Godfather Of Champions

Chapter 659.1: The Busy Summer Begins

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

After this UEFA European Championship, Twain reaffirmed one thing yet again—in addition to being suited to be a manager, there was another job that fitted him.

A guest pundit for a football match.

When Twain was still just an ordinary Chinese football fan, every time he watched the televised games and listened to those incongruous, rubbish, unintelligible, amateurish and insouciant commentaries from the guest commentators and pundits pulled from the other industries, he felt that he could do better than those people. However, he could do nothing except to silently curse in his mind at that time. Whenever he watched the games, he still had to endure such substandard commentary time and time again unless he turned off the sound in the television. But he would not be able to hear the shouts coming from the stadiums. What would be the point of watching the games live then?

All was well now. He did not have to put up with that noise anymore, because… he could make his own noise!

During the period when the UEFA European Championship was in progress, an audience called in to protest against Tony Twain’s style of commentary, arguing that his caustic style and language was a noise to him.

While as a fan, Twain did not think that once he really became a guest pundit, there would be people who thought that his commentary was garbage.

But now he did not have to worry about the opinions of the audience. John Motson divulged to him that the top brass at BBC was happy to see “a famous popular TV host” like Twain unleashed on live television every game, because it attracted plenty of eyeballs, generated ample topics, and brought in abundant advertising dollars….

Twain’s commentary was always so biting that Motson found it unacceptable at times. He could relentlessly criticize the star players and managers during the live games and be totally… vicious with his words. If the target of his criticism were to hear his commentary in person, he would not hesitate to pounce on him and beat him to the ground.

Where there was people who hated it, naturally there were some people who liked it. Some people were extremely fond of listening to Twain’s commentary. They even left comments on the BBC’s website that if the BBC dared to change to another commentator, they would call every day to harass them until BBC brought him back.

In fact, it was not necessarily that Twain’s comments were more profound and original than the other experts. The key was that his gift of gab allowed him to bring the game to live and he was very good at grasping the interesting highlights in the games, which always entertain the audience. It was fitting to say that Twain turned a football game into a live talk show.

The BBC also seized the opportunity to sign a long-term contract with Twain during the UEFA European Championship. In the contract, BBC 5 hired Tony Twain as a special commentator for the television station. Whenever the England national team played, he would temporarily put aside his position as the Nottingham Forest manager and switched to be a television commentator. The contractual relationship between the two parties would continue until the end of the 2010 World Cup, which could be renewed depending on the circumstances.

Besides being a brand ambassador for Armani, this was another source of income for Twain. Even though it could not be compared to Armani’s endorsement fees, even a small mosquito could be considered meat. Not only he could do a job he liked, he could also earn money. Such a good thing was hard to come by.

Back at the UEFA European Championship itself, this tournament caused Twain to repeatedly exclaim that a football was round and that anything was possible on the football field.

The strong starts of Italy and the Netherlands had brought them an early exit instead; Russian football had signs that it would repeat its glory period again. After having just beaten the Netherlands, it lost to Spain immediately; the German tank had been as stable as ever, but still lost due to the passionless and poor Ballack who followed up his post-2002 period to become “a three-time runner-up” again. (Chelsea lost to Tottenham Hotspur in the EFL Cup final and finished runner-up); In the end, it was unsurprising that the well-deserved Spain won because throughout the tournament, the only team that had not made any mistakes and been consistent, both defensively and offensively, was Spain. It would have been an injustice if such a team did not win the championship. Casillas continued his excellent form from Real Madrid, while Villa vented all his frustrations at the UEFA European Championship due to his unhappy time at Valencia. After winning all six games, Spain was back on top in Europe after forty-four years.

Although Italy was eliminated early, Twain was pleased that Grosso’s performance in the national team was much better than his performance in the Forest team. What looked to be a fall in his price could now be bullish due to this UEFA European Championship. It was during his time as a commentator at the UEFA European Championship that the French and Italian clubs had already inquired Nottingham Forest if Grosso could be sold.

Grosso was just a little surprise. The biggest surprise came from the Russian core player, Arshavin. Having been shown a red card in the last game of the UEFA European Championship qualifying round, he did not play in the first two games during the group stage and Russia’s results had not been good. Especially from their crushing 0:4 defeat to Spain, there seemed to be no hope for this team. Twain, who was in charge of commentary for that game, watched Akinfeev pick up the ball from the net repeatedly and shook his head. The game caused Nottingham Forest’s second goalkeeper to almost lost his face. The responsibility for the rapid concede of the goal did not lie with him, but people would only focus on the hapless position of the goalkeeper.

