Chapter 228: Clough the Second? Part 2
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The reporter from BBC smiled at the camera and said, “Let’s see what José Mourinho has to say.”
José Mourinho, who had accepted the interview from the hotel he was staying at, appeared on the screen. He wore his signature black coat and looked quite cool.
“Clough? I know. His compliments made me very happy. But, just like Tony, I don’t want to be anyone’s successor. I hate the news you’ve been stirring up about “the fight between Clough’s successors.” I think that the world would be more peaceful if you could do something more useful with your time. On another note, I think that comparing a manager who has led a team to become UEFA champions to one who has not achieved anything is unfair to the latter.”
Tang En was unfriendly to José Mourinho, but Mourinho was similarly unrelenting. While appearing to be sympathetic to Tony, who had been compared to a successful coach like him, he was in fact just mocking Tony Twain’s lack of achievements as a manager.
David Kerslake, who was in front of the television, glanced at Tang En as if keen on knowing his reaction. But Tang En did not do anything except to switch it off, telling Kerslake, “Alright, David. Let us keep researching Chelsea…”
Although Tony appeared calm, the media did not believe it. Before José Mourinho’s arrival in the UK, the media was hoping for Tony to help increase the sales of the newspapers. Later, after Mourinho came to England with his new-found fame as the manager of the champions of UEFA, he had momentarily attracted everyone’s attention. His loud-mouthed and showy character turned him into the media’s pet. Now that the two managers, both with extreme characters, had met, how could things be calm and tranquil without any incidents?
This was only the prelude to their war of words.
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The media’s assumptions were quite accurate. Tang En, of course, would not allow someone to look down on him. Not even if the person was a one-time UEFA Champion manager like José Mourinho, and not even if Tang En, as a football fan, liked the manager’s strong character. Now that they were opponents, he was not about to show his adoration.
Either way, what did Tang En have to adore José Mourinho for? In the past, it was because he was a football fan. Seeing a manager with an unusual character made him seem great. Now that Tang En himself had become quite a character of a manager, he did not need to look to anyone else. He could just adore himself.
On the second day before the match, when Tang En was accepting interviews from reporters, many raised the topic of José Mourinho’s remarks and wanted to hear Tony’s retaliation. He did not disappoint them. He knew that the reporters wanted to hear something sensational from him. At the same time, he was making use of them.
“Naturally, in the eyes of a manager of a UEFA Champions team, a mere EFL championship is as unremarkable as air. We have to understand the feelings of a Champion Manager, who has eaten such a luxurious dinner that he’s become contemptuous of a normal home-cooked meal. So, before the next feast, a Champion Manager would surely not have any plain food. I hope he won’t starve before getting to his second feast.”
Reporters who were interviewing José Mourinho mentioned this to him. Mourinho’s reply was exquisite. “Country bumpkins always think that nobles have great feasts. But to the nobles themselves, it really was just a home-cooked meal.”
The official match had not even begun, yet the managers from both sides were already locked in a tongue-lashing battle so intense it was white hot. This brought the watching media and public immense satisfaction. Clough’s passing was a sorrowful event for English football. But watching the two young managers go toe-to-toe with each other, the people felt they would not be bored, even with Clough’s departure.
On Lineker’s personal web column, he commented, “Even though the achievements of both managers cannot yet be compared with Brian Clough, their mouths are definitely giving off the vibe of Clough’s successors.”
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With Clough’s passing and popular opinion about the match being a contest between “Clough’s successors,” it grabbed the limelight in the current round of the Premier League. This was regardless of how unlikely it appeared, from the rankings, that the match between Chelsea, who was ranked second, and Forest who was ranked 13, would be a focal point.
Tang En felt that Clough’s departure would not be too impactful on the current Forest team. After all, his era was long ago, and numerous players in Forest had already been swapped out. On the current team, how many still retained a special affection for Clough? It was just like the record; players such as Gerard Piqué and Nicklas Bendtner did not even know about its existence.
So, just like the previous time, he did not make a big splash before the match talking about Clough’s contributions to Forest team or his achievements with them. Tang En believed that if the players were concerned about the team, they would already know what they had to know. He did not need to rehash the glory once attained by Forest again and again like a loud-mouthed gossip.
In City Ground’s locker room, the players sat in various spots, changing their clothes after their warm-up and awaiting the scheduled event; Tang En would always speak a few sentences to them before every match.
“So, recently, Forest team has had quite a lot going on. I’m sure you all know. But all of that has nothing to do with today’s match. I believe everyone understands that this is just like any usual league match. There’s no difference, except that our opponents are slightly stronger. But how much stronger can they be? Did Arsenal get an edge over us on our home ground?”
Eastwood shouted as he shook his head. “Of course not!”
“So, Chelsea’s fate will be the same. But I hope I don’t see last minute blunders happening again. If there must be blunders, I’d rather they come earlier. But are you guys planning to make any mistakes?
Everyone shook their heads.
“That’s right. No one wants to make a mistake, so buck up everybody! That Portuguese man is looking down at us. Do you know how he talked about us? ‘Country bumpkins’… pfft, country bumpkins! Hierro, is Real Madrid a team of country bumpkins?”
Hierro shook his head. “That’s impossible.”
“Demi, is AC Milan a team of country bumpkins?”
Albertini also shook his head. “No, sir.”
“Very good. I’ll admit that Chelsea, with their rich Russian boss, is much richer than we are. They look more like noble lords. But don’t forget who came from Nottingham: the great thief Robin Hood! If the Chelsea lords had simply stayed in their impenetrable Stamford Bridge castle like cowardly turtles, we wouldn’t have cared about them. Now that they’ve come knocking on our doors, they can’t blame us for not being polite. This is Nottingham, a forest filled with hidden danger. Let’s show Chelsea what we can do. Let them come, and never come back!”
