Chapter 48: George’s Fans Part 2
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
On the way back, Tang En chose to go through the fans’ area, because that was the only way he could pass by the second court. He was still worried about Wood and decided to check out how this kid was doing.
It turned out that when Tang En arrived at the second training field, he saw a small child clinging to the wire mesh, looking at the field with his full attention. He was so focused that he did not even notice Tang En and Morgan approaching, until he realized that the sky suddenly turned dark.
He raised his head and looked up in bewilderment. The skies were blue and the clouds were white. The weather was still great.
Tang En was amused by this cute child, but he purposely made a stern face and spoke in a deep, gruff voice. “Hey, kid! Who let you in? Do you know that this is a restricted area? For trespassing, I’ll let the security arrest you!”
Who would have thought that the small child would be completely unfazed? He didn’t even look at Tang En and continued staring at the training field. He also replied in a deep voice, “Manager Tony Twain, do you intend to make the headlines in The Sun for threatening a small child?”
Morgan, who was standing behind the two of them, could no longer hold it in and burst out in a laughter. In fact, his laughter grew louder by the second. Tang En turned around and looked at this person. His previous impression of this black man made him assume that Morgan did not know how to laugh at all. Seeing that Tony Twain was looking at him, Morgan frantically covered his mouth. “Sorry, Sir.”
Tang En curled his lips, indicating that he did not mind. After which, he turned his head around and continued to tease this child. “Erhem. Alright, boy. Tell me who your dad is. At this time, you should still be at school. Truancy is not good. I’ll have your dad spank your butt back at home.”
The small child did not seem to care at all. Morgan saw that this kid’s expression was one of nonchalance. The little kid replied,” Who are you trying to fool? I’ve ended school a long time ago!”
Tang En did not expect this child to be so smart, leaving him speechless. Right at that moment, a familiar male voice was heard. “I seem to have heard someone threatening my son. Is he tired of living?”
“What terrible luck! Michael, you actually have such a smart and cute son. I’m too shocked!” Tang En stood up and looked at the man in front of him. It was indeed the fan, Michael Bernard, who got into a fight with Tang En at the Forest Bar, an exemplary case of “no discord, no concord.”
Bernard’s hand was holding a can of coke. It was evident that he had just returned from getting his son a drink.
“Should I take it as a compliment for my son, or are you insulting me?”
“Either one is fine. It’s up to you.” Tang En blinked his eyes. “You brought your son here?”
Bernard nodded his head, before handing over the coke to his son. “I picked him up from school, and he said that he wanted to come here and take a look, so I brought him here.”
“But the rest of the youth team is training at the first training field.” Tang En thought that it was weird, as young kids tended to like those famous football stars instead. Coming here instead of going to the first team. On top of that, he was not looking at the first training field. What exactly was he looking at?
Bernard pointed at the training field. “Two weeks ago, my son declared during dinner that he had become this person’s fan.”
Tang En looked in the direction that Bernard’s hand was pointing. George Wood was doing some header practice in the empty training field. Wood specifically had a manager to accommodate him. The manager threw the ball to Wood, and Wood jumped up to head the ball back. After looking at it for around half a minute, he was merely doing the same old repetitions of the same action, which was very dull and dry.
It seems like David also regards this kid highly, to actually get a manager to train him personally… Tang En touched his chin. I was almost fooled by that guy.
However, Tang En still did not understand why a small child like this would become Wood’s fan. He did not have beautiful techniques, nor did he have any fame. In fact, he did not even participate in matches very often, and was repetitively practicing the fundamentals, which the audience would find boring, daily. Therefore, Tang En asked, “What do you like about him?”
“He is very strong!” The small child revealed his own arm and gestured with it.
Strong? Tang En turned his head and shot a look at Morgan. After which, he said to the small child. “This guy over here is also very strong.”
The small child raised his head and looked at Morgan. Morgan bent over slightly, intending to leave a good impression on the small child. Unexpectedly, the brat pouted and said, “But he’s not handsome enough.”
This time, it was Tang En’s turn to burst into laughter. The tank man’s gloomy face was really too funny.
Paying no heed to Tang En who was almost rolling on the ground in laughter, the brat continued, “I’ve been observing him train for a very long time, coming here daily after school. Then, I found that he,” The brat pointed at Wood and said, “is always doing the same thing. At the start, I found it to be very boring and not fun at all. Then, I thought I would see if he would also find it boring and stop training. So, I secretly made a bet in my heart with him, and I bet that he would definitely give up. And I come here to look every day. Later I discovered that he was like a robot, never getting tired, never resting, even that person… ” He pointed at that coaching staff. “Even if that person went to take a break, and he was still training. I deeply respect him, because he defeated me! I’ve decided to become his fan!”
