Chapter 239: The Entertainment Circle? No
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
On the afternoon after the match, several major media sources reported on the league match where Nottingham Forest, on their home ground, had welcomed Chelsea. It was not only because Forest team, who ranked 13, had beaten Chelsea who was ranked number two. It was also not due to Chelsea, who had previously won four matches and drawn two, getting its first taste of defeat. And it was most certainly not because of Denmark’s genius Nicklas Bendtner having made a stunning appearance, or Paulo Ferreira receiving a red card. In fact, the reason for the media reporting this match with such fanfare had absolutely nothing to do with the players from the team. It was because of the teams’ managers.
A half hour after the match ended, the official website of the English Premier League updated their homepage. They put up a picture that took up almost half of the screen; one that captured the scene of Mourinho and Tony Twain confronting each other on the sidelines. Below it was a simple caption:
Enemies.
An appropriate interpretation.
The evening program “Match of the Day,” during its live broadcast, even specially invited lip-reading specialists to help audiences decipher what the two managers had said during the confrontation. The results were mostly true to what had happened. After watching the exchange between the two generals, even the usually eloquent Lineker was without words. He seemed at a loss about how to comment on the two managers’ performances.
Of course, that was all just a gimmick. If Nottingham Forest wanted to gain a greater position in the League, it was not enough to depend on Tang En hopping up and down in a verbal war with the opposing manager. Forest needed to show off their capabilities, and the victory came at just the right time. Even though the audience would inevitably feel that Tang En’s words at the press conference were somewhat arrogant, Forest’s fans would be supporting Tony Twain more fervently than ever.
Old fans who still missed the era of Brian Clough and the new fans who had no experience but had heard the legend of Clough and his character countless times all declared that they had found the true successor of Brian Clough. It was not José Mourinho. It was Tony Twain, who continued to deny any intentions of becoming Clough’s successor. They could care less about how Tony saw it. They simply published their own expectations.
After the match had ended and Forest’s players had satisfied the signature requests from their fans, they boarded the bus. Tang En, who was last to exit, then walked out of the stadium. Amongst the cheering crowds along the way, he noticed a fan with a head of white hair. He looked like an old fan who must have experienced the period of Forest’s greatest glory. He stood next to the Forest team’s bus. Unlike the other Forest fans, who were dancing, singing, and jumping, he only stood there with a board in his hands. On it was written, Forget Robin Hood, Remember Clough. Now, we have a second Clough.
As Tang En passed by him, his attention turned to the words written on the board. He then raised his head and looked closely at the person. The old fan looked back at him without a word, asking for neither signature nor photograph. Tang En gently shook his head and turned to board the bus.
He knew of the hope that the fans had for him, but looking at such words, he still did not know what to say. Would he never be able to step out from under the shadow of Clough? No matter how successful he became in the future, others would only say, “Tony Twain is Brian Clough the Second!”
At the thought of this, Tang En smiled wryly. Even though the Boss looked well upon him, he was trying so hard to reduce the man’s influence on himself. It was an unexpected situation.
A characteristic manager?
He wasn’t trying to intentionally imitate the Boss’ style; he was just being himself.
Just ten minutes before Forest’s team bus left City Ground, Chelsea’s blue coach took off as well. Mourinho turned down all interview requests from the reporters. As the loser, he swiftly left with his team, all the while thinking about the ample time he had ahead of him to return the favor.
A BBC news reporter stood in the middle of City Ground square and said to the camera, “Although Brian Clough has left, he left us with a topic to ponder for a long time: who is his true successor? José Mourinho or Tony Twain? For a while, I believe that the contest between the two will be an indispensable part of the Premier League. It will definitely be entertaining…”
※※※
On the second day, the discussion of who would be Clough’s true successor continued. Naturally, Nottingham’s local media leaned towards Tony. London’s media, meanwhile, showed no interest in the moniker, but media from other areas seemed keen on joining in the fun. If only from their achievements, Mourinho indeed appeared to be closer to the title of one of England’s most successful managers.
Tang En had no interest in the debate and made no attempt to take the opportunity to update his column. This disappointed the owner of “Nottingham Evening Post.” It was such a hot topic, Twain surely could attract more readers to participate in the discussions. Newspaper sales would definitely be on the rise. It was too bad. The manager of the Evening Post could not do anything as he watched an opportunity slink away right under his nose.
He could not order around someone like Twain. The person who could do so was probably not born yet. Furthermore, when both parties signed the agreement, there were no stipulations for how often Tony would hand in articles; Tony had complete freedom.
The second day after the match was a day off for the team. The players had no training and plenty of time to rest at home or to go out with friends.
When Tang En woke up, he saw Dunn watching the videos again and frowned.
