Godfather Of Champions

“Would you like to stand on a bigger stage?”

Tang Jing had also asked him a similar question in the past, but it was even blunter. She asked him if he wanted to spend the rest of his life managing a small club like Notts County.

Dunn had thought about that question before. If Notts County could somehow get their hands on a large sum of money and also have the ambition to get promoted to the Premier League, he did not see any issue with remaining in the club. After all, he has grown attached to the club after spending seven years here as the manager.

However, if things stayed the way they were now and Notts County continued to be content with a place in the Championship… Then what should he do next? Should he continue to stay in the club whatever happened?

Did he have ambition?

There would definitely be a few people who would reply, “No, Dunn is a man who is happy with the status quo” to that question. However, Dunn knew very well how deep his passion for football ran and how much he craved a challenge. In a nutshell, he was just like Tony Twain who sat across from him.

“Are you trying to get me to become your assistant manager, Tony?” Dunn asked with a smile.

“No. It’d be a waste of talent to get you to become my assistant manager after seeing what you have achieved at Notts County over the past seven years. There is no need to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut.” Twain shook his head.

“Then why…” Dunn was confused. Frankly, he had assumed that Twain wanted to persuade him to become his assistant manager ever since he received the call from him the previous night. He mulled over the issue for the whole night, and he eventually came to the conclusion that he would not be able to go back to being an assistant manager anymore, even if it meant that he could work under the illustrious Twain once again. He was going to refuse Twain’s invitation at all costs if the latter truly invited him to be his assistant manager.

He did not expect that Twain had something else in mind.

Twain looked around him. The waiters were all positioned several meters away from him at the moment, and none of them seemed inclined to attend to him. Their attitudes spoke of their dislike for him, given how he had publicly criticized the restaurant’s dishes as being unauthentic in the past. However, that was exactly what Twain wanted. After making sure that no waiters were near him, Twain leaned forward and told Dunn in a low voice, “This is something that I’ve not told anyone else yet. Actually, I’m only managing Forest for half a season.”

Dunn nodded his head. He already knew about that, and it was not just him. Everyone else knew about it as well, as it had been reported all over the news.

“Think about it, what’s going to happen to Forest after I leave? It can’t possibly revert to being how it is currently, right? I can’t keep coming out of retirement to rescue the team either.”

Dunn could tell what Twain was going to say next, but he believed that there was another solution to the issue. “You can just continue at the club, Tony.”

Twain shook his head. “I’m going, to be honest with you. I know my body the best. I’ve been very busy for the past few days. I flew to Spain to find Chen Jian, and then I came over to find you. When I have some free time, I will need to read up about those reports that David gave me regarding the team and… Guess what happened!”

Dunn looked at him quizzically.

“I fell asleep twice while reading the reports! My body is not like it used to be anymore. This might have something to do with me resting for four months prior to this… All this while I’ve always had a drive in me. I want to go against the world. However, that drive has vanished since the day I lifted the World Cup trophy and the thought of retirement surfaced in my mind. It’s impossible for me to regain that same level of drive that I used to have in the past.”

Twain clenched his fists tightly before releasing them.

“I came to the conclusion that I can only work for half a season after thinking things through. I’d try my best to help Forest stay in the Premier League during this period of time, and after that, I’d retire once and for all…”

Dunn smiled after hearing Twain’s words. “I still think that’s impossible, Tony.”

“That’s true, it might have been impossible before our talk. But things are different now.” Twain nodded. Surprisingly, he did not refute Dunn’s words. “I hope that you can take over my role as the manager of Nottingham Forest from next season onward, and I hope you can stay as the manager for a long time into the future.”

Dunn did not show much surprise. He had more or less guessed that Twain was going to say those words.

“Neither Freddy nor David are suited to work as managers. But you are different. You have seven years of experience. You can definitely take on the role as the manager of Forest now.”

Dunn frowned and mulled over Twain’s words before voicing his concern. “We are very different, Tony. I’m not like you. I can’t motivate the players like you. I’m not a madman either. I can’t divert the attention of the press away from them…”

“But you managed to lead a team of youth players all the way to the Championship.”

“Notts County and Nottingham Forest are two completely different teams. They play different styles of football and the managers who lead them have to be different as well.”

“I don’t expect you to lead Forest to glory the moment you take over. The club would most likely give you a few years to get used to your role and to the team. Make use of that time to assemble the team that suits you the most, and slowly get that team used to playing your style of football. By the time you are familiar with the team, the players who are used to my playing style would have retired, and you’d be able to start building a team that belongs to you, just like you did at Notts County.”

