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Godfather Of Champions Chapter 69

Chapter 69: Manager Vs. Manager Part 2

Chapter 69: Manager Vs. Manager Part 2

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

“GOAL! GOAL! GOAL!” John Motson repeatedly shouted the word three times, each time louder than the previous. “What a beautiful set piece play combination! Who would have thought that Reid would send the ball into the penalty area in this manner, and who would have thought that the person to score this goal would be David Johnson! God, he is only 1.68 meters! Scoring with a place kick! Beautifully done!” On the last two sentences Motson looked at Lawrenson sitting beside him.

Lawrenson could only helplessly smile. “Indeed very beautiful. I’ve overlooked this point. In terms of place kick, Twain has spent a lot of effort. However, the match has not ended yet. John, the beard is still on my face.”

Motson laughed. “Don’t speak too soon, Mark. Forest’s offense won’t end here!”

The excited shouts of the fans resounded throughout Forest Bar. “That’s right! Our offense hasn’t ended! Scoundrels from Sheffield United, be prepared for a world of pain!”

Burns looked at the excited fans and smiled at the big guy, John, beside him. Then, the two of them clinked their glasses together.

Motson was right. Forest’s offense had not ended. Seven minutes after the first goal, at the 24th minute, Nottingham Forest once again made use of a place kick score. This time, the goal was scored by the team captain, Michael Dawson. For the corner kick, Andy Reid kicked the ball straight toward the front of the goalpost. Even though there were still two Sheffield United defenders beside him, Dawson was still heads above them, smashing the ball into the goalpost.

“2:0! 2:0! Michael Dawson! He possesses all the necessary qualities to become an exceptional player, and he is the team captain of Nottingham Forest! He is Robin Hood!” Motson could not stop praising the young Dawson. “This small forest is bound to be unable to contain him. He will definitely become an important player on a prestigious football team. He is a very important player! Hey Mark, your beard…”

Lawrenson was no longer in the mood to banter with Motson. He kept touching his big beard as he stared at Tang En. Tang En first knelt on the ground and waved his fists, before rushing over to the players who were still celebrating. Even though the person who scored was undoubtedly Michael Dawson, Tang En the manager appeared to be much more excited than Dawson.

Perhaps Motson was right. Tony Twain was unpredictable… really unpredictable!

Bramall Lane Stadium slowly quieted down, and only the Forest fans were singing nonstop on the viewing platform. Nobody could have expected that Nottingham Forest would actually be able to take the lead in the away match, leading Sheffield United with a score of 2:0.

Tang En was currently in an extremely good mood, although it was only halfway through the first half of the match, and there was still a huge bulk of match time remaining. After that they still had the grand finals to play. However, it was as though he had already seen the doors to the English Premier League slowly opening. Behind those doors, was an even more flourishing and broad world.

Compared to the excited Tang En, Sheffield United’s manager was silent. He walked back to the manager’s seat from the side of the field, before sitting down to observe the match without making any adjustments in response to the 2:0 score. From Tang En’s perspective, he was displaying obvious signs that he was losing.

For the rest of the first half of the match, after taking the lead with two goals, Nottingham Forest deliberately intended to slow down the tempo. Therefore, the match returned to the same state as the first 15 minutes of the match. Both sides began their tug-of-war in the center of the field.

Until the referee blew the whistle that signaled the end of the first half, Warnock did not stand up from his seat. After the whistle sounded, he stood up and headed straight for the changing room, without any expression on his face.

On the other side, after Tang En heard the sound of the whistle, he immediately stood up and did a high-five with Walker, before he happily walked to the changing room. His tactics had all been realized, despite being in such an unfavorable situation as the away team. As such, he could not have asked for anything more from the team.

Tang En had originally wanted to tell everyone that Ian Bowyer was going to leave the team after the playoffs. However, after much thought about, he had decided not to disrupt their battle-focused hearts. In case the finals match did not go smoothly, it would then be brought up to raise their morale.

Turning off the microphone, Motson pointed toward Lawrenson’s beard and laughed. “Mark, do you like electronic or manual razors?”

