Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“There are still two rounds left in the league, but these two rounds are the most important rounds for Nottingham Forest and Chelsea. Scolari’s team has been eliminated. Aside from the Champion’s Cup, they did not enter the finals at all. Scolari would probably still do well even if they are unable to participate in the Champion’s Cup next season. Abramovich once said that Scolari would never be dismissed regardless of the results of the league, but who would believe his words?”
The television in the bar was playing Soccer’s 90 Minutes on Sky Television . Although its main host had been replaced several times, this programme still had an important position in the hearts of the British audience.
This programme was different from Match of the Day on BBC channel which aired after the matches on the weekends. It was the prospect of the matches following the programme.
In the previous season, the away team Nottingham Forest tied with Manchester United. Because the match had not ended yet, this scoreline made several Nottingham Forest fans’ hearts quicken as all of them thought this meant the end of the season. But surprisingly Chelsea, too, had a draw before the end of the season.
During that night, this Nottingham bar saw two extremes in the emotions of Nottingham Forest fans. Kenny Burns sold all his alcohol on that day.
“Nottingham Forest rose from the dead. In the remaining two league matches, both teams have weak opponents. If Nottingham Forest can maintain and win both matches, then they will be able to return to the Champion’s league in the following league season. This has to be the happiest moment to a Nottingham Forest fan…
In the bar, a customer shouted, “To be honest even just the league cup is fine… I don’t want to stress them too much…”
Then, someone rebutted immediately, “Don’t get it wrong. It’s not the kids that are stressed. It’s that guy, Tony!”
“Let’s hope everything is fine with his heart…”
“Hey, just a small piece of news… Shania sneakily returned back to Nottingham again…”
“Wow! Tony definitely won’t be stressed!”
“Hahaha!”
The group of guys laughed raucously with their mugs in their hands. Though Tony had not been here often in his bid to quit smoking and drinking, his presence still lingered in the bar. The long-term fans who gathered in this Nottingham Bar still stayed here as “Tony Twain’s supporters”.
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On the last night before the second league, Tony Twain spent it with his wife.
As these two matches concerned the future of the team and their financial status, the news reported that Tony Twain did not have it easy. Hence, Shania flew back specially for him in her break, in hopes of helping him tide over these two weeks.
Although Twain did not feel like his heart was that weak as he had met with such stressful situations many times, it does not seem like it was stressful at all this time. But he was glad that Shania, who was staying in the States, could come back and accompany him. They were a married couple that lived separately For someone who lived in a villa that spanned several hundred square metres, it was extremely lonely and cold.
To welcome Shania home, he personally cooked up a feast. — British food really could not be considered a “delicacy”, so he only cooked Chinese food.
“Uncle Tony, aren’t you afraid I’ll grow fat?” Shania asked with her hands on her hips as she took in the spread of food on the huge table.
Twain indecently held Shania’s waist and said, “I think there is no need to worry at the moment.”
“Hey!” Shania slapped Twain’s hand, pulled a chair and sat down. She was not rushing to start, but instead looked at Twain sitting opposite her. “It’s been three months since we last saw each other. Did you miss me, Uncle Tony?”
“You’ve asked me this question 10 times today, are you aware? There’s a Chinese saying: Absence makes the heart fonder. Our reunion after the short separation feels like our honeymoon… That is what I’m feeling now.”
“There’s such a saying, huh. Absence…” Shania looked up while deep in thought. “Then in the future when I travel everywhere, wouldn’t we always be in our honeymoon period? If you say it like this, then separation will become a very romantic matter!” She applauded as she beamed, being proud of her discovery.
“I don’t see it this way though.” Twain pouted. “If possible, I hope you’ll always be by my side.”
Shania smiled as she looked at Tony who looked slightly bummed “Did you know, Uncle Tony? While I was in Los Angeles, I went back to school.”
“Eh?” Twain, upon hearing what she said, was a little surprised. He did not know about this matter, and Shania did not mention this before. He thought Shania had only been entertaining other superstars and improving her own acting skills in preparation of the new film in Los Angeles. “You’re still going to school? What are you studying?”
“Costume design.” Shania winked.
Twain thought about it and understood why. Shania, being a model, would naturally be more sensitive to fashion trends, and naturally would have her own insights. If it is about costume design, Twain believed she would excel in this more than acting in movies. But why did Shania suddenly think of learning costume design?
“Hey, Uncle Tony. Let’s discuss something?”
“Yeah?”
“If I got pregnant, I’ll quit modelling and acting.”
Twain was so shocked he dropped his spoon. He looked at Shania who had a serious look on her face. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Why would I be kidding? I can’t possibly act and walk down the runway with a huge belly, right?” Shania giggled, but her tone was still firm.
“You could wait till after you gave birth…”
“Uncle Tony, the competition in this industry is cut-throat. Who knows what the world would be like after I lost my pregnancy weight?? Now you know why I want to start learning about costume design?”
“You’ve thought that far, huh…”
“Far? Pregnancy is actually a simple matter.” Shania gleamed at Twain. “Let’s start tonight, Uncle Tony!”
