Switch Mode

Godfather Of Champions Chapter 267

Chapter 267: The New Goalkeeper Part 2

Chapter 267: The New Goalkeeper Part 2

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

After analyzing the situation, Fulham F.C. agreed to discuss terms with the Forest team regarding Edwin van der Sar. When Forest first offered 2 million pounds, Fulham turned it down without a thought. They felt that if Forest team was truly hoping to acquire Edwin van der Sar, they should at least show enough sincerity.

As such, Forest team upped the offer to 2.5 million. This time, Fulham hesitated for a while and made no prompt reply.

As they were hesitating, the Nottingham Evening Post published an interview article with Tang En. In the article, Tang En spoke of matters relating to the football team, one of which was their issue with the goalkeeper. While he did not deny the discussion with Fulham F.C., he still made no confirmation of Edwin van der Sar’s transferral. Regarding goalkeepers, he made mention of Frey in Parma and expressed his admiration for a goalkeeper like him. Thinking of the goals lost by Forest and Parma’s recent financial situation, everyone thought Tony Twain must be interested in Frey and hoping to bring him to England.

Forest’s and Manchester United’s expansive hunt for a goalkeeper was no longer news; Forest’s goal losses in the first half of the season were ranked at the top. Everyone could tell that Darren Ward was done.

After lengthy consideration, Fulham finally agreed to Forest’s offer of 2.5 million pounds. Now, Tang En could directly discuss terms with Edwin van der Sar.

Before this half of the season, Forest had held almost no allure for Edwin van der Sar. But the situation had taken a turn. Nottingham Forest successfully entered the knock-out phase of the UEFA Europa League and was in the top ranks of the English Premier League. Other than losing to Liverpool, Forest had the upper-hand practically whenever they played against a strong team. They exhibited abilities that were completely mismatched with their identity as a newly promoted team. Edwin van der Sar was an intelligent man. While there was not even a glimpse of a shadow of the promise with Manchester United, this was a real opportunity in front of him. He had long been eager to leave Fulham F.C, which was half-dead. Nearing the end of his professional career, wasn’t it good that he could still join a club that aspired to something?

He did not know that after the summer transferral next year to Manchester United, he would not only help Manchester United win a league championship but would also become one of the most stable players in Manchester United.

Forest promised no adjustment to his salary and would maintain it at a weekly fee of 40 thousand. There were also additional rewards should he perform well. His contract would span two and a half years, and thereafter they would decide if the contract should be renewed after a review of his condition. After all, Edwin van der Sar would be 36 in two years, and no one knew how well he could still perform at that point.

Edwin van der Sar was extremely satisfied with the contract and signed it.

Before Christmas, the official website of Nottingham Forest and numerous media sources reported that the Dutch goalkeeper from Fulham F.C., Edwin van der Sar, had signed a contract with Forest team. The contract would take effect on January 1, 2005, until June 30, 2007. Concrete details of the salary were not publicised.

Tang En was delighted about Edwin van der Sar’s final decision to join Forest. To him, although the Dutch veteran was not part of the plan for Forest, his arrival enabled Forest to pass through the next two years with some stability. With this time, Tang En could continue to unearth young and promising goalies in the transfer market. Furthermore, Forest’s defensive line also needed Edwin van der Sar’s experience. Hierro was already 36 years old. With his age and affected health, he would not get many chances to be fielded.

The goalkeeper was a position that would not be easily changed once it stabilized. Tang En felt at ease with Edwin van der Sar directing defense at the back.

Once again, Tony Twain successfully snatched a coveted player right from under Alex Ferguson’s nose. It seemed that the feud between the two would only get bigger and bigger. After snatching away the supposed main goalkeeper for Manchester United, who would they pick in the future to re-enact their glory?

Tang En could not find the answer. On another note, Tang En had no way of knowing the expression on Sir Ferguson’s face after hearing news of Edwin van der Sar getting stolen by Forest.

Secretly, Tang En did not think there would be any statements such as, “I greatly admire him” appearing between him and such a legend of a manager within the English Premier League.

Why so? It was not that Ferguson looked down on Tang En, or that Tang En was a snob. It was because, in the future, they would become each other’s most ferocious opponents.

※※※

Before Christmas, the League matches reached the 18th round. With seven wins, six draws, and five losses, Nottingham Forest was ranked eighth with a total of 27 points. At their best, they were ranked fourth. If not for their streak of lost goals in their recent league matches, they could have sat steadily at rank five.

Tang En was saddened by their two-match losing streak to teams whose abilities were only low to middle tier. Now that they have signed on Edwin van der Sar, he hoped it could change Forest’s terrible ball-loss count.

The League’s 19th round of matches was held on December 26. Nottingham Forest, who had lost two matches in a row, would be on their home ground welcoming the fight against Southampton, who was ranked second from the bottom. This was a great chance for the team to break out of their lull.

The day before the match, the team only trained for half a day. Tang En only remembered that it was Christmas when he saw another Christmas tree being put up in the living room of Building One and the presents piled up beneath it.

Another year had passed in a blink of an eye.

He stood beneath the tree watching the players engrossed in searching for packages with their names. Everything felt so familiar. Other than having changed a few people, it was no different from a year ago.

When he spotted Wood not participating in the fun but walking towards him, he immediately knew something was going on.

“Merry Christmas, George.”

“Merry Christmas, Sir.”

“How’s your mother feeling?”

“Good. She asked me to invite the both of you for dinner tonight at our place.” As Wood said that he looked around him, seemingly somewhat embarrassed.

“Both of us?”

