Godfather Of Champions

For ordinary people, January represented the arrival of the new year, a holiday and snow. But for Europe’s professional football clubs, January represented a busy transfer window.

Was there any area that Nottingham Forest needed to supplement? Except for Gareth Bale’s serious injury, Nottingham Forest’s injury situation was still relatively minor. It had something to do with their good stamina reserves during their summer preparations. The intense competitive events during the Christmas period did not drag down the team’s fitness and naturally there would not be many inexplicable injuries.

Twain rarely purchased players during the winter transfer window unless he was forced to. Because there were a lot of restrictions with players who were bought halfway during this time. Moreover, this was not the time to but good quality and cheap players. Good players finished moving in the summer and those left were either too expensive, limited in their level or unable to play in the Champions League. Coupled with the fact that the players who joined the team mid-way often did not have time to familiarize with the team’s style and had to play immediately, so the degree of tacit understanding with the teammates could not be compared to those players who joined in the summer. It would result in the team’s play being affected.

Twain had long said to Evan and Allan that the Forest team would not buy anyone in January. There was no need for any purchase.

He might need to buy a left back to supplement if Joe Mattock was out on loan. But for now, Mattock had been fairly solid after a couple of appearances, worthy of being highly recommended to him by Stuart Pearce, England’s under-21 national team manager. It was great to have someone at the top… There was always a bargain to be had!

Twain had already set out to focus on developing Mattock as the Forest team’s future left back.

Even if Nottingham Forest did not sign on any players in the winter period, it did not imply that their own players were not coveted by the other teams.

After AC Milan in the summer, no one had ever mentioned the signing of George Wood again. Everyone knew that English football produced the kind of old-fashioned stalwarts, such as Manchester United’s Scholes and Giggs, Chelsea’s Terry and Lampard, Liverpool’s Gerrard and Carragher….It was almost a fantasy to want to buy such a player. Even though George Wood was currently young, he was already rising among the “stalwarts.”

Wood was naturally not for sale at Nottingham Forest, but the other players did not have this label.

Aaron Lennon had won the attention of more and more other teams over the years as he played well at Nottingham Forest. This season seemed to be a good time to take him away from the City Ground stadium as Bentley, his direct rival for the national team, was brought in by Twain. The media thought that Lennon would have some dissatisfaction. Although he did not show it, it must be frustrating to have another competitor come in for the team’s main position which took him great effort to secure.

Two clubs had already announced their interest in Lennon. One was England’s Tottenham Hotspur. They had hoped to bring in Lennon before Lennon went to Nottingham Forest, but unfortunately Lennon chose Tony Twain at that time. Tottenham Hotspur still “refused to give up its evil designs” for Lennon and still constantly had him on its mind.

The other team was La Liga’s Valencia. Joaquín and Vicente, the pair of former Spanish golden wingers were now on the verge of turning thirty this year and frequent injuries affected their appearances. After David Silva was sold to Real Madrid, they lacked a new force on the wings. So, Valencia’s top brass, who had weathered the economic crisis after much difficulty, had their sights set on Lennon, who was fast and good at breaking through and assisting on the sides.

In response to the rumors that these two clubs wanted to buy Lennon, Twain’s response was “not for sale!”

Seriously, his own flank had only few players to rotate, two on the left flank and two on the right flank. If he sold one, what would happen if the other player was suddenly injured? Furthermore, Lennon used to play in the Forest youth team and also considered to be trained by the Forest Youth Camp. He also played a role in the Champions League qualifier and had feelings for Nottingham Forest. Twain basically would not touch such a player who had not make any unforgivable mistakes.

Kompany and Pepe were still sought after by a number of teams every year. After Piqué’s departure, they were two of the mainstays in Nottingham Forest’s rear defensive line. Woodgate was also good, but in terms of level and physical fitness, the first two players were still a little better.

For these two players, Twain was also of the same attitude—they were not for sale.

What did Nottingham Forest rely on to prosper? How were they supposed to continue to compete if they sold their defensive backbone?

There was a team which was interested in Leighton Baines. It was not a big team, just a mid-tier Premier League team. Twain did not turn it down immediately. Now that Gareth Bale had confirmed his departure from the season, it was unlikely that he would sell another left back during the winter transfer window. But in Twain’s mind, Baines was not necessary not for sale. If Mattock developed in the future, Baines would have to be ranked third in the team’s left back position, which he would not be good for the team at that time. He was only twenty-five years old now. This was the best time to sell for the best price.