The weather was not especially sunny, but it still wasn’t right for Dunn to always stay at home without interacting with anyone. Moving closer, Tang En realized that Dunn was watching a recording of the Youth team’s match. In Tony’s time with the Youth team, he had not done any sort of match or training recordings. However, through occasional chats with Tang En after Dunn had joined the Youth Team, they discussed the reason behind Ajax’s high level of youth training: the recording of their trainings and review afterward. The discussion that day had inspired Tang En, who had then brought Dunn to find Evan. He suggested equipping the Youth Training Camp with more modern equipment to implement a modernized training model. Of course, Tang En did not forget to continually emphasize that the idea had come from the Chinese man beside him. Evan agreed to Tang En’s proposal, furthering the tradition of valuing youth training and bringing it to greater heights.
“Hey, Dunn. You’re such a shut-in. Stop hiding at home; go out with me!” Tang En stood behind Dunn and washed his face as he said this.
“A shut-in?” Dunn looked back at Tang En.
“You stayed in China for a while. Haven’t you heard that term?”
Tang En only responded when Dunn shook his head. The term “shut-in” had only become popularized in China in 2007; the term was less well-known in 2004.
“Oh. It refers to being overly obsessed with something and constantly staying at home without going out to interact with others. It isn’t a healthy way of living. Look at you; other than going to the training grounds to work, you’re always at home watching these videos.” Tang En pointed to the huge number of videotapes scattered all over the floor.
Before Dunn’s arrival, Tang En had always tried to maintain the cleanliness of the living room because Yang Yan would come for lessons. Now, the whole area had been overtaken by all sorts of recordings with various titles: Forest’s First Team match videos, Youth Team training and match videos, English Premier League match videos from various teams, UEFA Champions League match videos, UEFA Europa League match videos, and National team match videos. Any video he could possibly want could be found there. Even Tang En himself did not know where the surplus of videotapes had suddenly come from but found himself sighing at Dunn.
Dunn turned back to the screen and pressed the pause button. “What do you want to go out and buy?”
Tang En shrugged. “I’m not buying anything.”
“If you’re not buying anything, why do you want to go out?”
“You can’t go out if you’re not buying anything? We could go out to breathe in some fresh air, meet some new friends. Look at the sky outside, it’s so clear!” Tang En said, lying blatantly as he pointed to the grey skies outside the window.
Rather than complying and looking out the window, Dunn turned to the television screen. “That’s not part of the plan.”
Tang En strode in front of the television and switched off the power. “You’re always stuffing your life into a planner and following it to a tee. Haven’t you had enough of those days? If everything had to be planned, life would be missing a lot of surprises! Do you ever need to plan to go to the washroom? Let’s go, let’s go.”
At last, Tang En managed to successfully drag Dunn out of the house.
Tang En chattered happily as he stood at the door watching Dunn, who was just leaving the house. “There’s a saying in China: to balance between work and leisure. Did you know?”
Dunn ignored Tang En’s excitement. He squinted and asked, “Where are we going?”
“‘Somewhere lively,” Tang En said, spreading his arms.
※※※
George Wood was different from other boys. Not only did he enjoy shopping, he hardly ever slept in. On the afternoon of the second day after the match, while the other players were all still in bed and unwilling to get up, he was already out accompanying his mother shopping.
Due to Tang En’s connections with Professor Constantine, Forest had reached out to the Royal Hospital of Nottingham University to help with Sophia’s treatment. Over the past half year, she had undergone a major surgery and had since been in the adjustment and recovery stage. Tang En rarely went to disturb Sophia. He had only asked Constantine about her briefly and received scattered bits of news. Apparently, the results of the surgery were fine, although she still had to undergo a few others to continue the treatment.
Tang En knew very little about matters of medicine. Since Constantine had told him that Sophia’s health was slowly improving, his mind was set at ease. He was not willing to attend a third funeral in the UK.
Despite becoming Forest’s main defensive midfielder and performing more and more outstandingly with each match, Wood still had not learned how to be a celebrity. While accompanying his mother out to shop, he still dressed in the most ordinary of clothes and wore no sunglasses or a pulled-down cap. He wore the same clothes he always did.
The main defensive midfielder of Nottingham Forest seemed no different than any other ordinary kid. As a result, when he was recognized by Forest’s hardcore fans in the heart of downtown and got surrounded, He appeared lost and even nervous. He put himself in front of his mother, an instinct bred from having lived for a long time in areas with security concerns.
“Look, it’s Wood!”
“Wood! Wood!”
The more ardor the fans presented him with, the more nervous Wood got. Sophia, who was protected behind him, laughed at the scene. She gently rubbed his back and reminded her son softly, “Don’t worry, George. They’re only expressing their fondness for you. Smile. Smile at them.”
It was a little difficult to expect Wood to smile under the circumstances, but his body was not as stiff as it had once been. Some fans took out paper and pens in hopes of getting Wood to sign for them. With the reminder from his mother, Wood took the pen and wrote his name on the papers. Unlike other celebrities, his signature was not at all flashy. It was slightly lopsided and looked like it came from a small child who had just learned how to write.