“You and that…” Wood frowned as he recalled, and continued. “Dunn, the Chinese guy.”

Tang En scratched his head. He had forgotten about Dunn… Was his subconscious hoping that there wouldn’t be a third wheel? There was no way he could know.

“Sure. When training is over, we can go over to the Youth Training Grounds. I have to go call him.”

Wood nodded at him but made no move to leave. Instead, he dug out a small box from his coat and thrust it into Tang En’s hands. He then turned to return to the Christmas tree in search of his own present.

Tang En tore off the wrapper. A shiny ZIPPO lighter sat in the box. It was not a particularly valuable gift. But a small greeting card lay beneath the lighter, and on it was scrawled,

“Thank you. Merry Christmas.”

Tang En smiled.

Godfather Of Champions

Godfather Of Champions

冠军教父
Score 8.3
Status: Completed Type: Author: , Released: 2007 Native Language: Chinese
This is a story about the pursuit of victory. — “I subscribe only to the theory of victory. I only pursue victory. As long as I am able to obtain victory, I don’t care if it’s total football or counterattack. What is the ultimate goal of professional soccer? In my opinion, it is victory, and the pinnacle of victory is to become the champions. I am a manager. If I don’t wish to lose my job or be forgotten by the people, there’s only one path for me to take, and that is to lead the team in obtaining victories, in obtaining championship titles!” The main character was not well-liked by people. — “⋯We conducted a survey which had been deemed by Manager Tony Twain as extremely meaningless. In a random street survey conducted, ninety-three percent of those surveyed chose the option ‘I hate Tony Twain’, while only seven percent chose the option ‘This person is rather decent, I like him’. It is worth noting that nobody chose the option ‘Who is Tony Twain? I don’t know him’. Mark, do you know why Manager Twain felt that our survey was very meaningless?” Parker, a reporter from laughed loudly and said when he was being interviewed by BBC. But there were also people who were madly in love with him. — When Tony Twain was forced to talk about the survey conducted by during an interview, his reply was : “I am happy, because Nottingham Forest’s fans make up seven percent of England’s population.” And he did not seem to care about how the others saw him. — “What are you all trying to make me say? Admit that I am not popular, and everywhere I go will be filled with jeers and middle fingers. You all think I will be afraid? Wrong! Because I am able to bring victory to my team and its supporters. I don’t care how many people hate me and can’t wait to kill me, and I also won’t change myself to accommodate the mood of these losers. You want to improve your mood? Very simple, come and defeat me.” His love story had garnered widespread attention. — “Our reporters took these pictures at Manager Tony Twain’s doorsteps. It clearly shows that Shania entered his house at 8.34pm and she did not leave the house throughout the night at all. But Manager Tony Twain firmly denies, and insists that that was merely the newest-model inflatable doll which he had ordered. He was the number one star of the team. — “⋯ Became the spokesperson of world-wide famous clothing brands, shot advertisements, frequented the fashion industry’s award ceremonies, endorsed electronic games, has a supermodel girlfriend. His earnings from advertisements exceed his club salary by seventeen times, owns a special column in various print medias, publishing his autobiography (in progress), and is even said that he is planning to shoot an inspirational film based off his own person experiences! Who can tell me which part of his life experiences is worthy of being called ‘inspirational’? Hold on⋯. Are you all thinking that I’m referring to David Beckham? You’re sorely mistaken! I’m talking about Manager Tony Twain⋯.” He was very knowledgeable about Chinese soccer. — “⋯ I’ve heard about it, that Bora gifted four books to his manager Mr. Zhu before your country’s national team’s warm up match. After which, the team lost 1:3 to a nameless American team from Major League Soccer. The new excuse that Mr. Zhu gave for losing the match, was that Bora gifted “books” (‘books’ and ‘lose’ are homophones in the Chinese language). Here, I recommend that you guys find out what that one specific book is. Which book? Of course the one that caused you all to score a goal. After that, tell me the title of the book. Before every match, I will gift ten copies of that same book to you. In that case, won’t you all be able to get a triumphant 10:0 win over your opponents every time?” An excerpt taken from Tony Twain’s special column in a certain famous Chinese sports newspaper. He was loved and hated by the press. — “He has a special column in at least four renowned print media, and he is able to get a considerable amount of remuneration just by scolding people or writing a few hundred words of nonsense weekly. While we have to contemplate hard about our drafts for three days before our boss is pleased with it. In an article inside his special column, he scolded and called all of the media ‘son of a bitch’, announcing that he hated the media the most. But every time he publishes an article, we flock towards him like flies which had spotted butter. Why? Because the readers like to read his news and see him scold people. I dare to bet with you, and Manager Tony Twain knows clearly in his heart as well, that even though he says that he hates us, he knows that the present him cannot do without us. Similarly, we also cannot do without him. Is this ultimately considered a good or a bad thing?” Bruce Pearce, a reporter from said with a face of helplessness when talking about Tony Twain. But no matter the case, his players were his most loyal believers. — Gareth Bale, “No no, we never had any pressure when playing on our home grounds. Because the pressure is all on the manager. As long as we see him standing by the side of the field, all of us will feel that we will be able to win that match. Even the football hooligans are like meek lambs in front of him!” (After saying this, he began to laugh out loudly) The reply from George Wood, the team captain of Nottingham Forest, was the most straightforward. “We follow him because he can bring us victory.” The legendary experience of Tony Twain, the richest, most successful, most controversial manager with the most unique personality! Debuting this summer. Thank you for reading.

Comment

0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
3000


0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

Options

not work with dark mode
Reset