Following which, Russia narrowly beat Greece1-0 in the second round of the group stage and finally retained the hope of making the cut out of the group stage. It also planted the seed for Arshavin’s comeback.

Arshavin made a comeback in the third round of the group stage and led Russia to a clean 2-0 defeat of the Nordic powerhouse, Sweden. The Russian team’s performance for this game turned everything on its head as compared to the first time they lost badly to Spain. The lineup was almost the same. Just because there was Arshavin, Russia’s attack was more threatening and stronger in its push forward.

After qualifying for the knockout stage, their 3-1 defeat of Netherlands was almost down to a one-man performance by Arshavin. The superior Dutch team which was indomitable in the group stage was ineffective when up against the diminutive Arshavin. Their defenders basically could not defend against Arshavin’s strike on both wings. Unless the Dutchmen used a foul, his speed and technique forced to them to let him pass.

This game made Twain proud and vindicated. With such a performance from his player, it showed his foresight for bringing in Arshavin a year ago.

This match was dubbed as the “Nottingham Forest Derby” by the local Nottingham media, with two Russian players and three Netherlands players in the starting lineup. In addition to the excellent Arshavin and Akinfeev, van Nistelrooy also received van der Vaart’s assist in the game to score the equalizer in the final minute, dragging the suspense of the game into overtime. Only the poor van der Sar became a sacrificial victim. He had to pick up the ball from the net three times, especially two goal concedes in overtime, which completely crushed the Dutchman’s spirit.

No matter which team was the ultimate winner, this game delighted Twain as it proved to the world that Nottingham Forest’s players were the best and that The Double won this season was definitely not based on dumb luck.

Our players have the ability!

※※※

While Twain passed judgement on the games at BBC 5, Dunn and Kerslake also had results in their work. Dunn and the scouting team he led, finally compiled a huge list of up to thirty players with not only their names but with the most detailed information about each player and even the video of his games at this European Championship.

Twain did not have to do anything else. He just had to read this report and completely understand the information about the players and their performances at the UEFA European Championship.

Benzema was perhaps the most famous player of late among these players. Dunn thought highly of this French center forward’s ability as well, but he was the first to be ruled out of Twain’s selection list. It was not that Twain did not appreciate his ability, but it was for a very a simple reason — he was a Lyon player. Lyon’s boss was a notorious miser in European football, best known for selling his players at high prices. Now that all of Europe’s big clubs were watching Benzema, Aulas would not accept offers of less than fifty million euros. And what Nottingham Forest lacked the most now was money…

Twain would also not consider Huntelaar for similar reasons. Moreover, Twain felt that the team’s current four forwards configuration was reasonable. He did not think that there was a need to add a new striker. Even if one needed to be introduced, it was simply to introduce the very young strikers and put them in the youth team to be trained, or on loan to train. The First Team did not need to bring in any strikers at the moment.

In fact, Nottingham Forest mainly needed to bring in new players in the rear half of the field for the new season. If the right candidate could be found for the defensive midfielder position, Twain would consider it. Sidwell’s agent had already called Twain during the European Championship, hoping that the club would agree to Sidwell’s search of a new owner. After Twain made a pretense of trying to urge him to stay, he agreed in principle to Sidwell’s switch of allegiance to a new patron. But he must be satisfied with the price.

If Sidwell left, the issue of finding a substitute for George Wood would be put back on the agenda.

Sun Jihai was indeed a utility player, but he was too old, and his form declined rapidly. He was barely able to play as a full back. Twain would not feel assured to hand an important position such as the defensive midfielder to him.

For some well-known reasons, George Wood’s substitute was very difficult to find. But Twain was already thinking about a solution—the team’s goal for next season was still multiple tournaments. This time, Twain intended to strive for the English FA Cup which he had never won. That meant that Nottingham Forest would face a tough competition in three tournaments starting in January. In that way, a rotation system was a must, and this time Twain planned to put Wood on rotation as well. After all, it was dangerous to place such an important position solely on Wood’s shoulder. What if Wood was suspended? If there was a good defensive midfielder who could share this pressure, Twain could deploy with more ease in the face of multiple tournaments.

