Chapter 198: Start All Over Again Part 1
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Dunn’s life had changed twice in a short span of one and a half years, and this type of change could not be compared to his parents’ divorce when he was still a child. After one and a half years, Dunn had stopped thinking about absurd questions such as “Who am I,””Where did I come from,” or “Where am I going,” a long time ago. Moreover, he felt that going to China in such an absurd manner had not been detrimental to him in any way.
He did indeed love football, and it had used to be his everything in the past. But compared to a warm and loving family, football was something that he could bear to give up on.
Dunn even felt that it was better that way, that he should have been a normal person born in a Chinese village instead. His life prior to this must have been a mistake on God’s part, which had caused him to be born in England by mistake. He didn’t like England, or anything about it. What had his days in England left him with? Nothing but nightmares.
So he decided to leave behind everything related to England and embark on his new life in China. I am Dunn, the Chinese Dunn, not some Englishman Tony Twain. His past, his present, and his future are all none of my business!
That was how he had felt until his fateful encounter with Tang En on the streets of Chengdu City.
Could this be fate?
Now, he was once again seated inside the Nottingham Forest Chairman’s office, quietly watching as Tang En and Evan quarrelled over him. He was not concerned about the contents or the results of their quarrelling, but was instead looking at the furnishings around the room.
He remembered this place very clearly. When Paul Hart, his teacher, was about to leave Nottingham Forest, he had recommended Dunn to the club’s chairman, Mr. Nigel Doughty. As the board of directors was not opposed to this recommendation, Dunn, the young manager nurtured by the club itself, naturally became the substitute manager for Nottingham Forest.
The only problem was that his career as a manager only managed to last for a short first-half of a match before it was forcefully ended.
During his daily conversations with Tang En, Dunn also learned about how well Nottingham Forest and Tang En had done after they had swapped bodies.
Now that this room was refurbished with lots of new facilities that he had not seen in the past, the century-old football club’s feeling of solemnity had been largely reduced. It now had a much more modern vibe.
The chairman when Dunn had been here, Mr. Nigel Doughty, had also retired due to health considerations. As a result, Dunn felt pretty unfamiliar with the current Nottingham Forest. For instance, this new chairman appeared to be very casual in front of Tang En, completely unlike Doughty’s usual seriousness.
Evan Doughty was currently seated at one corner of the desk. Faced with Tang En’s endless talking, the only thing he did was shake his head continuously.
“Tony, I know that you always do things in unconventional ways, but you’ve gone too far this time/ You are making this person, who doesn’t have any coaching experience, who has no prior experience with professional football, who is preparing to sit for the England coaching license exams, the assistant manager of Nottingham Forest? Now that Nottingham Forest is an English Premier League team, I can’t let you do this.”
“You think I’m fooling around? Evan. Do you think that I’m the type of person to play when it comes to serious matters like this? Look, I acknowledge that Dunn doesn’t have anything right now, but we can give him a chance to prove himself. That won’t require too much time-“
“Tony!” Evan slightly raised his voice. “Putting the main team’s results at stake just for a newbie to prove himself is not something that we, a newly-promoted team, can afford to do!”
It was a rare sight to see Evan looking this serious. Tang En was momentarily dumbfounded before he recovered from his shock and curled his lips. “You said that I have full say over the team’s matters.”
Evan sighed. “Tony. I don’t know how you got to know this Chinese man” Evan shot a glance at Dunn, and discovered that he was not paying attention to the conversation between him and Tang En, and did not have the nerves and apprehension that normal people should have in this situation. “Alright, perhaps he’s related to that beautiful Chinese teacher of yours. If you intend to arrange a job position for him in the club, that’s not an issue. You can put him on the turf maintenance team, the equipment maintenance team, or let him be a waiter at the canteen… or any job of the sort, really. But he simply cannot become the assistant manager of the main team. That is a very important position.”
“If you know that that position is so important, why did you agree to let Walker leave?” Tang En retorted.
“Um…” Evan was at a loss for words. He knew that he was at fault. He scratched his head and jumped off the table before turning around and walking to the large French window behind his seat. Evan looked at the busy training grounds and saw the workers hastily making preparations for the training that was about to commence. “Tony, letting Walker go was my problem. At that time, there were many things about this team that I did not understand. I thought that as long as the team had an outstanding manager, any and all problems would be resolved. After my father caught wind of this, he told me about the importance of an outstanding assistant manager on a team. It’s precisely because this that I can’t let him become the assistant manager.”
Tang En looked at Evan without uttering a single word. He simply stared. Evan saw the look in Tang En’s eyes before adding, “Perhaps he can become the assistant manager in the future. But not now. It doesn’t matter if he is competent enough. Find someone else for now, Tony.”
