Chapter 226: The Chief Part 2
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The Chief’s dead? How can that be? Back in May, we were still drinking and chatting… how can he die just like that?
He was roused by the whistle, looked at the team still in training, and walked over.
“David.” He waved to his assistant manager.
Kerslake ran over. “Tony, what did Mr. Chairman want you for?”
Twain did not answer Kerslake’s question. He just looked at his assistant manager and looked at the players, who were still in training and knew nothing. His eyes were unfocused.
Kerslake noticed that his partner was acting abnormally. He followed Twain’s gaze and turned his head. The training was progressing normally.
“Tony, what’s the matter with you?”
“Uh… David, tomorrow… tomorrow’s training, you’ll be in charge. I won’t be here.”
“What happened, Tony?” asked Kerslake; he sensed that something strange was going on.
“I’m going to attend a private funeral, and I think I have to go.”
“A funeral? Whose?”
“The Chief… the Chief’s funeral.”
When he heard Twain said this, Kerslake also froze.
※※※
Just an hour later, with the help of an advanced Internet and television news network, the news of Manager Brian Clough’s death spread throughout the United Kingdom.
Pierce Brosnan stood in the midst of the crowd, surrounded by fellow journalists. The Derby City General Hospital had just finished the press conference, and now the scene was slightly hectic. At the press conference, in addition to releasing a statement on Clough’s cause of death, a spokesman for Derby City General Hospital praised the hospitals work on behalf of Mrs. Barbara Clough. “She is very grateful to all the doctors, nurses, and hospital personnel for their work and accompanying Clough in his last moments.”
But these were not the things that the reporters were concerned about.
Clough’s recent bad health was not news. A year ago, he had undergone a liver transplant surgery and was hospitalized numerous times. But no one had thought that this time, it would really be farewell.
“…He was diagnosed with stomach cancer after his liver transplant surgery, but he had refused to operate. We did not know what Mr. Clough’s thoughts were. He is still one of the most special characters in English football. He did a lot of things, and said a lot of things, which were difficult for people to understand. But his position here was never in doubt, and now it’s a pity that he has left us forever…”
The BBC reporter next to Brosnan was holding a microphone and doing live coverage in front of the camera.
James Robson, the leading reporter who had come with Pierce Brosnan, gave him a pat and said, “Let’s go, there’s nothing to look at here.”
“Where are we going?” Brosnan asked.
“To go back and write the report.”
“But we didn’t get anything worthwhile from the interview…”
“Do you think you’re going to get anything valuable from the interview? It won’t be just us, the entire English media will be the same. Go back and watch the Forest team’s match videos to find previous news reports related to Clough, and then write his memoir.” Robson shrugged. “When he was still alive, he was a man who liked to be in the spotlight. Now that he’s dead, he’s still in the limelight. The only thing that’s really valuable here is Brian Clough, the founder of the Nottingham Forest Dynasty, the legendary figure of English football, whom many people liked. Many people also wished was dead, and well, now he finally died.”
Robson looked at Brosnan and said, “You’re surprised that I said that, aren’t you? Lad, when I was a young man like you, my first interview task was to go to the City Ground to cover the news on Brian Clough as the newly appointed manager of the Forest team. If you had seen how he led the Forest team to the top like I did, and how he constantly set himself against the press, you would understand how I feel about him.”
The two men walked towards the parking lot and got into the car. Then Robson started the car and slowly drove away from the chaotic scene at the hospital gate.
“Pierce, have you figured out how to sum up his life? Only one word is allowed.”
Robson and Brosnan continued their conversation during their drive.
“Well… I thought maybe he was a great manager? or successful… legendary…”
Robson shook his head at every word Brosnan had said.
“I can’t think of anything else.” Brosnan gave up.
“You know, Pierce, at your current age, standing from where you are now in your life, looking at Clough will make you feel like he’s a very successful and admirable manager. However, the people of our time will not see it that way. To the later generations, he may be a god, but to us old guys, he was just a man. So, if it were me, I’d choose the word remarkable.”
“Remarkable?”
“Yes.” Robson nodded. “He was definitely not the greatest or the most successful manager in the history of English football, but he was definitely the most remarkable one, and could not be copied.”
When he heard his senior colleague evaluate Brian Clough that way, Brosnan suddenly thought of Tony Twain. He always felt there were many similarities between the two men.
“As compared to him, Mourinho and Tony Twain are just another style of manager. No one can emulate Brian Clough, no one,” Robson muttered, as though he had guessed Brosnan’s thoughts.
The car drove past the Derby County Football Club’s home, Pride Park Stadium. There were already a lot of mourning fans gathered outside the stadium. These people were the old fans of Derby County. They still remembered the legendary experience of how Clough led Derby County, a team that was never favored, to become the champions of the England Football League First Division.
But because Clough had once coerced the club to give in by using underhanded means of inciting the fans to go out on the streets to protest and so on, the relationship between the old man and the Derby County Football Club had not been very good.
Through the corner of the car window, something seemed to be fluttering that attracted Brosnan’s attention. He turned his head to the side and looked, only to discover that it was the Derby County Football Club flag, which was always hanging high on the top of the flagpole and not easy to see. Today, however, the Derby County Football Club flew its flag at half-mast for the coach, and his lifetime of endless controversy.
He was indeed a “remarkable,” larger than life figure.
