Chapter 125: Press Conference Part 2
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
In English, “justice” can refer to the quality of being fair and reasonable, or the judge of a country’s Supreme Court. The judge who represents justice had ironically personally closed the door to justice for the family members of the deceased.
And the souls of the 96 Liverpool fans shall never get the chance for their grievances to be redressed. Until now, they had been labelled as “football hooligans”, hovering in between Heaven and Hell. They are unable to enter the gates of Heaven, but they are also unwilling to enter Hell and be tortured.
Later, the furious Scousers launched boycott activities against The Sun, and those activities were still going on. It was not unusual to see Liverpool fans raising posters high up in the air, with the following words written beneath a bloodied The Sun logo:
The truth is that 96 people died in the 1989 Hillsborough tragedy! For the deceased, don’t buy The Sun’s newspapers!
Until now, The Sun newspapers’ circulation in Liverpool remained at a meagre 10,000 copies, which was 200,000 copies less compared to before the Hillsborough tragedy took place.
To the powerless Liverpool fans, this was their only means of fighting back given that they were not even able to obtain support from the law. However, this means of fighting back remained powerless and insignificant in the face of the watchful eyes of the police, judges, lawyers, and English government.
After understanding that background, one would be able to understand why the media paid so much more attention to the viewing platforms instead of the field.
Ever since Thatcher’s indiscriminate, ironfisted policies, football hooliganism appeared to have left the masses’ fields of vision. The media reported mostly about the tabloids of football stars and managers, but the match from yesterday caused the paparazzi all over England to become excited once again.
Yes, football hooligans were back! Football violence was back! The thing that allowed us to draw the attention of the masses was back!
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With a whooshing sound, Tang En threw the newspapers in his hands out. He had originally thought that things would end just like that, and let the past remain as the past. He did not expect that…
After experiencing the Hillsborough tragedy, the English media displayed much more restraint. This time, most of them felt that the Millwall fans were the ones at fault. At first, a group of extremist Millwall fans began singing mocking songs about the deceased young football fan, Gavin Bernard, who had died as a result of a fight that broke out between football fans. Then, the song began to spread and raise discontentment amongst the Nottingham Forest fans, which caused the clash during the match.
Fundamentally, Tang En felt that this was still considered a just report from an objective point of view, as it did not label the Forest fans that were forced to retaliate as “football hooligans.”
However, Millwall FC Chairman’s words made Tang En extremely furious.
“…I am enraged by those who say that the Nottingham fans only clashed with the police after being provoked by our fans. I witnessed with my eyes that the Nottingham fans were the ones who incited the fight this time. They tried to rush on the field and threw the plastic seats, which they tore off, onto the field…” This was what Millwall FC Chairman Theo Paphitis said when he was interviewed by the reporters.
“I was directing the match at the time, and could not possibly notice what happened on the viewing platforms. No coach would focus his attention on something unrelated to the match. However, I heard about the incident afterwards, and I feel that this incident was not caused by the Millwall fans, but instead by a group of ruffians from Nottingham! Therefore, the ones who should shoulder the responsibility should be them and not us!” This was what Millwall FC Manager Alan McLeary said in an interview with a reporter from The Sun.
The riot which took place this time at New Den Stadium resulted in 13 people injured. Five Millwall and two Nottingham fans were arrested by the police. In addition, a total of 88 seats sustained damages of varying degrees, and there were several policemen who suffered light injuries as well. It was considered one of the largest-scale fan riots to take place in an English stadium in recent years. The largest-scale fan riot that took place outside of the stadium would have to be the riot which took place on the 7th of June in the previous year, when the Millwall fans rioted after Millwall FC was defeated in the playoffs.
For the Millwall chairman and manager to say something like this with various media paying close attention to the incident, it was no different from trying to shift the blame to Nottingham Forest.
Tang En personally already disliked Millwall as a club, and his hatred for it only grew after this incident.
He decided to break the silence and give those shameless people a sound slap on their cheeks.
Therefore, he took a piece of paper and decided to write an open letter before tasking it to Pierce Brosnan to help him publish it in the newspapers. The feeling of having to suppress one’s words inside the heart was too unbearable. Luckily, he had a reporter friend who he was on relatively good terms with.
Just as Tang En finished writing the first word, he received a call from Doughty.
“Tony, can you come to City Ground Stadium?”
“What’s the matter? I’m currently…” Tang En looked at the open letter, which he had only begun to write, and was about to ask if it was something urgent. If it wasn’t, then he would decline.
“Regarding the fans rioting incident which took place yesterday, I intend to hold a press conference under the name of the club. Come… I know you must want to scold that bunch of b*stards. Now, I’m giving you a chance to scold them in front of the whole of England!” Doughty said fiercely.
