Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
To someone in the media industry, what could be a heavier blow than to be completely ignored?
“The Sun” was facing this awkward situation now. The news about the “falling out between George Wood and the Godfather” that they painstakingly got from deep within enemy’s territory was on the front page, but it was hidden underneath a wave of doubts about the new England captain.
Other than the local media from Nottingham, almost every other media thought that Terry and Gerrard were more certified than Wood to be captain. Especially the media from Liverpool, they were so incensed that they were almost cursing Twain to be unable to produce any offspring.
Wood and Twain falling out?
Quit joking around, The Sun! That bastard Twain has already named his son as England’s captain, what falling out? Do you really think that everyone else will be as dumb as you to publish such irresponsible news?
At the press conference, The Sun’s reporter raised his hand, wanting to ask a question about the falling out between Twain and Wood. However, nobody gave him the opportunity to do so. Everyone who got picked will ask, “Mr Twain, you chose Wood instead of Gerrard, is there a case of favoritism here?”
Or:
“Mr Twain, there are higher demands for Terry or Gerrard to be captain than Wood, how are you balancing the relationship between them?”
The scene was bustling, and the names “Terry”, “Gerrard” and “Wood” kept coming up.
Gerrard was seated next to Twain with no expression on his face. The media from Liverpool was questioning Twain on his behalf, yet it only made him feel very awkward. The people who were claiming that, “If I’m Gerrard, I’ll withdraw from the national team as protest”, were simply causing trouble for him.
They had already known each other for so many years, how could these reporters not know what kind of person Gerrard was?
He stole a glance at the person next to him.
Twain was battling with the reporters.
“How about I get Terry and Wood here and we have a group discussion? You guys can ask them about their opinion of this choice yourselves,” Twain said with an unfriendly look on his face.
The reporters grew quiet.
“I can tell you very clearly that I’ve talked to them before deciding on the captaincy. Steven and John are both supportive of this change in captaincy. You can ask Steven if you have any doubts,” Twain pointed at Gerrard next to him.
Gerrard knew that it was his turn to speak and he moved towards the microphone, “That’s right, boss talked to everyone of us, he told us his plans and we also told him what we thought.”
The reporters did not think so, “Yes, you guys told him what you thought, yet he continued to do accordingly to his own plans, isn’t it?”
Gerrard did not look good, “I respect the boss’ opinion and I think George is worthy of the captain’s armband. He has always been an impressive captain and he did well at Nottingham Forest. He’s someone who can lead the team without using words.”
He was part of the national team now so naturally, he could not say anything bad about the national team or his teammates. This was the same everywhere, the people you should trust the most were your comrades in arms on the pitch. That was why he did not think much about Wood taking the captain’s armband away from him. On the other hand, it was indeed true that he did not think it was a bad idea for Wood to be captain…
That was the objective that Twain wanted to achieve by bringing Gerrard to the press conference. He knew that Gerrard thought very highly of Wood and was someone who could look at the big picture, therefore, he was not afraid that he would embarrass him in front of the reporters. Letting someone who lost the captain’s armband praise Wood himself was obviously much more effective that Twain praising Wood himself.
The reporters looked at each other, not knowing what to say as it seemed that Gerrard was on Twain’s side.
The reporters from Liverpool were especially disappointed. At the same time, another guess emerged in their hearts——Was Tony Twain so powerful? There was no one who was against him in the national team? They would never believe that Gerrard or Terry had nothing against this arrangement.
Is it a coercion terror policy? Players who don’t agree with his management style can’t play?
That would be an even more breaking news than the captaincy…
The reporters on the ground did not know what to ask for the time being and the reporter from The Sun finally grabbed this opportunity to ask his question, “Have you seen today’s The Sun newspaper, Mr Twain?” He even took the opportunity to advertise for his newspaper.
“I’m sorry, Mr reporter. I never read trash like that,” Twain’s reply caused an uproar. The Sun’s reporter felt very awkward amidst the laughter. Twain did not feel sorry for that as he really hated The Sun. This newspaper had been talking bad about him all this while.
“That’s a pity, Mr Twain…” Since Twain was not being friendly, the reporter naturally did not see a need to hold back, “The latest The Sun paper today exposed the falling out between you and George Wood, what do you have to say about that?”
“As we all know,” Twain opened his palms towards everyone, not looking at that reporter, “Trash papers love to make up some lies themselves, then publish them to attract attention. We have a live example here.’
The laughter started again.
“I have a very good relationship with George, Mr reporter. How good you ask? Look…” He pointed to the reporters below, “There are so many reporters here just to prove one thing——That I treat Wood as well as I would treat my own son. Do you know the meaning of favoritism, Mr reporter?”
The laughter stopped as the smart reporters realized that Twain was insulting both sides now.
“My relationship with Wood is so good that it is at a point of public indignation, how could we have fallen out? I was right, am I not? Trash papers love to make up some lies to attract attention.”