If it was possible, Twain hoped to have the team try to manipulate the transfer of the Spanish youngster, Rubén de la Red. He was keen on De la Red’s ability to control the pace of attack and could be a useful supplement to George Wood. At this UEFA European Championship, de la Red cleverly seized his chance and scored a crucial goal in his first game for the Spanish national team. He played remarkably. Of course, de la Red was only an option. If he wanted to focus more on the defense, there was another defensive midfielder who “graduated from the same school” — Javi García.

One of these two Real Madrid discarded players could transfer to Nottingham Forest in the summer — it was to be noted that it was a possibility. Twain was not confident of whether Real Madrid and Getafe were willing to let go of those players. The people at Real Madrid were not blind either, plus the performances of these two young players last season were well known.

There was also a defensive midfielder who played outstandingly at the UEFA European Championship which could be considered. He was the Swiss national footballer and the twenty-four-year-old, Gökhan Inler, who played in Udinese Calcio. He had a strong view of the big picture, exquisite technical skills, and was strong in defense. He was an excellent defensive midfielder from every angle who could replace George Wood’s position in some games. Furthermore, he did not suddenly become famous by relying on the UEFA European Championship. Twain did not have to worry that he was just a shooting star. Because Italy’s venerated media <La Gazzetta dello Sport>, once named Inler as “the best deal in Serie A for the summer.”

Cannavaro’s injury during tackle became Giorgio Chiellini’s opportunity to make his mark. His performance in the European Championships was the biggest discovery of the Italy national team. But… with his lesson learnt with Grosso, Twain no longer approved of the Italian players and would not consider bringing in Chiellini, even though the Italian youngster could play as a center back and left back.

The right back, Chimbonda was certain to leave. Even if he did not want to, Twain would make it clear that this French black man was not in his plans. So, to rely solely on Rafinha and Sun Jihai, whose form had declined sharply, was clearly not enough to meet the team’s requirements for a right back competing in the multiple tournaments. Looking for a good right back was imminent.

Twain already had a goal—the Portugal national team’s as well as Porto’s main right back, José Bosingwa. Nottingham Forest would certainly face its arch-rivals Chelsea and Manchester United in the battle for Bosingwa. To that end, Twain was willing to stake the entire transfer budget this summer to take Bosingwa. If he did not bolster the right back position, then Nottingham Forest’s right side would be buried with a ticking bomb that would implode at an indefinite time this new season.

On the left back side, due to Grosso’s poor performance, Twain was reacquainted with Leighton Baines. He believed that he was still very useful in a purely defensive assignment and did not have to clear him out of the team so quickly. Therefore, the club intended to offer Baines a new contract extension until 2011.

Nottingham Forest’s center back area was filled with talent and basically did not need any new players.

Pepe’s performance with the Portugal national team had been solid. His goal after a long-distance run in the first game was amazing. Twain was certainly not going to let him go.

Piqué was selected for the Spain national team but did not get a chance to play. He only witnessed a major tournament and won a championship title, which only benefitted his growth without any harm. The only trouble was… It was rumored that after two seasons of pain, Barcelona intended to focus on reshaping their defense and learning from its arch-rival, Real Madrid. And their target was Gerard Piqué, who had a Barça pedigree—which was pure. Twain would not agree to Piqué’s departure, but… Twain was a little worried about Piqué’s thoughts. After all, he was from La Masia. It was not clear whether he still felt that playing for Barça was the only goal of his career …

Kompany was a substitute for Pepe or Piqué at the Forest team, but he had improved significantly and had the talent to occasionally play as the defensive midfielder. Twain regarded this youngster as important. If… just in case, Piqué was determined to respond to Barcelona’s call, Twain did have to worry too much because he still had Kompany.

As for Ayala, his experience was still most needed by the team… Obviously, if there was a team interested in him and wanted to pay to buy him, Twain would not force him to stay. After all, Ayala did not have many chances left to contribute to the Forest team.

As for a player like Wes Morgan, he did not need to give him too many chances to play. The occasional appearance was enough. His main task was not to help the team win on the pitch, but to maintain the balance in the locker room, ensure the integrity of the Nottingham Forest lineup, and … help the team successfully pass the pre-season registration to qualify for the Champions League.

Basically, this was Twain’s plan of action for new players this summer. All kinds of transfers in and out would generally be based on this plan. He would keep the team’s main frame and repair or adjust some small details, which would not only ensure the degree of rapport within the team, but also to add fresh blood to strengthen their abilities.

Nottingham Forest would be highly anticipated in the new season…