After hearing the small child’s words, Tang En looked at Bernard and said, “Michael, you have a genius son. He is very impressive. This is not out of politeness. I mean it from the bottom of my heart.”
Bernard nodded his head. “Is there even a need for you to state the obvious? My son’s the best!” Although his tone was tough, his gaze toward his son was filled with love and pride.
Who would have known that the fan who was always shouting, and even had a fight with him, would have such a tender side to him? It was an eye-opener for Tang En. He then turned to look in the direction of the training field, observing Wood, who was still doing his header practice. Tang En had been thoroughly touched by this kid.
Perhaps because he had really heard Tang En’s words in City Ground’s changing room, he decided to plunge himself in training now, threating 24 hours as 72. It was true that he did not know football. It was true that he was a newbie that had only been in contact with football for three months. It was true that his family was poor and had no means of providing better living conditions for him. It was true that he shouldered a burden that peers of the same age would be unable to shoulder. But he did not play tricks and treated this “job” seriously. He trained hard and dedicated effort and sweat that was too difficult for others to imagine. He believed Tang En’s reputation was “guaranteed by the banks”, and he believed that if he continued training like this, he would eventually become a superstar who earned £12,000 a week.
After being there for three months, Tang En had seen so many different types of players. Some of them wanted to become superstars, while some of them played for their passion for the game. Among them, some of them were very gifted, while some were just ordinary. There were some who did not have many plans for the future, while there were others who had lofty aspirations. There were too many people… But after seeing so many people, Tang En discovered that, perhaps only this little rascal, who dared to come knocking on the door and advertised himself as England’s best player, would really become England’s best player.
No, he had to. For his mother, he must!
Despite him not doing anything but the same dry and repetitive training over and over again, he had managed to get himself a first fan of his own.
Tang En suddenly felt that he should give the not-yet-successful Wood some form of reward. So, he shouted outside the wire mesh, “George!”
His loud voice even shocked the birds in the trees behind. There was no reason for Wood and the coaching staff to not hear him. As expected, both of them halted the training, turning their heads around to look in Tang En’s direction.
“Rest for a while!” Tang En waved his hand at that coaching staff and said, “Let Wood come over for a while.”
The coaching staff recognized that the person who interrupted their training was the first team’s manager, Tony Twain. He said a few sentences to Wood, and what followed soon after was Wood running over, with a face full of bewilderment. He was very strong, but his strength was different compared to Morgan’s. Morgan’s type of strength was discernible at a first glance, while Wood’s could only be felt and understood upon closer interaction. Looking at this lad’s running posture, Tang En was very satisfied with the training program which Kerslake had planned for him.
“What’s the matter? I’m in the middle of my training.” Although there were four people at the sideline, Wood only had eyes on Tang En. On top of that, his tone was not very nice.
“I know that you’re training. Will it kill you to take a short break?” The tone of Tang En’s reply was also unlike one between a manager and player. He waved at Wood and said, “Here, come closer.”
Wood closed in obediently, to the extent that he was almost sticking to the wire mesh. Although he did not know why Tang En called him over, he didn’t raise any objections.
Tang En turned his head and asked Bernard’s son, “Do you have a pen?”
The small child took out a large signature pen from his bag. That was practically a necessity for all football fans. Tang En took the pen, and stuffed it into Wood’s hands. Then, Tang En made young Bernard stand close to the wire mesh as well, pulling and straightening his clothes.
“Give him your autograph.”
Wood was slightly stunned at what Tang En had said. Wood thought that he had heard Tang En wrongly and did not move his hand, which was gripping the pen.
Tang En repeated himself another time. “Give him your autograph. George, he is your first fan. You can’t treat him so coldly. Squat down and give him your autograph!”
This time, Wood obediently did as he was told. The hand which was holding on to the pen was still trembling, and he did not proceed with his autograph even after resting it on the child’s shirt for quite some time.
“You don’t know how to write your own name?” Tang En smiled upon witnessing this scene.
“I…. Of course… I know!” Wood exerted some strength and signed his own name on the young child’s red-colored shirt: George Wood. Those words were crooked and slanted.
Tang En seized the opportunity and mocked him. “So ugly! Who knows, it might even be uglier than this fan’s handwriting. Haha!”
Wood paid no heed to Tang En’s mocking and passed the pen back. After which, he asked, “Can I return to my training?”
This lad was really insensitive. Shouldn’t he have patted the young fan’s head, said some pleasantries, and indulged in the moment? To have said something like “Can I return to my training,” really spoiled the mood. Tang En waved his hands and snappily said, “You may go back!”
Wood turned around and ran back, without any lingering affections. Looking at his back view, Tang En complained softly, “He really doesn’t have the potential to become a great star.”
