Chapter 46: Nice Guy Mr. Coppell Part 2
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The next day, Tang En led the team, and they rushed to the venue for the away match.
It was the 36th round of the English League One season, and because of the previous match which they lost, Nottingham Forest’s ranking had dropped to seventh place. However, they were only four points away from the third team, and their situation was not extremely hopeless. Although the media’s criticisms were still ongoing, Tang En paid no heed to them. But contrary to how he handled it, after training, Tang En would read to the players the comments that had been published that day about Nottingham Forest. Of course, he only picked the negative ones to talk about.
Walker did not understand, but Tang En told him that he would understand it once the date of the match was nearer.
Brighton was their opponent for this match. Prior to then, they were the fourth last team for the season, and were only one point away from the relegation zone. Hence, they desperately needed a win.
Perhaps others might feel that it would be a tough battle for Nottingham Forest. To challenge a team that had to prevent relegation, on their home ground, would not be a sure win even for prestigious clubs. However, Tang En felt that his team could do it.
Tang En had not spent all of his efforts the past few days on a woman. He had carefully analyzed Brighton’s results for the past 11 rounds with three draws, four losses, and four wins. Those three match outcomes usually alternated, and there was rarely a case where they won a few matches consecutively. That revealed that the team was very unstable. In the previous round, they had attained victory on their home ground, but that was insufficient to prove that this team’s home ground win rate was high. Up till then, in the 18 matches for which they had had home ground advantage, they only won five of them, scoring 23 balls and conceding 28.
No matter how he viewed it, Tang En refused to believe that his team would lose to this kind of team. However, he had also learned his lesson and described Brighton as an extremely terrifying team, insisting that the away match would be an uphill battle. Faced with Brighton’s threatening challenge, he had to be slightly more careful. When interviewed, Tang En said that Brighton would definitely be able to obtain a satisfactory ranking by the end of the season, and even said that he had been a fan of Steve Coppell since he was young. Under Coppell’s lead, Brighton would definitely have a bright future ahead.
In actuality? Tang En had never seen this person play before. In fact, he did not even know that there was such a high-profile player in Manchester United’s history. After all, he was not a die-hard Manchester United Fan. As for whether the previous Tony Twain had seen him play before, Tang En was not sure. Former member of England’s representative team and Manchester United star player, Steve Coppell, retired in 1983 when he was 28 years old due to an injury. That period when he was at Manchester United, was one of Manchester United’s darkest periods in history. At that time, Manchester United was still struggling bitterly in League Two. This winger took part in 396 matches during his time at Manchester United, and scored 72 goals. Additionally, he had taken part in 42 matches as part of the England National Team, and scored seven goals. During his most glorious times, he was Manchester United and England’s only choice for right winger.
As for his results as a manager, this person’s most glorious days were in 1990, when he brought Crystal Palace to the grand finals of the 89-90 season of the FA Cup. However, he lost to his former team, Manchester United. After that, he led Crystal Palace and attained third place in the English First Division (then England’s highest league). That was also Crystal Palace’s best results throughout its entire club history.
Although Manchester United could be considered England’s most successful team after “The Reds” Liverpool, the splendid players from this splendid team who went on to be managers usually did not have good results. While Manchester United had the tradition of nurturing great football players, it did not have the fertile soil for nurturing great managers. This was really weird, as they had the greatest manager in the past 20 years of English football, Sir Alex Ferguson. However, the players under this manager did not seem to perform well as managers, and even his assistants did not produce exceptional results when they went on to coach on their own. The most distant instance went as far back as 1998, when Brian Kidd, then Sir Alex Ferguson’s trusted aide, tried, for the first time, to coach a team. However, after 44 matches, he was fired from his post by the upper echelons of Blackburn. The most recent one was the Portuguese manager, Queiroz. His time as the manager of Real Madrid was perhaps the season which Real Madrid fans and he do not want to recall for the rest of their lives. In the 100 years of Real Madrid’s history, the first consecutive five-match losing streak happened during his time.
Before Tang En time-travelled, Manchester United’s former captain, Roy Keane, was the manager of Sunderland, and the prospects of being promoted to the English Premier League were very good. It remained unknown as to whether this Irish man could change Manchester United’s awkward history.