During halftime, regardless of whether they were in Bramall Lane Stadium’s changing room or Nottingham’s, which were about 30 miles apart, both Nottingham Forest’s players and fans were extremely relaxed. To be able to get a score of 2:0 by halftime in their away match… this kind of score was more than enough to make them heave a sigh of relief.

During halftime, there were even people who already started discussing Nottingham Forest’s opponents for the finals, as well as their potential opponents after they got promoted to the Premier League.

Tang En was all smiles as he looked at his subordinates, but he did not utter a single word to stop their celebrating. However, this was all on the surface. In actuality, he was in the midst of thinking about potential situations that could happen in the second half. He did not think that Warnock was the type of opponent that would give up at halftime. Warnock would definitely make some changes, and Tang En had to have contingency plans in response to them.

It was almost a given for Warnock to strengthen his offense, and if he did that, the tactics employed by Tang En would be effective. The midfield would be used completely for defense, and the means of offense would only be via long balls. It would be simple and fast, and it did not matter whether or not it succeeded, as long as there were endless attempts to go on the offense. With two goals already in their hands, they had the capital to defend the last 45 minutes, even if they did not manage to score even once. As long as they could hold, they would be Nottingham’s heroes.

The League One playoff matches were different from the other two rounds of home-away elimination matches. There was only one deciding factor for the outcome of the match—the score. The team that scored more goals would win, regardless of whether they were scored on away grounds or not. Even if a team had drawn a match at 5:5 with their opponents during their away match, it was useless. As long as their opponents manage to draw at 1:1 in the second match, both teams still had to play overtime and penalty shootout.

The 15-minute halftime passed very quickly, and the players for both teams once again stood on the field, waiting for the second half to begin.

When Tang En was walking toward the away team manager’s seat, he happened to cross paths with the opposing team’s manager, Warnock. The two of them looked at each other, and, therefore, they could not avoid greeting each other. However, Tang En really did not know what to say at that moment. He was used to shaking hands and engaging in some small talk with the opposing team’s manager after the match, because at that moment, the results of the match were already known. He knew what sort of feelings he should have when he faced them, and what he should say. However, it was currently right after halftime, so what should he say?

Should he say something like, “We are currently in the lead, and it’s highly possible we’re going to win?” Or something like, “Even though we are in the lead, there’s still a chance for you to make a comeback?” These words did not fit Tang En’s character.

So, he lowered his head and pretended that he did not see Warnock as he hurried away. Unexpectedly, he was called out by Warnock.

“Manager Twain, why do you run away at the sight of me?”

Tang En rolled his eyes with his back toward Warnock, before turning around with a face full of smiles. “Ah, I’m so sorry. Actually, I was thinking, and did not see you, Mr. Warnock. Is anything the matter?”

Warnock extended his hand to Tang En. “Nothing much. I only wanted to congratulate you. From the season’s ranked 14th at the start of the year, to ranked sixth by the end of the season, you’ve performed remarkably. Truth to be told, I didn’t think that our final opponents would be you guys.”

Tang En also extended his hand. Since Warnock expressed his friendliness, Tang En did not have any reason to not reciprocate.

The two of them shook hands.

“Regardless of the final result of the match, I must say, that this is an extremely splendid match,” Warnock said.

Tang En smiled as he nodded to express his agreement. However, once both of them parted, Tang En turned around and frowned.

That darned old man doesn’t have the slightest worry that his team will lose! He’s extremely confident, and from the looks of it, he is confident of securing the win. But… Where did his confidence come from? The one who is two goals down is him, not me!

With slight apprehension, Tang En returned to the manager’s seat. The match had already started. Walker asked concernedly, “Where did you go?”

“I met Warnock and casually chatted with him for a while,” Tang En replied. After that, he focused all of his attention on the match. He hoped to be able to see through Warnock’s ploy and to stop it in time.

After watching the match for less than five minutes, he immediately stood up from his seat and frightened Walker, who was beside him, causing Walker to look at him in bewilderment.

Tang En paid no heed to Walker, while he stared at Neil Warnock who had his hands in his pockets, and scolded, “That old b*stard!”

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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