<h4>Chapter 740: World Cup in South Africa</h4>
<b>Trantor:</b>?Nyoi-Bo Studio?<b>Editor:</b>?Nyoi-Bo Studio
Twain’s fight with the reporters in the hotel did not cause his holidays to return to him. Instead, it only caused his holidays to leave him further behind.
News about how he berated the Chinese Football Association and got into a ‘duel of words’ with the reporters during the press conference surfaced on numerous media tforms. No matter where he walked, he would always run into reporters or football fans. Some of them were friendly towards him while others longed for him to die.
It is said that the Chinese Football Association was so enraged by Tony Twain’sments that they specially phoned Nottingham Forest Football Club to protest. However, Nottingham Forest Football Club’s reply to them was, “Mr. Tony Twain does not represent our football club when he is out on holiday. Thements he makes during his personal time have nothing to do with our football club.”
And that was how they dismissed the Chinese Football Association’s fury.
However, the Chinese Football Association still had other ways to express their discontent. They made it clear that they would not allow Nottingham Forest to y any matches in China in the future. Essentially, they cklisted the entire Nottingham Forest team.
What a disy of might!
If they could, they also wanted to ban Tony Twain from entry into China.
Of course, their actions only caused theizens and the media to bombard them with admonitions.
In Chinese, there is a term that is used to express humility in which the speaker downgrades himself or herself by iming that he or she is ‘presenting something unpleasant’ to the other person. However, what the Chinese Football Association is doing at the moment was not to ‘present’ something unpleasant, but rather, they are ‘showing off’ their unpleasantries. They are making all their imperfections known to the public, as though they are bragging about it. It is as if they think the world is as stupid as them.
The Chinese media in China has been unusually busy during this period of time. Some were busy scolding the Chinese Football Association, some were apuding Twain for his words, some just wanted to be at loggerheads with both parties involved, and some were just trying to hype up the whole incident. There were all kinds of people making an appearance.
All the reports left the Chinese football fans stimted, as though they had taken stimnts. It was one adrenaline rush after another.
As for Twain, he left after stirring up numerous disturbances and dumping a massive grenade into an originally calmke.
He definitely could not continue to enjoy his holidays in China any longer. All he could do was to make his way over to Hong Kong and attend a press conference about a business endorsement there. Simrly, Shania had to shoot an advertisement for a makeup brand that she had signed a contract with earlier, and she also needed to attend a press conference for a productunch in Hong Kong.
The organisers of the event had also prepared a small dinner party to entertain both Twain and Shania.
There were less of those annoying and trivial issues that would bother Twain in Hong Kong. Things might be getting out of control in China, but all those things had nothing to do with Twain while he was in Hong Kong.
He stayed in Hong Kong for a couple of days, before flying back to Ennd with Shania.
He certainly did not forget to bring back a present for Evan and An from China. However, the present was not something tangible. It was a request for a business coboration.
During his short stay in Hong Kong, Twain met Li Ka-shing’s elder son, Victor Li, who was the CEO of Cheung Kong Holdings Limited.
It was just supposed to be a simple dinner party, but Victor Li clearly came prepared.
He mentioned how he was very interested in the real estate development n that had been put aside by Nottingham Forest during his chat with Twain.
He did not say much, but the intelligent Twain already knew what the man was getting at.
The British real estate market has taken a huge blow as a result of the economic crisis that has been going on for two years. Property andnd prices have gone on a steep decline and have almost hit rock bottom.
However, to a sessful businessman, it is precisely during times like this that an opportunity to make a fortune arises. Since the British real estate market is currently experiencing winter, doesn’t that mean that spring is not too far away?
If not for the arrival of the economic crisis, Nottingham Forest would have been able toplete their development ns in Clifton without a hitch. And, given how the British real estate market has prospered over the past few years, the football club would have been able to generate a profit and suffer no losses.
However, if that were to happen, then it would be very difficult for the Li family, who mainly did business in Hong Kong, to participate in the British real estate development market.
To Victor Li’s Cheung Kong Holdings Limited, the economic crisis has provided them with a golden opportunity to expand their business overseas.
Clifton was just a part of a brick wall that Victor Li had to tear down in order to bring his business into Ennd.
However, Twain did not care about what these businessmen had on their minds. He was just going to ry the news to An Adams and Evan Doughty. Everything else was up to An.
If this business coboration was possible however, it would be good news for him as well, because he would no longer have to worry about not having the funds to buy yers. He could also stop selling star yers in his team to generate the funds needed to fill the bottomless pit caused by the club’s constant financial troubles…
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Evan was very interested in the ‘gift’ that Twain had brought back from China. It would certainly greatly reduce the club’s financial burdens if they are able to convince the Hong Kong firm to invest in their development ns.
He did not think about having all of the profits to himself at a time like this when the economy was not doing well. The cake was too big for him to finish alone.
An was optimistic towards the news that Twain had brought back, but also exercised caution. He had approached Victor Li in the past for a business coboration as well. Back then, Victor Li had considered his proposition for a while, but still ended up refusing his proposal. Why did he change his mind in just a year?