The child did not seem to care about Wood’s attitude. He lowered his head and looked at the name on his shirt, before turning his head around and said to his own father, “George Wood! Dad, look!”
Michael Bernard touched his son’s head affectionately and said, “If you like it so much, you should treasure it.”
Tang En followed up and said, “That’s right! Treasure it well, this is Wood’s first autograph. When he becomes a superstar in the future, you can sell it for a huge sum of money.”
Young Bernard made a face at Tang En and said, “I won’t sell this jersey ever, even if I don’t have money to buy Forest’s new jersey!”
Seeing his serious tone, Tang En smiled. Hey, George, did you see that? Your number one loyal fan. Now, you have one more reason to become a superstar.
Even after receiving his idol’s autograph, young Bernard still continued to stay behind and root for Wood. Tang En obviously could not continue to stay here. Tang En and Morgan left after bidding the father and son farewell.
“Wes, have you ever been asked by a fan for your autograph?” Tang En, who was walking in front, asked.
“No, Sir.”
“Alright, don’t worry. You will get your chance soon.”
When Tang En and Morgan reached the first team’s training grounds, a golden shepherd dog came running toward them, giving Tang En a scare. Since when did the training grounds allow dogs inside?
This dog circled around him and wagged its tail excitedly.
Morgan saw that the dog was evidently very happy, and so he squatted down and extended his hand. The dog extended its tongue and licked, causing Morgan to laugh uncontrollably.
Tang En shot Morgan a look and said, “You really like dogs, don’t you?”
“Don’t tell me you don’t like them, Sir?” Morgan continued to play with this dog that appeared out of nowhere, even forgetting to look at his manager’s facial expression.
Tang En was frowning. The gloominess in his face reflected his current mood. Indeed, he did not like dogs. When he was working in Chengdu City, the entire streets were filled with dogs, and it was not uncommon for one to step on dog feces when they went out. However, the current issue was, while dogs could appear in parks and streets, they should not appear in football training grounds. He wanted to find out who the dog’s owner was and teach him a lesson, making sure that in the future, he would not dare make Nottingham Forest’s training ground his backyard for walking his dog ever again.
“That’s enough, stop playing with that dog. I’ll bring you to the training field.”
Morgan bade farewell to the dog reluctantly, but got a pleasant surprise when he found out that that dog was following behind him. “Sir, its following behind us! It likes us!”
“Yes. It is following you, it likes you.” Tang En stopped in his tracks and saw that Old Bowyer was not directing the team’s training at the training field, but was instead chatting outside with another old man. In front of the old man who could not even stand up steadily, Bowyer’s attitude with his head lowered made Tang En extremely shocked. That old man was not as fat as Nigel Doughty, so he was definitely not Mr. Chairman. Who else could he be?
As Tang En watched in bewilderment, their conversation ended. The old man extended his hand and patted Bowyer’s face lightly, and Bowyer appeared as if he was a small child. This scene was simply too comical!
After that, that old man whistled and the shepherd dog, which had been jumping around Morgan, ran over to that old man instead, wagging its tail and jumping around him.
Morgan regretfully looked at the dog, which had run far away, while Tang En looked curiously at that old man. He had just rummaged through the deepest parts of his memories, but doing so did not give him any information regarding this old man. Could it be that even Tony Twain did not know him? Or was it that…. this part of his memory had been damaged when he was knocked down?
Bowyer saw the old man off. Right as he finished doing so, he turned around and saw Tang En.
“Ian.” Tang En wanted to ask Ian who that old man was, but he did not expect Bowyer to be so happy to see him.
“Tony! You’re back?” Bowyer was so happy that his voice was even one pitch higher.
Tang En nodded his head. “That…”
“It’s so regretful. Why was it that every time you make a trip to the youth team, someone comes over to try find you?” Bowyer did not give Tang En the chance to finish his sentence.
“Ah?” Tang En was confused. That unfamiliar old man came here to find me?
Bowyer nodded his head. “Boss originally wanted to meet you, but you weren’t in. So he invited us over to his house tomorrow afternoon! Invited us! You know? Tony, there’s very few people who have been invited over to his house for a tea. When I was still a player, I could only envy Trevor Francis, because only he had been invited over before. That lucky guy!”
Tang En had never seen Bowyer behave like this before. He was just like the young Bernard just now, extremely excited because he had gotten his idol’s autograph. When he spoke, he was even tiptoeing. His mouth was wide open, as if he had seen an alien.
“Who is boss?”
This time, it was Bowyer’s turn to look at him as if he had seen an alien.
“Has your head not recovered yet, Tony? Or is it that… you just knocked your head again?”
Seeing Bowyer’s serious expression, Tang En realized that he must have asked an extremely foolish question. However, he really did not know who “boss” was!