In rejecting the offers from those teams, Twain added, “In the winter transfer window, we will not consider selling any of our left backs.”

With Twain starting to play the combination of double defensive midfielders this season, Tiago had also made a number of contributions in offense, so he had more chances to play than last season and even edged ahead of ?ahin. Tiago’s excellent performance attracted the attention of the other teams.

Portugal’s Benfica was hoping to recall their old player and Spain’s Villarreal also hoped to get him. Twain did not want to sell yet, thinking he had not found a suitable successor. When Twain decided to sell a player, he must have identified an alternate in the same position so that he would not be derailed by some unexpected circumstances. To know that there were so many inexplicable surprises in life…

At the beginning of the season, Twain let John Bostock stay in the team because he felt the team had to compete in multiple tournaments and Bostock would not be short of opportunities to play and practice. But half a season later, he found that he was wrong. Bostock’s chances of playing had been reduced as a result of tactical changes. And he only played in the middle of the midfield in this position. His strength and experience ranked last among the four midfielders, so he naturally had the least the opportunities to play. This was not conducive to his growth. Bostock had also been to talk to Twain alone. He certainly did not say that he intended to transfer from Nottingham Forest but said that he hoped to seek a loan opportunity to get more appearances in the games and gain experience.

Twain thought it over for a long time and finally agreed to his decision. Adriano Moke, Nicolás Millán and Victor Moses had been loaned out and their performances were a mixed bag. But it was better than sitting on the bench.

Since January, Nottingham Forest had received three applications to loan Bostock. One of which was the right to purchase first after a loan period. The club had been shot down directly by Twain. He did not want to sell Bostock yet. The boy had a great future but needed time to develop.

The two remaining clubs were Fulham and West Ham United. Twain agreed to both, and all that remained was up to Bostock to choose the team he wanted. He did not have to do anything else.

Chris Cohen, a low-profile player who had been honed and progressively emerged as a sharp player, had been favored by a number of teams after a season and a half of outstanding play. His and Matías Fernández’s performance on the left flank continued the Forest team’s tradition of focusing on the flanks and having good side players. Fernández occasionally had to play in the middle while Cohen was also an all-rounder who was good at the sides and middle. But Twain fixed him in the flank because there were too many players in the middle…

His performance lived up to Twain’s expectations. He was diligent and never complained about sitting on the bench. He had two goals and six assists after playing half of the season. At first he was seen as the second Kris Commons. Their names sounded similar and the media and pundits thought Cohen was a player who would helplessly leave the Forest team in the end after a few years on the substitutes’ bench. But they did not think that Cohen had impressed the Forest coaching staff with his good attitude and strength. He not only stayed with the Forest team, but also became a mainstay in the rotation with Fernández.

There was one thing that could specifically be a vivid description of Chris Cohen’s level today. In the FM 2011, the famous football manager game that was just released less two months ago, Cohen’s potential was fixed at 152, which was not a high figure, and not impressive as compared to those young wonderkids who were easily at 180 and above. But his data distribution was quite scientific. In the left midfielder position, which needed a few key data, his numbers were very good. His current ability of 145 allowed his passes and crosses to be at 16, his skills at 15, stopping the ball at 14, endurance up to 18, speed also at 14, and teamwork at the highest 19.

The universal feedback from the gamers for such players was that they had low potential but could obtain high marks every game. They were very useful. Their other numbers did not look good, but their actual performance was very good.

Sports Interactive and Nottingham Forest had a collaboration. They could have the most direct and detailed observation of the Forest players, so the data given was generally the most authoritative. A lot of gamers who played FM liked to buy the Forest players because they were very useful regardless of their data. Maybe this was partiality on Sports Interactive’s part? There was even talk of Tony Twain playing FM to coach the team to dig up the wonderkids everywhere…

In terms of the strikers, ?igi?’s performance also marked the second turnaround of his career. As a center forward, his number of goals scored was still not too many and subjected to many fans’ denouncement. But the people who were really savvy about football knew the importance of ?igi? in the Forest team: firstly, with him around, the Forest team had the absolute aerial advantage in the front field. Secondly, his presence could greatly enrich the Forest team’s offensive style. He could launch the attack from both sides and force bombardment. He could also be a firm center forward and receive the passes to create chances for his teammates to plug in. Whether it was a long ball or a short pass coordination, he was needed as a bridgehead; furthermore, he could occasionally withdraw to be the center back to defend when the defense for a set piece was required.