In contrast, Evan did not find it odd that Victor Li had a change of heart. A year ago the property andnd prices had not reached rock bottom. It is only natural for him to wait until the prices hit rock bottom before making a move since it would lower the overall costs for him. He is a businessman after all. He needs to be a little crafty.
As Twain was having a headache over which yers he should buy and sell for the new season, An Adams flew over to Hong Kong personally to discuss the details about their potential business coboration.
None of them would have known that this business deal would take a year before an agreement would finally be reached. Both parties only signed a contract in September of 2011.
The new football stadium finally weed the arrival of the ‘God of Wealth’ from the East. The construction works that had been stalled for three years could finally resume once again.
Of course, these information are just ‘postscripts’ right now, and will be discussed at ater time.
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Half of June had already passed by when Dunn returned to Nottingham by himself. To both Twain and Dunn however, the summer for 2010 had only just started.
Travelling to China and helping the club earn a chance to work with the Li family this summer were trifles to Twain.
The main event for this summer was definitely not his squabble with the Chinese media. It was going to take ce in South Africa.
The World Cup hadmenced.
Numerous highly sought-after football stars have all emerged from the previous World Cuppetitions. The World Cup was the perfect chance for all managers to scrutinize the conditions and performances of their own yers as well as potential yers.
After hearing that Cheung Kong Holdings Limited was interested in working with the club in the development of Clifton, Evan Doughty set aside 50 million pounds as Twain’s summer transfer budget from thepany’s finances.
With that money in hand, Twain dragged Dunn along with him and they boarded the ne to the capital of South Africa: Johannesburg.
The treasure hunt starts again!
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“I was still worried that we would see nothing but sceneries of falling snow when we alight from the ne. It seems like I know too little about the world.”
The host South Africa was situated in the Southern Hemisphere. It was currently winter in South Africa, unlike other countries in the Northern Hemisphere that were already experiencing midsummer.
It might be winter here in South Africa, but the weather was not ‘wintry’. The average temperature at Johannesburg, which was one of the several venues for the World Cup, was 18 degree Celsius. Such a temperature was very suitable for outdoor sports.
The main reason behind Twain’s trip to South Africa was none other than to take on the role as a guestmentator for the World Cup on BBC5. He has already established his own unique style ofmenting on the matches following hismentaries during the World Cup in Germany and the Euro 2008 held in Austria and Switzend. There are numerous people who like listening to hismentaries.
He also has his own fan site online. His fans would collect and post the variousments he made on air in the past on the. They would also post his writings, videos and recordings; basically anything they can find, for others to browse and download, so as to spread his influence.
In China, he also has his own fan base, and those fans of his call all these materials that have been posted on the as ‘Tony Twain’s Quotations’.
There were even Chineseizens who suggested that the China Central Television should hire Twain as amentator after he chastised the Chinese Football Association. He was very fluent in Chinese after all.
Of course, those were nothing more than theizens’ wishful thinking. They never came true.
However, what it all demonstrated was that even if there came a day where Twain does not want to be a football manager anymore, he would still be able to find a job as a pundit with the reputation that he has right now.
On the other hand, Dunn was going to join Kerke and the other scouts who have all arrived in Johannesburg much earlier than them in their work of observing the yers who were participating in the World Cup, so as to provide Twain with the first-hand information with regards to what sort of yers he should go for during the transfer window. They would also scrutinize the yers who are already on Twain’s transfer wish list and make sure that those yers are truly eligible to be a yer for Forest.
Additionally, as the assistant manager, Dunn also has to constantly meet up with the football agents who have turned up at the World Cup. Some of those agents approached him to rmend their yers to Nottingham Forest since they are a team who has made their return to the European stage, while others required Dunn to take the initiative and approach them himself instead.
After parting ways at the airport, Twain followed the BBC staff over to the hotel which he would be staying at, while Dunn got in contact with the scouts who were scattered all over the city and began doing his work as well.
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The World Cup in South Africa was not spared from the impact of the global economic crisis, but the South African government hope to use the World Cup as an opportunity to boost their country’s economy. Hence, much effort was put into making the World Cup a lively one.
Twain did not care about that, however. Besides providing livementaries and writing articles for the four British and one Chinese media outlets that had signed a contract with him, he was going to allocate all his remaining time and energy into his search for a few interesting yers amongst all the yers who were participating in the World Cup.
Thementators who were in charge of providingmentary for the Ennd match were able to provide a more in-depth analysis due to their familiarity with the yers.
Twain has also started focusing on the homegrown British yers a lot more since two seasons ago, due to the imminent implementation of a rule that will enforce a fixed ratio of homegrown yers to foreign yers in all football clubs.
This rule proposed by Sepp tter that will restrict the number of foreign yers in all football clubs across the world will be enforced in the 2010-11 season. The rule was to be carried out slowly over three stages.
Firstly, all clubs have toply with a ‘4+7’ rule. Every club is allowed to have four homegrown yers and seven foreign yers in their starting line-up of 11 yers.