The reason why Tang En went to great efforts to put on a show like this, was to let Coppell and his team think that Nottingham Forest was afraid of them. Hence, Tang En remained low profile from the very start. Whenever the media asked about his plans for this match, Tang En would reply, “For such a tough away match, if we are even able to get one point, I will be very content.” It was the complete opposite of the confidence he showed when his team was on a five-match winning streak.
Later in the hotel room, Tang En took the local news reports and read to Walker line by line.
“Brighton full of confidence, not a single point to be lost on the road to avoid relegation!”
“Take another look at this—Coppell unafraid of best manager… tsk tsk!”
Walker sat on the sofa and asked, “What do you think? Even the Nottingham media thinks that we are likely to lose for this match.”
“This is what I wanted to see, Des. I wish for the entire world to not have any hopes for us. Now do you see why I did those things after training?” The “those things” which Tang En referred to were his sessions of reading the bad news in the newspapers to the players. Every time the players heard about the criticisms by the news reporters and the media, they would become extremely furious.
Walker smiled and nodded his head. “You are too evil, Tony.”
“In this world, it doesn’t pay to be a nice guy.” It was better to give the nice guy card over to the opponent’s manager and to tell him this after beating him, while shaking his hand. “You are such a nice guy, Manager Coppell.” In order to emphasize his meaning, he would repeat the phrase “nice guy”, until the person started to tear up.
Brighton’s Withdean Stadium, which had the capacity to hold up to 7,000 people, had no empty seats. Brighton’s home ground jersey was white and blue, causing Tang En to think that he had arrived at Argentina’s home ground. The only difference was that the people were much fewer. But the fans’ enthusiasm did not pale in comparison to the crazy South Americans.
“It’s only 7,000 people, there’s nothing to be afraid of.” Amidst the deafening noise in the stadium, Tang En muttered to himself as he entered the changing room. The players were already geared up and prepared to move out, merely awaiting his orders.
“All of you have been belittled by them. They treat you all as worthless, and the entire world doesn’t believe that you can win.” Tang En shook the newspaper in his hand and said, “Tell me, what do you guys plan to do?”
Dawson took the lead and stood up. He shouted, “To defeat them!” After which, everyone else followed suit and shouted the same words as him.
“Very good.” Tang En, Walker, and Bowyer all smiled.
After 90 minutes, the whistle signaling the end of the match sounded. The trainee journalist from the Nottingham Evening Post, Pierce Brosnan, who had accompanied the team over to the away match, shook his head. “Yet another match with a satisfactory result, but the process was extremely close and exhilarating.”
Brighton’s fans had 100 reasons to be discontented with the results of the match, because their team had perhaps 100 reasons they could win the match. However, the end result was that the guest team Nottingham Forest left with three additional points.
1:0, Nottingham Forest wins! David Johnson, the Jamaican player managed to score a rebound 16 minutes into the match, snatching three points for the team.
Once he won, Tang En no longer put up his act and appeared extremely arrogant in the press conference after the match. His replies were extremely short, and the words he said were so unclear, to the extent that many reporters were unable to hear him clearly even after straining their ears. He had a classic look of not caring much for them. Only when answering Pierce Brosnan’s questions, did he say a few more words.
Among the two managers, one was unwilling to cooperate, while the other was somewhat dejected from losing the match, and hence did not say much. This press conference only lasted for 10 minutes, before ending haphazardly. The reporters were all dissatisfied, but what could they do? If the other party did not feel like speaking, they could not force them to do so.
When they parted, Tang En suddenly went up to Coppell and grabbed his hand. He could finally say the words which he had been concocting for the past two days.
“You are a nice guy. I wish you good luck, Mr. Coppell. Nice guy!” He shook Coppell’s hand forcefully. Then, he left the confused Steve Coppell behind, disappearing from the sight of the masses.
After winning that match, Nottingham Forest once again returned to the promotion group. Ranked sixth in the league, if they were able to maintain the ranking all the way till the league ended, it would guarantee them the opportunity to enter the playoffs. As for the newbie manager, Tony Twain, who only took over in the middle of the season, this was already an exceptional result. Therefore, he told Coppell that he was a nice guy, because at the moment when Tang En needed a win the most, and needed three points the most, this manager immediately offered it to Tang En. If that did not qualify him as a nice guy, then what did?
The results of that match once again reaffirmed that those who could play football very well, might not necessarily become an outstanding manager. The skill level of a player had no direct correlation to one’s competency in coaching a team. At least in Old Trafford, “star players” and “star managers” would never become synonymous.