Twain always valued a player who appeared ordinary but could always play a role that was not noticed by ordinary people. ?igi?’s character was also clearly much better than that of his predecessor, Bendtner. He had been with the team for several years, kept a low profile and never create trouble.

It was because of such a low-key player who was now like a light bulb in the night that attracted bugs…

Newcastle United, Middlesbrough, Atlético Madrid, RCD Espanyol and Italy’s Fiorentina and Napoli were all interested in signing the front field’s lighthouse, who could both score goals and create chances for his teammates, in addition to having a great impact on the team’s attacking tactics.

While the most attention-grabbing news in the transfer market each year were the transfer rumors of the superstar players, the fact remained that most of the deals that made up the transfer market came from these second-tier players.

Twain certainly would not be willing to sell ?igi?. It was currently hard to find a good center forward.

But Allan Adams came to him.

※※※

Twain had already figured it out. But if Allan came to him first, most of the time it was not a good thing. If it was not about the club’s financial constraints and how his plan to buy several players to bolster the team’s strength was put on hold. Or it would be that the club’s financials were tight and there was a need for the team to sell a few players to ease the situation; or to say that he hoped Twain would pay attention to control the team’s salary budget …

The relationship between the Nottingham Forest trio of heads was delicate: the relationship between Evan and Allan needed no mention. They were partners who worked hard together till now. As for Evan and Tony, they were friends who found each other familiar at the first sight and got along well. Whereas for Tony and Allan… it was a little complicated with them. On the one hand, they were colleagues and naturally needed to join forces to work together. For example, Twain needed Allan to set out for negotiations a lot of times when he had to buy players. Occasionally, they could even joke and chat about the world. It was congenial between them. But on the other hand, also because of the work relationship, Twain and Allan curbed each other, so they naturally would not have too much affection for each other—Twain wanted to spend money and Allan wanted to make money. This was the basic contradiction. In addition, there were times when Twain felt that Allan used the money as a cover to meddle too much in the team’s affairs, which upset him a little.

This was, of course, Evan’s way of management for everyone to control each other which would be more stable.

But even he could not control how other people complained in their hearts.

Allan clearly knew what Twain thought of him, so he jokingly pointed out his purpose as soon as he saw Twain, “I know what’s on your mind, Tony. You guessed right.”

Twain glanced at him unkindly.

“Evan and I both think you should seriously consider the clubs’ bids for ?igi?.”

“I need a center forward, Allan.”

“Won’t the Bosnian do?”

“He’s still not good enough…”

“Then train him, Tony. We all believe in your ability to do so.”

Twain spread his hands and bent his fingers, warming up like a magician would do before he performed magic. He said, “Look, Allan. I have nothing in my hands now.” Then he made a grip with his hands, waved his fists in the air, and spread open again. “I still have nothing.”

“I’m not a magician who can make something out of nothing.” The empty-handed Twain said to Allan.

“Tony, Millán and Moses are back next season. How are you going to arrange your forward line?” Allan did not care about Twain’s conjuring sarcasm and asked.

“Ruud will retire. Millán, Moses and Agbonlahor can play as wingers or attacking midfielders.”

“We are not short of midfielders.”

Twain shook his head and said, “I’m going to change the formation.” He was going to go into detail about what the changes were, but upon seeing Allan’s face, he lost interest—he could talk nonstop but the American, with his half-baked knowledge, might not have understood much.

Allan sat down and sincerely said to Twain, “Tony, you know, we never asked you to sell the core players. But I really don’t think ?igi? is the kind of indispensable player. He has done well in the last two seasons, so suddenly there are a lot of clubs interested in him. I am a businessman. I know that we should be decisive to selling when a product is at its most valuable stage. Otherwise, when the value declines, we can’t even sell it when we want to sell. Selling ?igi? will bring an income to the club and reduce the wage burden, which I think is a very good deal.”

Twain snorted in his mind. A businessman, of course, only talked about business.

But he did not hit back at Allan who at least said one thing right—?igi? was not an indispensable and irreplaceable player yet. Moreover, in his new squad, he really did not need that many strikers…

However, he needed a way out of an embarrassing situation…he said, “Give me a few days to think about it, Allan.”

Allan Adams smiled and replied, “I’ll waiting to hear from you, Tony.”

Allan said goodbye, and Twain leaned against his large desk. He turned to look at the training ground behind him. The team was still in training. His eyes were firmly fixed on the tallest man on the field.