Dunn did not respond to Twain. He lowered his head and remained silent.

The two only changed the conversation topic when the dishes were served. They then began to talk about their respective lives as they ate.

Twain was the one who spoke most of the time, and Dunn merely listened. Dunn was never the talkative type. He had always played the role of a listener when he worked with Twain as well, and he did a very good job at it.

Twain talked about how Teresa was a good girl, how her English had improved tremendously, how she would definitely be a beauty when she grew up, and how her deep interest in movies and acting worried him. He was worried about what he should do as her father if she went on to work in the entertainment industry when she grew up.

Over two-thirds of their conversation revolved around Twain’s daughter Teresa.

The corner of Dunn’s lips went up as he listened to Twain speak of his daughter. Twain looked just like any blissful father in this world.

Dunn suddenly understood what Twain meant when he said that he was unwilling to work as a manager for long. Twain had a beautiful wife who loved him deeply, and he had an adorable, sweet and intelligent daughter. His life was wonderful and he was living in bliss, but all this has gradually worn away the ambition that he had in the past.

He recalled how Twain was like 15 years ago. Back then, he was a man who did not know what fatigue was, and he would burn the midnight oil just to analyze his opponents and their tactics through match videos. His mind was imbued with thoughts about how he was going to go against the world, and how he wanted to get his hands on every single football trophy possible. He would always make sure he got himself pumped up before he gave a passionate speech to the players in the locker room. After all, how could he possibly expect the players to excited if he himself wasn’t? A football match was just like a deathmatch for him in the past. There could only be one survivor at the end, and it was either him or his opponent. He had more fight than everyone else did because he was so keen on surviving in the footballing world. He wanted to defeat all the rivals who looked down on him, and he wanted those ignorant spectators to eat their own words. For those reasons, he transformed himself into a demon and a bastard.

Which Tony Twain did he prefer?

His memories of the past and present Tony Twain overlapped in his mind and became blurry.

I guess they both have their pros and cons, Dunn thought to himself.

The Tony Twain of the past was happy because he was working hard to achieve his dreams. The Tony Twain of the present was also happy because he was beginning a brand new life.

The two finished their meal soon after. Dunn’s plan following the meal was to return home and rest for a short while before preparing for his second training session that was due to take place at 5 p.m. Twain was also planning to return home and begin his preparation work to take over as the manager of Forest.

“I hope you would seriously consider my invitation, Dunn,” Twain told Dunn as they bid each other farewell at the entrance to the restaurant.

He did not expect Dunn to shake his head and say, “I accept your proposition, Tony.”

Twain was taken aback by how fast Dunn had reached a decision. He never thought of Dunn to be a decisive person. Dunn has always been someone who took a lot of time to think things through before making a decision. Did his personality change over the past seven years?

“You’ve already decided? You aren’t going to discuss this matter with Tang Jing first?”

“My opinion is all that matters when it comes to work,” Dunn sounded manly when he said those words.

Twain looked at Dunn and laughed. His eyes were narrowed into a thin line.

“Nottingham Forest is the place where things began for me. I also want to… Prove myself once more there.” He still could not forget the failure that he experienced after he took over as the manager of Nottingham Forest for a short period in the past…

Twain was certain that Dunn had accepted his invitation because of hearing those words from him.

He heaved a long sigh of relief. He had settled the very last thing that he had to do before taking over as Forest’s manager. He could finally focus on managing Nottingham Forest without any worries now.

“Good luck, Tony. Nottingham Forest now is nothing like the Nottingham Forest under you back then.” Dunn did not forget to give Twain his blessings before he left.

Twain was in the midst of opening his car door when he heard Dunn’s words. He turned around and told Dunn in a serious tone, “They’ll quickly realize that the Tony Twain now is still like the Tony Twain from the past.”

In that split second, Dunn thought he saw the old Tony Twain before him.

※※※

“Tony Twain is coming out of retirement? Ha!” Carl Spicer discussed Twain’s return to Forest with a face of disdain in his show. “I think he should just continue to enjoy his new life in America. The Nottingham Forest now is nothing like the Nottingham Forest in the past, and it’s not like he’s Superman either. Does he think he can become the club’s savior? He’s a 50-year-old man! His mind should have become clearer by now! I can’t believe that I’m wrong about him once again…”

Spicer fiercely derided the news of Twain’s return in his show. To others, it would seem like he was against Twain’s return to Forest, but in reality, it was the opposite. He desperately longed for Twain to return. He felt like he had been forgotten by the masses in the four months since Twain went into retirement. The viewership for his show has been on the decline over the past few months as well.