Secondly, during the 2011-12 season, all clubs have toply with a ‘5+6’ rule. The number of foreign yers allowed in the starting line-up would be reduced to six, while the number of homegrown yers would be increased to five. The number of homegrown yers would still be slightly lesser than the number of foreign yers.
Thirdly, during the 2012-13 season, all clubs have toply with the ‘6+5′ rule. The number of homegrown yers in the starting line-up will be higher than that of the foreign yers’.
This rule is meant tobat how numerous football clubs are bing increasingly ‘international teams’. It is a rule that hopes to provide more opportunities for the homegrown yers and thereby boost the standards of football in the various countries.
However, the moment this rule was proposed, it was met with fierce protests from the European Union. The European Union believed that this rule by FIFA was an impediment to the free movement of talent from one country to another, and saw it as a rule that contravened human rights.
Up till now, both parties have yet to see eye to eye, and neither side has relented. The European Union might not have agreed to the implementation of the rule, but the ‘6+5’ rule looks set to be implemented in the new season.
The Premier League will be the league that is the most deeply affected by the implementation of the rule. The Premier League’s unique system of giving out work permits to foreign yers has led to several Premier League teams possessing a rtively high number of foreign yers in their teams.
A foreign yer ying in the Premier League only needs to pass the Home Office’s audit to obtain a work permit. It did not matter what the yer’s nationality was. All foreign yers are allowed to y in the Premier League without restrictions. This system is very different from La Liga, whereby every football team is only allowed to have three non-European Union yers, and it allows the Premier League to gather top yers from many countries.
To obtain a work permit, a foreign yer is required to appear in at least 75 per cent of his national team’spetitive ‘A-ranked’ matches in a year, and his national team also needs to be ranked within the top 68 teams on the FIFA World Rankings.
The implementation of such a system has ensured the quantity and quality of the foreign yers who y in the Premier League. This is how the Premier League became one of the most sessful leagues in the world. It also exins how the Premier League is able to rece Serie A, which was once reputed as a ‘mini World Cup’ in the early 90s, as the top league in Europe.
However, there was also a dire consequence that arose as a result of the implementation of such a system. The standard of football was high in the Premier League, but conversely, the standard of football of the Ennd national team was beyond terrible…
One contributing factor to the terrible standard of football was how the British media would only brag about how talented their youths were. Another contributing factor was how the various big football clubs were unwilling to give their homegrown youth yers more ying time. They would rather spend money bringing in established foreign talents. Doing so deprives the youth yers of the opportunities to gain experience, and ultimately leads to their downfall. The youth yers all be ‘Fang Zhong-Yong’ in the story of ‘The Pity of Zhong-Yong’ [1].
The FIFA’s regtions left Wenger feeling extremely annoyed and helpless, but all he could do was to ept the rules. Unlike Wenger, Twain was not as worried about the implementation of the new rules. He had already started gathering talented homegrown yers and youths two years ago, and has been waiting for the day where the rule would be implemented all along.
It was not hard for him toply with the ‘4+7’ rule based on how his team is set up currently. However, considering how the rule mainly restricts the 11 yers who are going to y on the pitch, he still needs to continue scouting homegrown British yers.
For this season, Twain was definitely going to go after Tottenham Hotspur’s right winger David Bentley. Ever since Beckham’s departure from the team, Forest hascked attacking options going down the right, and relying on Lennon alone was not viable. Thus, he has his eyes set on the yer who shares the same name as the world-renowned luxury car brand ‘Bentley’.
Beckham’s departure from the Ennd’s national team has also led to a fiercepetition for the right-winger position. Aaron Lennon and Theo Walcott are both yers who have been called the ‘sessors’ of David Beckham, but it was David Bentley from Tottenham Hotspur who came out on top and became the starting right winger for Capello’s Ennd national team.
Like Capello, Twain also thought highly of this midfielder who could y on the nks. He was a yer who could pass, shoot and break through the defense. Twain decided to pay the most attention to Bentley’s performance during this World Cup.
There was also another yer who Twain wanted to focus on as well. However, he was paying attention to that yer not because he wants to bring him into the team, because he is already a member of the Nottingham Forest team.
George Wood is a yer that Twain personally picked up from the slum. The attention that Twain has ced on George Wood all this while has already surpassed the kind of attention that a manager is expected to ce on his yers.
George Wood was not able to receive a single minute of game time during the World Cup in Germany. From 2006 to 2010 however, George Wood underwent a drastic transformation. He was the captain during both seasons when his team won the Champions League. He would also be present in the midfield positions for the Professional Footballers’ Association Premier League Team of the Year every season. His performance has garnered attention from teams all over the world. Twain would find heaps of faxes hoping to buy George Wood on his desk every summer. yers of the Football Manager game also ssh the cash in the game to buy the solid midfielder for their teams.
Will George Wood, who has had a fantastic footballing career in his club so far, be able to gain his first experience ying for his national team at such a big tournament during the summer of 2010?
Twain intends to wait and see how everything transpires.