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Twain and Shania lingered in their home for a night, then went to the stadium with high spirits to prepare for competition.
Every time he saw the young and beautiful Shania pliant and moaning under him, he was filled with a desire to conquer, one that raged strongly in his chest. This feeling did not fade after they made love, and he rode on this high the next day during work.
Twain was kind of chauvinistic. Whether it was women or his opponents, conquering them brought him immense satisfaction.
From this perspective, it was a perfect timing for Shania to return….
Hence, in the city stadium’s changing room for the home team on an afternoon, Twain passionately made a calling for the European Champions Cup:
“…Although I’ve never won the league championships before, why should we still compete for some league cup if the league championships exist? There is only a one-point difference between Chelsea and us. They can turn the tides if we aren’t careful. I don’t want something like this to happen right before the end of the league season. All of you must know this well: I only want the Champion League Cup!”
“An opponent like Middlesbrough should not even be a concern. You guys just need to perform as per normal, and the victory of this match will belong to us… Remember, do not give chances to our opponents, whether they are our opponents in this match or in the ones in the back waiting for us to make a mistake!”
The end result was Nottingham Forest winning on home ground 2 : 0 against Middlesbrough. Chelsea also won Hull City on their home field.
While there was still a match left to the league, Nottingham Forest still led Chelsea by a point.
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“A match is what separates us and Europe!” After the match, Nottingham Evening Post ran this headline.
Pierce Brosnan voiced what the Nottingham Forest fans were thinking.
Nottingham Forest’s last match in the league was Stoke City!
Checking out this name, their luck could not have been better.
It was no wonder Nottingham’s local media was hurrying to announce that Nottingham Forest team had obtained the participation rights into the European Champions league in the next season.
There were some who were worried that Nottingham Forest, who was basking in the praises, would become complacent and then mess up in the last match. Anything could happen in this world.
But Twain turned down all of these worries. Rather, their “expectations”,
He repeatedly emphasized during team training to treat the opponents in the last match seriously. And he set the roster for this match solely based on the players’ attitude and emotional state during training.
Twain was obviously aware there was the possibility of an upset during the match, which was why he was trying his best to avoid that. Twain was definitely not the type of person who only regretted after the problem reach him. He wanted to destroy even the last bit of hope Chelsea had.
Making his opponents feel despair… That was indeed too great!
※※※
The last match of the league season started at three on a Saturday afternoon after a week.
Nottingham Forest challenged Stoke City as the away team while Chelsea was on home ground waiting for Portsmouth’s challenge.
Everyone who was spectating these two matches knew Chelsea was definitely not losing to Portsmouth on home field, hence the focus was on Nottingham Forest who was playing on away ground.
Scolari was already adding pressure onto Nottingham Forest team on his interview before the match, waging a psychological war.
He said, “My players have never given up the tickets in entering the European Champions League next season. Although, Nottingham Forest isn’t a bad team. They’re very, very young; some on their team are even first-timers. Being able to achieve the results they have today is already quite the feat. Youths have passion, but they’re also very unstable and unable to withstand much stress.”
It was obvious what Scolari was trying to say.
And London’s local media were even more obvious with their propaganda. “If Nottingham Forest can only go as far as the League Cup, it’s not too big a loss for them in terms of competition. Their greatest loss would be their financial one. Participating in the League Cup and the Champions League are two completely different things. Participating in the Champions League would mean a lot more income.
“Everyone knows their financial situation isn’t ideal. Allan Adams hasn’t been able to find a sponsor for their new stadium, hence that lousy piece of architecture only fixed its base and left it as it is. For a team which won four European Champions league, that piece of lousy soccer field is just like the scars on their fresh appearance. Evan Doughty must be under a lot of stress, which would transfer onto the team. If they are unable to get the rights to participate in that European Champions League next season, this stadium might continue to rot…”
Look, how clever. They drew a connection between the club’s financial status and the results of the team to accurately tell the players without errors, “If you guys can’t win, you’ll feel the stress.” Who does not want to play in the Champions League? Who does not want to improve their future days?
As such, the youths in this team would constantly fret before the competition, thinking that they absolutely cannot lose. The stress would accumulate, until it popped like,, just like a balloon being pierced.
That was what the Londoners were hoping.
But it was quite a sorry sight, because the team they were rooting for only stood a chance if their opponent slipped up. No matter how they spun it, this was some form of charity.
Regarding this, Twain did not start any wars against the opponent through media. That would only intensify the situation, making it more complicated. This would not be great news to Nottingham Forest which was preparing for war. He emphasized again and again that the only rebuttal method is using their match results after the war.
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Stoke City did not want to be the calefare of another person’s celebration. Their head coach Tony Pulis was accepting the interview with some discontent, saying, “I know we have no trouble avoiding relegation, and I also know you are concerned about the four teams representing England in the European Champions League next season. But, ladies and gentlemen, what I want to say is that this is our home ground. I won’t let the away team be the main character on our field.”
