<h4>Chapter 736: He’s back</h4>
<strong>Trantor: </strong>Nyoi-Bo Studio <strong>Editor: </strong>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. Scri’s team has been eliminated. Aside from the Champion’s Cup, they did not enter the finals at all. Scri would probably still do well even if they are unable to participate in the Champion’s Cup next season. Abramovich once said that Scri would never be dismissed regardless of the results of the league, but who would believe his words?”
The television in the bar was ying Ser’s 90 Minutes on Sky Television . Although its main host had been reced 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 guysughed 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 thest 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 d that Shania, who was staying in the States, coulde back and apany him. They were a married couple that lived separately For someone who lived in a vi that spanned several hundred square metres, it was extremely lonely and cold.
To wee 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 pped 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 west 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 be a very romantic matter!” She apuded 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, thepetition 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 forpetition.
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 stillpete 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’sst 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 becent and then mess up in thest 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 thest match seriously. And he set the roster for this match solely based on the yers’ 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 thest bit of hope Chelsea had.
Making his opponents feel despair… That was indeed too great!
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Thest 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 ying on away ground.
Scri was already adding pressure onto Nottingham Forest team on his interview before the match, waging a psychological war.
He said, “My yers 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 Scri 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 ofpetition. Their greatest loss would be their financial one. Participating in the League Cup and the Champions League are twopletely different things. Participating in the Champions League would mean a lot more ie.
“Everyone knows their financial situation isn’t ideal. An 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 ser 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 urately tell the?yers without errors, “If you guys can’t win, you’ll feel the stress.” Who does not want to y in the Champions League? Who does not want to improve their future days?
As such, the youths in this team would constantly fret before thepetition, thinking that they absolutely cannot lose. The stress would umte, 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 moreplicated. 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 epting 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 Ennd in the European Champions League next season. But,dies 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 yers 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, ording to thementators 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.
ording to the current results, Chelsea is ahead of Nottingham Forest, with a two point difference to be ced 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 ying well was no
※※※
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 ying a good game, but it was not because of the team. On the other hand, if he did not say anything, the yers might feel like the problem was them.
Hence, he said, “My friends, this is thest 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 ying for the league cup would be good, maybe some would feel that all of these efforts was just forpeting 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 issuesst year which pulled us away from Europe for a year!?But now, we areing back.
“In our absence, those of Europe’s greats have had a veryfortable 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’reing 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? ”
Twainughed. “Use this match to remind them: That’s right, we’re back! ”
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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 thetest news from another stadium on the radio.
Even in Scri’s chair, someone was listening to thetest developments on the radio.Just as the media had predicted before the match, the deciding factor in thest 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 exhration, everyone began to wait anxiously for thest ten minutes to end. Nobody thought ten minutes couldst 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:
“... ?igi?’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. Scri 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 thiste 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 yers 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 yers before he was surrounded at the coach’s chair by reporters .
“Ninth cest season and fourth ce this time. Coach Tony Twain, as someone with a heart condition, you have achieved something very brilliant. Congrattions! What do you have to say?”
“Tell the guys in Europe that your old friends are back!” He said,ughing, pointing at the camera lens. Mourinho, we’ll repay the debt from when you kicked my team outst 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. ”