The two of them looked at each other for a short while before Tang En shook his head and complained, “I spent an entire summer in China to find the most suitable assistant manager, and now you’re telling me the club doesn’t agree with this personnel appointment, and that I have to find someone else. Evan, do you know how much time we have left? The team will be starting its pre-season trainings in two days, and all the plans have to be formulated by then. Asking me to change to someone else now… How do you plan to solve the familiarization issue the team will be facing in the future?”
Evan spread his hands and continued. “You can transfer someone from the club. I remember that in the past, you were promoted directly from the position of the youth team’s manager to the main team’s manager.”
The fish had taken the bait.
Tang En pondered out loud, “What you’re saying is that you want me to get David Kerslake? We have worked together at the youth team for a long time, and he also has a certain level of understanding with regards to managing a football team…”
Hearing him say that, Evan started nodding his head. “You’re very smart, Tony. That’s exactly what I mean. Wasn’t Walker also a player from Nottingham Forest? Why must you go outside to find an assistant manager?”
Tang En turned his head and looked at Dunn, who was still looking around the office and appeared to be deep in thought. “If Kerslake comes to the main team to be my assistant, then who will be in charge of the youth team? Evan, you have to know that youth training is the most valued tradition of Nottingham Forest.”
“That’s not an issue, we can always promote one of the youth team coaches.”
Tang En shook his head, rejecting Evan’s suggestion. “I’ve been on the youth team for a very long time, and I understand those colleagues of mine very well. All of them undeniably have decent abilities. But I feel like putting any one of them in charge of the youth team would be detrimental; it would stop them from being able to fully maximize their fortes.” That was Tang En’s tactful way of telling Evan that when those youth team coaches were put in charge of a specific type of training, they performed quite well. But making any one of them the manager just because of that would never work.
“That’s…” Tang En and those people had worked together before, so if he said that those people were not competent enough for the position, it was definitely more convincing than Evan’s train of thought, which was purely based upon assumptions. For a short while, Evan was out of ideas.
Tang En felt that it was time for him to reveal his true motive. “Alright, we seem to have forgotten about someone,” Tang En said as he looked at Dunn, still seated on the sofa.
“That twenty-five year-old?” Evan knitted his brows.
“Are you going to use your veto power again, Evan?”
“Um… Tony. You must know better than me that the Football Association won’t agree to let someone who doesn’t have a coaching certification become the manager of our Youth team…”
“He’ll get his very soon, even though it might be the lowest tier.” Tang En shrugged his shoulders and continued. “You know, Evan, there’s a saying that goes like this… Mosquitoes might be small, but they still have meat… It’s just… Um, a common saying from a certain country that I’ve been to in the past. But that’s not the point. The point is, we have to decide on a person to take over as the youth team manager right now, before transferring David Kerslake onto the main team. I definitely won’t let the main team’s coaches become the manager of the youth team, and wouldn’t think about touching the rest of the youth team’s coaches.”
Evan nodded his head and said, “I understand what you mean, Tony. But have you ever thought if Dunn—your Chinese friend—is suited to become the manager of the youth team?”
This question indeed had not crossed Tang En’s mind before, because Tang En had become the manager of the youth team and the main team at a very young age, and got along well with the coaches. So he had not been met with a situation where they were not convinced by his abilities. But his situation was truly different from Dunn’s. The only reason Tang En could be accepted by his other colleagues the moment he took up the manager’s position, was because of the person in front of him. It was the efforts of Dunn, who had worked in Nottingham Forest for seven years and slowly climbed his way up. However, Dunn had become a newbie who did not have anything. His achievements were completely empty, so how could he convince others that he had the right abilities to become the youth team’s manager?
Tang En discovered that he had viewed the question too simply. Although Tang En knew about Dunn’s ability, would others believe him?
Evan trusted Tang En a lot, so if even Evan could not believe Tang En’s evaluation of Dunn, it was all the more unlikely for others to believe him.
Tang En suddenly felt that his impulsive decision to invite Dunn back to Nottingham Forest was very foolish. Not only had he made Dunn lose his job, it was even possible that he would face the fate of being sent back to China after travelling all the way to England.
Just as Tang En was beginning to feel dejected, Dunn, who had been sitting on the sofa all along as quietly as though he were an unconcerned outsider, stood up. He said, “I can begin from working as the most elementary level coach, Mr. Chairman.”
Hearing him say this, Evan looked at Tang En, and Tang En turned his head to look at Dunn, trying to figure out what was on his mind. When Tang En had brought Dunn to England, his original intention was to make Dunn his assistant manager. Tang En believed that they would cooperate very well with each other, because they had each other’s bodies, and they knew what the other person was thinking about. It was an innate kind of chemistry between them. Now, if Dunn were to become a normal coach of the youth team, what was the point of bringing him all the way back to England?
However, Tang En was unable to derive the answer to this question from Dunn’s face.