Tang En was overjoyed. “You really know me well, Edward! I’ll head there right now!”
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Fifteen minutes later, Tang En appeared in Doughty’s office located inside City Ground Stadium. When he was invited into the room by Ms. Barbara Lucy, Doughty was standing in front of the windows with his back facing the door as he looked at countless reporters rushing toward the gate.
Mr. Doughty, Mr. Twain is here.”
Doughty turned around and smiled at Lucy. “Thank you, Ms. Lucy.”
Ms. Lucy poured a drink for Tang En before leaving the room promptly.
Tang En’s eyes followed Ms. Lucy’s shaking butt until it exited the room, before turning around. He saw Doughty staring at him and laughing, and therefore scratched his head embarrassingly. Tang En explained awkwardly, “Erm… your new secretary is not, not too bad…”
“That is not a new secretary. Ms. Lucy followed me here from America and has always been my personal secretary. She and Allan are both people who I can completely trust.”
“Mhmm, I know. Then what about me?” Tang En was very intrigued by Doughty’s last sentence, and decided to ask.
“You too, Tony. Although we’ve only known each other for a short time, but I like your straightforward personality a lot.” Doughty sat casually on one corner of the table. This kind of situation was something that would never been seen during his father Nigel Doughty’s time as the club chairman.
“Hey, when you told me I wasn’t in your plan, I really thought that I had been abandoned.” Tang En shook his head lightly. “Did you know? At that time, I had at least three club’s telephone numbers in my pocket, and I could have left whenever I wanted.”
Doughty nodded his head, signaling that he knew. “That’s why I always had a question. Tony, what made you ultimately decide to stay in this club where you were unable to see your future, even if it meant going back to the youth team to coach?”
This question made Tang En silent for a while. After which, he replied softly, “Doughty, when I was deciding between whether I should leave or stay, I hesitated for a very long time. Many people helped me directly and indirectly, for instance… Boss Clough took me to the managers’ cocktail party to gain exposure. There, I met countless successful and unsuccessful managers, and it was as though I had entered a completely different world from before. He even told me that failure is only temporary. After that I went to the youth training grounds and amidst the empty compounds, I saw George Wood—the genius who I found in the slums that day—he was practicing some basic techniques alone in the training field, striving hard toward his dream of becoming a football star. After that, I paid a visit to Gavin’s grave.”
Hearing Tang En say this, Doughty no longer sat on the table casually with his body slanted. He got off and listened to Tang En while standing in front of the table.
“I met Michael there, and he told me that he wanted to return to America. His wife was unable to bear the pain of staying here, haunted by her longing for their son. Hence, they wanted to migrate to a country where there was no football. I did not try to persuade him, because his family and life are more important than football. He knew that I might leave, so he said…”
Tang En continued speaking slowly and softly, as though he had once again returned to that fateful afternoon. In front of Gavin’s tombstone, Michael patted Tang En’s shoulders and said, “… Brian Clough came to this team on the 3rd of January, while you, Tony Twain came here on the 1st of January with a difference of two days. What a pity, perhaps we have all missed a legendary tale.”
“He left after that, while I remained in the empty cemetery alone. Even though Michael compared me to Clough, I still did not make up my mind to stay. Until I saw a line of words carved on Gavin’s tombstone. The words were extremely small and had been neglected by me all the while. Do you want to know what was written on it?”
Doughty nodded his head.
“Written on it was: The person resting here is Michael Bernard and Fiona Bernard’s deeply loved son, Nottingham Forest’s most loyal fan, George Wood’s number one supporter forever—Gavin Bernard.”
Tang En did not continue, and Doughty also fell into silence.
He knew of the incident between Tang En and Michael. Michael Bernard was a famous person amongst the football fans of that district, and everyone knew that he had a smart and lovable son. Doughty also felt sorry for Gavin’s death. Otherwise, why would he have thought of holding a press conference today, in order to refute Millwall’s groundless claims?
But he had not expected that young child would hold such an important position in Tony Twain’s heart. Looks like he did the right thing by calling him over.
Doughty coughed and said, “Alright, I think it’s almost time. Let’s go down…”
The silence in the office room was finally shattered, waking Tang En from his deep thought. He raised his head and looked at Doughty, before frowning and standing up.
“Erm, Tony,” Doughty reminded him. “Do you need to prepare the script for your speech? I had Ms. Lucy draft up a copy for you beforehand…”
Tang En shook his head and declined his goodwill respectfully. “Thank you, Edward, but there’s no need for it. I’ve never heard of someone using a script when scolding people.” After that, Tang En pushed open the office door and walked out.