But the fans did not care. They took Wood’s signature and left delightedly.
After he satisfied a few more such requests, the crowd surrounding Wood eventually dispersed. Wood’s forehead was covered in beads of sweat. Seeing this, Sophia dotingly wiped the fine beads away. “You have to get used to this, George. You’re a star now.”
Faced with his mother’s praise, George became slightly embarrassed.
At this moment, a well-dressed middle-aged man stepped in front of Wood. He first politely bowed to Sophia. Without knowing why Sophia returned the gesture. Following this, the gentleman turned to Wood, who was next to her, and beamed a smile wide enough to dazzle the females around him. He said, “Do you have any interest in joining the entertainment circle?”
If this had been asked to any girl or a handsome guy, they probably would have answered the question with eagerness. But for George Wood and his mother, their first reaction was to wonder if they had heard him wrong.
※※※
Tang En and Dunn walked along the lively streets, with the former feeling pretty good because of his win over Mourinho, while the latter thought that it was a waste of time to walk meaninglessly, aimlessly.
Tang En was the same as George Wood and did not like putting on a façade in public. So, even though he would still put on dark sunglasses and keep up a cool appearance at some places, he would not burden himself that way when he was out to play. As a result, he always ended up being recognized by someone. However, with Tang En’s supporters being older, they were not as fanatical as the younger fans, like Wood’s. At most, Tang En’s fans would wave and greet him. Tang En would just return the gesture.
It was just like two friends greeting each other when meeting on the streets.
“Look at this, Dunn. Isn’t this nice?” Tang En turned to say to him as he sent another Forest fan away. “Have you heard of ‘The Man in the Case?’ You’re almost becoming that. You need to communicate and interact with different people. Do you want to become an outstanding manager? This is an essential quality!”
In front of Dunn, Tang En would often ramble. Dunn was long used to it, so he just kept silent, neither disagreeing or agreeing. Tang En was also used to his silence and continued chattering away, figuring that it would somehow get into Dunn’s head.
As the saying goes, “many a little makes a mickle.”
Just as the chattering Twain and silent Dunn reached Victoria Shopping Mall, Tang En noticed a familiar figure in the crowd… No, it was two familiar figures: George Wood and Sophia. There was also another middle-aged man whom he did not initially notice, but who quickly attracted his attention.
Since their backs were to him, Tang En suddenly became very keen on eavesdropping on their conversation. He signaled to Dunn and crept up near to them.
Following that, he heard the man say to Wood, “Your appearance and demeanor are both very suitable for a career in the entertainment circle. Don’t you think you should consider it?”
So, it was a poacher!
“I’m afraid not, Sir.” Tang En could not help but interrupt, shocking Sophia.
“Mr. Tony!” Her voice was filled with surprise.
“Ma’am, I’m sorry I haven’t gone to visit you, but it seems like you’re recovering well.” Tang En smiled as he greeted her. Then, he stepped forward and stood between the man and Wood.
“If you are looking for some handsome dude to participate in reality TV, I advise you to change targets. He’s mine,” Tang En said as he pointed to Wood.
Wood frowned at his words but said nothing.
Seeing that someone had cut in, the middle-aged man looked at Tang En. After taking in his appearance, the man frowned as well and turned again to Wood. “Boy, I really think you have potential. You can try, or if not…”
Tang En, who was completely ignored, gnashed his teeth.
“Do you need me to remind you again, Sir? He’s mine.” Tang En moved and stood right in front of Wood. “He’s a main player for Nottingham Forest’s football team. He’s a professional football player, not some pretty boy. You’ve got the wrong guy.”
Now the middle-aged man had no way of ignoring Tang En. He said with a frown, “I don’t think being a football player means you can’t be a movie star or a model.”
“Perhaps others could; but with me, it can’t be done.”
The two started arguing.
“Maybe we should listen to what the boy thinks.” As if realizing how stubborn his opponent was, the man decided to bypass Tang En.
Tang En wanted to reply with, “I’m Wood’s manager. I have the authority to decide this.” But he thought better of it.
Wood should answer the question. He was interested to know what the kid thought about football.
Wood peeked at his mother, who was staring at Tang En, and then at Tang En himself. Finally, he shook his head at the middle-aged man.
“I like football.”
Hearing the reply from Wood behind him, Tang En finally smiled at the other man. “Alright, Sir. You have your answer.”
The man sighed. “What a pity… I’m sorry for disturbing you.” He even remembered to bid goodbye to Sophia with a, “Goodbye, Madam.”
On the other hand, Tang En waved and said, “No hurry; goodbye.”
He glared at Tang En and handed Wood a business card. “This is my card. If you change your mind, you’re welcome to come find me at any time, son.”
He watched Wood take the card from him before turning to leave. As he left, he made a point to say to Tang En, “I won’t give up.”
“That’s not up to you,” Tang En said, shrugging.