Just like what Pulis said, from the start of the match, Stoke City’s players were charging with all their might. They focused on securing their defense instead of rushing to attack but instead securing their defense, using their strength in numbers to hold down Nottingham Forest’s attack. This tactic made it seem like Nottingham Forest was a wolf going up against seem like a wolf going against a porcupine — they did not know where to strike.
As for the match on Stamford Bridge, Portsmouth had already surrendered from the start. Before the first half ended, Chelsea had already scored two goals and, according to the commentators of the match on television, “Looking at Chelsea’s stance, they might still score in the second half…”
The match between Nottingham Forest and Stoke City was still at 0:0 when the first half ended. When the whistle blew mid-match, Sky Television was airing the scores of both matches real-time.
According to the current results, Chelsea is ahead of Nottingham Forest, with a two point difference to be placed at fourth, while Nottingham Forest has fallen to fifth,
During the mid-match break, Twain did not arrange any changes to the tactics. He felt that the tactics had no issues, the problem of the match not playing well was no
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During the mid-match break, Twain did not arrange any changes to the tactics. He thought that there were no issues with the strategy. They were not playing a good game, but it was not because of the team. On the other hand, if he did not say anything, the players might feel like the problem was them.
Hence, he said, “My friends, this is the last match of the current league season. Think back to the summer a year ago and then today. What did we work hard for a full season for? Maybe some of you would think playing for the league cup would be good, maybe some would feel that all of these efforts was just for competing rights for the Champions League to reduce the financial burden of the club, but now I want to rightfully tell you guys that all of the talk above are bullsh*t! My Nottingham Forest is a team with a tradition to win championships, even though we faced some issues last year which pulled us away from Europe for a year! But now, we are coming back.
“In our absence, those of Europe’s greats have had a very comfortable life. They ate well since no one could threaten to take their spot. Every year, the favourites for the titles are always the same few teams. I’m sick of that! Things are different now, because we’re coming back. Robin Hood is back! Their honor and their wealth, it won’t be theirs for long, which is why they’re panicking. What are we going to do next? ”
Twain laughed. “Use this match to remind them: That’s right, we’re back! ”
※※※
In the second half, Chelsea’s momentum did not slow and they continued to score. Two goals in ten minutes locked their score at 4:0. Portsmouth had no will to fight; they were just waiting for the game to end. Chelsea fans at Stamford Bridge had long been unconcerned about the game under their noses; they were all wearing headphones and listening to the latest news from another stadium on the radio.
Even in Scolari’s chair, someone was listening to the latest developments on the radio.Just as the media had predicted before the match, the deciding factor in the last Champions League spot was not Chelsea’s match, but the match between Nottingham Forest and Stoke City. At the very least, and to the relief of Chelsea fans, the score line was 0:0 right up till the end of the eighty minutes.
After a brief exhilaration, everyone began to wait anxiously for the last ten minutes to end. Nobody thought ten minutes could last that long, as if it would take up all the time they had in their life.
At the eighty-seventh minute, a voice came on the radio:
“… Žigić’s header! It’s been pounced on! Shoot again! This time it was the goalposts that helped Stoke City! Ah…And it’s there! Nottingham Forest still has a chance…Freddy Eastwood- GOAL! GOOOAL! GOOOOOOAL! They finally broke the deadlock! Nottingham Forest lead on away 1:0!”
Stamford Bridge was dead silent. Scolari and his aides looked at each other, as if refusing to believe what they just heard.
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Meanwhile, Nottingham Forest’s coaching and bench are already in a frenzy at Stoke City’s home stadium, Britannia. Everyone hugged and cheered and roared. For this late goal.
Twain was not as crazy. He just patted his chest, to the side of Dunn smiled, “I almost thought the goal is going to be cool…”
Twain shook his head and said, “Shania can rest assured. ”
The TV narrator was shouting, “Freddy Eastwood! The Key of Nottingham Forest! He saved the team’s effort scored a season three minutes before the end and Tony Twain’s heart! Tony Twain really should have a hard kiss on his shoes! It was the Gypsies’ 23rd league goal of the season! He ranks third in the league! This season, he’s been in great form and that had a lot to do with not having frequent injuries…”
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Stamford Bridge spent the final days of the game in a strange silence. There was no love on the pitch on either side. When the referee blew the final whistle, the Chelsea players on the pitch ran to the bench to ask for information about the game at Nottingham Forest.
They were greeted by a dejected face from their teammates.
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As soon as the game was over, Twain did not even have time to run to celebrate the victory with the players before he was surrounded at the coach’s chair by reporters .
“Ninth place last season and fourth place this time. Coach Tony Twain, as someone with a heart condition, you have achieved something very brilliant. Congratulations! What do you have to say?”
“Tell the guys in Europe that your old friends are back!” He said, laughing, pointing at the camera lens. Mourinho, we’ll repay the debt from when you kicked my team out last season!”
Gary Lineker turned around to see Tony being interviewed on the big screen. On the screen, the English footballer said to the camera, “Tony Twain challenges the whole of Europe. Yes, he’s back. ”
