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Godfather Of Champions Chapter 392

Chapter 392 - Keane, The Man Part 1

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

When Roy Keane appeared again in the Nottingham Forest training base in Wilford to train alone, the newspapers reported that he had missed his appointment with Real Madrid.

The reports said that he had even passed his medical examinations and that when both parties were ready to sign the contract, Roy Keane had suddenly chosen to reject the transfer and leave Madrid.

No one knew why he had left. Some people speculated that it was due to the contract period. There were also some who speculated that Roy Keane felt tired of the many factions in the Real Madrid locker room. Some people also thought it was for familial reasons.

Twain, perhaps currently the closest person to Keane, did not ask him the reason. It was a relatively private matter which was inconvenient for him to inquire about. He was not an intrusive reporter.

The players were also surprised at Keane’s return. However, all of them restrained their inner curiosity. No one asked about the story behind his missed appointment with Real Madrid.

Michael Kennedy had been gone for days. He became busier after his return from Madrid. He flew to places all the time, searching for the right team for Keane. With such an agent, it was no wonder that he could accompany Keane on his journey to become a world-class superstar from being a nobody. His actions had changed some of Twain’s prejudices towards agents.

During this period, Twain did not become idle just to focus on Keane. His team played three rounds in the league tournament. On the 11th, they challenged Manchester United in an away game and the teams tied at 1:1 for the match. When the two managers had a drink together after the game, Ferguson specially thanked Twain for providing his training base at no cost for Keane to use.

On the 14th, the Forest team went away to play a make-up match in the third round of the league tournament. Their opponent was West Ham United. The outcome of the game was that Twain’s team defeated “The Hammers” by 3:1.

On the 17th, Nottingham Forest scored a massive victory of 4:0 over Charlton at home. After seventeen rounds of competition, they had accumulated thirty-nine points and ranked second in the league. They had a four-point gap from Chelsea, who was in first place.

And Wigan Athletic, the biggest dark horse for the first half of the season, seemed to shed the image of a dark horse. They encountered a succession of strong teams before Christmas and lost repeatedly. They slipped from third to sixth place in the league. Manchester United and Liverpool were catching up with thirty-seven points and thirty-one points, being in third and fourth place respectively. Arsenal was not doing very well. Being one game short, they only had twenty-six points and were ranked eighth.

Keane was present when Twain laid out specific tactics a few days before the games, excluding the match against Manchester United. He deliberately avoided the pre-match tactical training for the game with Manchester United. On that day, he gave himself a day off and went shopping in the city center.

A draw was the best outcome for Roy Keane, who was training at the Forest team’s Wilford training base.

Two days after his return from Madrid, Twain returned to his office to pack up and prepare to go home at the end of a day’s training.

Someone knocked at the door.

“Come in.”

Twain was not surprised to see Keane enter through the door.

“I’ve come to say goodbye to you.”

“Are you going home for Christmas?”

“Yes, in a way. But I’m not coming back after.”

Twain was somewhat surprised. He looked up at the Irishman.

“The Celtics are very interested in me and they sent me an offer.”

“The team from the Scottish Premiership?”

Keane nodded his head. “That’s the team I’ve loved since I was a kid. I want to spend the last days of my career there.”

Hearing Keane say that, Twain was quiet for a while. Perhaps it was because he had still kept a tiny bit of hope in his heart that Keane would decide to stay after spending some time with him. He was a little disappointed.

“Well, I wish you all the best, Roy.”

Keane cleared his throat. “I know it’s no use talking about it now, but I want to tell you this before I leave: I was going to approach you first to discuss a contract with Forest if the Celtic team hadn’t intervened.”

Twain looked at Keane.

“I admit that I became fond of this team from our interactions over these past few days. I’ve told you this. I actually didn’t have any feelings for the Forest team. Nottingham Forest was only special for me because of Manager Clough.”

“When I came here, Clough’s team was already in decline. I could feel the end coming. The locker room was filled with complaints. Everyone wanted to leave the club and find another way. I was the same. I thought that I could attract the notice of bigger clubs with my performance on the Forest team. It turned out that I was right. I went to Manchester United later.”

“After Clough left Forest, Nottingham Forest was no different to me from the hundreds of other professional teams in England. Well… now I’ve changed my mind. I like the current Nottingham Forest team. It’s completely different from what I had in mind. Totally different.”

Keane shook his head.

“I heard a lot of comments about you in Nottingham. It’s really a pity that I didn’t hear anything bad.” The Irishman laughed and said, “Michael and I had a serious discussion. We talked about what would happen if I played for you. Our conclusion was so good that I almost chose you. Unfortunately, the Celtics came in at the last second. When the team that I’ve loved and supported since I was young wanted me to play for them, I couldn’t refuse. It has nothing to do with money or honor. I just like the team. I want to be able to put on that jersey before the end of my career. Only then will I feel that my career as a footballer is complete and have no regrets.”

At that point, Twain sighed. “I understand. What else can I say? I can only say, I wish you all the best, Roy.”

Keane saw Twain’s expression and smiled. “Well, thank you, Mr. Twain. Before, I said I wanted to be a manager after I hung up my boots because I was influenced by two managers. Now I’m going to change that. I’ve been influenced by three managers. But I’m not going to say the name of the third person, I don’t want him to be too pleased with himself.”

Twain came up and extended his hand. “Hopefully someday, we’ll meet on the sidelines of a game again. Better be careful. I won’t show any mercy.”

Keane also put his hand out. “I’ve never been kind to my rivals.”

The two men tightly clasped hands.

※※※

Michael Kennedy, Roy Keane’s agent, waited for Keane to come out of the building in the parking lot.

“We’ll fly to Glasgow tomorrow and talk to them…”

Keane vetoed the plan. “We’ll wait another day before we tell them.”

Kennedy was a little puzzled. “Is there anything else left to do here?”

Keane looked back at the training ground in the twilight, “I forgot one thing. I’ll have to come again tomorrow.” Then he opened the car door and went in.

“Let’s go, Michael.”

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.

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