Spicer was one of several critics who heavily censured Twain when he experienced disrepute during his time as the manager of the England national football team. His show came under the spotlight consequentially, and Spicer was at the pinnacle of his career at that time. However, ever since Twain announced his retirement at the end of the World Cup in July, his show had lost its focus and he did not know what kind of content he should create any longer.

The news of Twain reaching an agreement with Nottingham Forest Football Club to take over as their manager was music to his ears. Spicer seemed like a completely different man ever since he heard the news. He was all smiles every single day as he made preparations for this week’s episode.

The topic of this week’s discussion was: is Twain’s return to Forest a mistake or the right move? He had invited three guests for the episode, but they were all nothing more than props. It did not matter what sort of views they might have. Carl Spicer was the focal point of the show. All the viewers of his show admired his eloquence and enjoyed watching him deride various issues and people related to football. Of course, Tony Twain was a man who was frequently dissected in the show.

“It has pretty much been confirmed that Tony Twain would return to Forest and take over as the manager, and I can say this with absolute certainty: he is bound to fail miserably at the job that he is the most familiar with. Nottingham Forest is the team that he is the proudest of, but he will suffer crushing defeat as its manager. The reputation that he has built up over the years would be gone by the end of the season!”

Spicer ended his show with the aforementioned words.

At the same time, BBC’s ‘Match of the Day’ show also discussed Twain’s return to Forest after they did their post-match analysis of a Premier League match.

“You never know what’s going to happen in life. I truly did not expect Twain to come out of retirement and return to Forest as their manager. I felt like this is not a decision that he would make…” Alan Shearer, who was a guest on the show, expressed his thoughts on the matter.

“It just shows his love for Forest,” Mark Lawrenson said.

Gary Lineker pressed a hand to his chin and laughed. “I think it’s great that Twain is coming out of retirement. I have something to look forward to in the Premier League now!”

“…I am so excited about how things would unfold in the Premier League from here on out. We can see the madman, Tony Twain, go wild once again. Honestly, the past four months following his retirement have been the most grueling months for me as a sports reporter… I spend my days not knowing what I should do next. Now, I no longer need to beat my brains and mull over what I should write for this week’s article. There would definitely be many things for us to write about with Tony Twain around. Tony Twain’s return has constantly made the headlines for the past two weeks, and there is so much discussion surrounding his return even though he has yet to start managing the team and had only announced that he would return to Forest as the manager.” Mark Heskey, who wrote sports articles for The Sun, was over the moon at the news of Twain’s return to Forest.

“The year might not be over yet, but Tony Twain is definitely England’s newsmaker of the year. I don’t think there’d be anyone else who’d be able to steal the limelight from him. He’s just coming out of retirement to manage Forest once again, but the news of his return has sent countless media outlets into a frenzy. It would be very hard for the world to see another man like him who attracts so much attention everywhere he goes. I think Tony Twain’s return is not just a football issue. It’s also a social issue that we should delve deeper into…” The Times published an editorial just to discuss Twain’s return.

“The Premier League feels lifeless without Tony Twain. The sponsors would definitely not wish to see the Premier League in such a state. However, which is great news for them, Tony Twain’s back and he’s attracting a lot of attention to the league. The newspaper sales and viewership for television shows have all increased substantially following news of his return. There are even people who make a living off abusing Twain, which I find to be miraculous. Now, the man behind the miracle is back, and those people will get to enjoy it once more.” Sky TV also published an article on its website about Twain taking over as Forest’s manager once again.

“Bringing Twain back to the club is undoubtedly the best decision that Evan Doughty has made over the past few years. Look at the amount of attention that this struggling club is receiving worldwide. Doughty has already won. It does not matter what Forest’s results are like at the end of the season. At the very least, Forest will be at the center of attention once again…”

The press only looked forward to Twain’s return because they were looking forward to the various benefits that came with it: an increase in sales, viewership, and sponsors…

However, none of them spoke about how Twain would transform the current Nottingham Forest as its manager. Evidently, no one thought that Twain would be capable of bringing about any change to the team. Forest was in a terrible state just then, and not even Tony Twain would be able to change it for the better…