kerslake waved at the grave and tuned to walk towards the gate of the cemetery.

A gust of wind blew behind him and moved the flowers on the grave, blowing the ashes into the air. There were rustling sounds coming from the thick woods, as if they were saying goodbye to Kerslake.

※※※

Tang Jing was sitting on her husband’s legs as she flirted with him. Their son had just been brought back to their home in China and her parents were taking care of him. They could enjoy some time alone now. In her plans, she was going to have a romantic candlelight dinner with her husband tonight, then put on some erotic lingerie that she just bought and have a night of passion with him.

However, her plans were stopped by her husband before she even said anything.

“I can finally not be disturbed when watching the match tonight,” Tang said while holding Tang Jing. Tang Jing immediately felt disappointment.

“It’s not a match involving China, why are you watching it?”

“I’m a football coach, I have to know everything related to football,” Tang felt that it was strange for Tang Jing to ask such a silly question.

Tang Jing rolled her eyes at him, “But tonight, I…” She stopped herself, Tang must have known what she meant.

As expected, Tang knew, but his reaction infuriated her.

“We can do that every night, but the European Championship final only happens once every four years…”

Tang Jing was furious, but she had to admit that there was nothing wrong with the logic. They could make love every night but the next time the European Championship final happened would be four years later.

“Can’t you record it?!”

“Of course, I’ll record it, but it’s also important to watch it live…” Tang was sticking to his guns——Tonight, football was more important than coitus.

Tang Jing got up from Tang’s legs furiously, and she pinched Tang on the shoulders violently. The look of Tang gritting his teeth in pain did nothing to sooth the anger in Tang Jing’s heart.

She had already decided that she would be a force of disturbance when Tang was watching the match tonight.

To the simple-minded Tang, tonight was all about football. However, to Tang Jing, tonight was a battle between her and football. She wanted to see whether she was more attractive or whether football was more attractive.

Fighting with me over my man? Football, I’ll show you!