With that, Twain looked at the reporter from The Sun proudly. The reporter was so embarrassed that he was blushing. He looked at the other group of reporters. They were still attacking Twain earlier, yet they were now Twain’s accomplices now. That was pretty depressing for the reporters. They were looking as awkward as can be. There were some people who were laughing heartily earlier but they were all staring at Twain with their mouths wide open in shock now. Those were expressions that one could only see in slapstick comedies.
Gerrard suddenly wanted to laugh as he witnessed this scene——He had never experienced a press conference like this before, it was so interesting to him…
As an English professional player, he understood very clearly how difficult it was to handle the English media. He did not expect his boss to treat the press conference as a game and tricking those difficult reporters.
Twain was preparing to leave, and he stood up and said to the shell-shocked reporters, “Looks like everyone got the answers that they are satisfied with and there are no other questions for me. Let’s call it a day then.”
Gerrard stood up too and followed Twain as he left.
The reporters finally reacted then. There were some people who wanted to ask a few more questions, but they soon realized that other than the “new captain”, they could not think of any other questions. The game against Macedonia? What did they have to worry about playing such a walkover team?
And so, a bunch of people could only watch as Twain and Gerrard left in front of their eyes. Later on, they realized that they did not get any useful answers from this one-and-a-half-hour session, all they achieved was to bicker with Twain!
“Damn it! We got tricked again!” The older reporters cursed.
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“Ha ha!” On the way back, Twain laughed very proudly in front of Gerrard, “Don’t look at me like that Steven. This is a very good way of relieving stress, you can try it yourself.”
Gerrard shook his head, “I don’t dare to… I’ve been maintaining this image for more than a decade…”
Twain nodded and said, “That’s true. You’ve always been an honest man in front of the media and the public. If not for that, I probably won’t be able to get out of this press conference so easily. “At this point, Twain stopped and faced Gerrard, “Thanks Steven.”
Gerrard did not expect Twain to speak to him with such an attitude, even thanking him. He stood there, stunned and forgot to react.
Twain could see what he was thinking, and he smiled, “Why? My image here is different from what the media portrayed me as?”
“No… Um, sorry. Actually…In Liverpool’s changing room, there were indeed many rumors about you, boss.”
Twain’s interest was piqued, he raised his brows and said, “Oh? Care to tell me about it?”
However, Gerrard rejected him, “Sorry boss. What happens in the changing room is not allowed to be spread outside.”
Twain realized he asked a very stupid question and he quickly apologized, “Ah, I forgot about that… It’s okay, we don’t allow that either… Alright, now matter what, these matters are resolved now. We should divert our attention to Macedonia now. Do you know about Macedonia, Steven?”
Gerrard thought for a moment, then shook his head, “Not really…”
“Okay, there’s actually nothing to be worried about. If we can’t even beat a team like Macedonia by playing our own style of football, what chances have we got to be European champions?” Twain kept talking about “champions” as though he was talking about something common.
However, Gerrard was not surprised that someone like him would be talking like this. There were many legends about this man outside, but there was one that was not wrong——Tony Twain’s name means champion.
Think about the number of times he led the Forest team, a team that used to play in the championship, to become champions. He even the most prestigious club trophies, the UEFA Champions League, three times. This was someone that was comparable to the legendary Liverpool manager, Bob Paisley. Even though the number of trophies he got still trailed that of Ferguson, but if one thought about his age, one would realize he was only 45 years old. Nobody doubted that the number of trophies he got by the time he was at Ferguson’s age would be lesser than the old scot.
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Since even Gerrard came forward to say that he did not mind George Wood becoming captain, and he did not mind that he was not even vice-captain, then what rights did the local Liverpool media have to continue making a fuss?
Only Carl Spicer criticized Twain’s decision in his show, “…He’s trying to make the England national team the second Nottingham Forest. But I bet that he’ll realize how stupid he was before long. I heard that he could scold anyone at will in the Forest changing room, he could scold anyone just because he was feeling unhappy. If it was 30 years ago, he can probably even beat them up. But can he do that in the national team’s changing room? The Forest players had been with him everyday for 11 years, they know the temperaments of their boss, but what about the other national team players? Other than scolding, what else does he know? He knows nothing… The Football Association signed a two-years contract with him, but I think that Twain will be sacked before a year’s up! The reason is simple, if George Wood can be named as captain, then the starting lineup will have a large number of Forest players. If not for the fact that Akinfeev and Bale can’t play for England, Twain must have hoped that he can include them in his starting lineup.
Twain treated what Spicer said as “barking of a defeated dog”, and he ignored it. He knew that in the footballing world, it did not matter how much you talk, it all depended on your results in the end. The reason why he could be so arrogant and scold people at will was because he had the results to back him up. This was a simple logic, a pity it was not a logic that everyone understood. They merely saw Twain when he was being arrogant and started to hate him. They did not see why he had the rights to be arrogant while there were so many managers who could not even be arrogant for once.
Two days later, in the match against Macedonia, Twain not only wanted to win, but he wanted to win convincingly. He wanted to shut those people who were still unhappy with him up with a huge victory in this match.
