Chapter 103: Walker’s Farewell Part 1
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
It was already November, and the matches of the league were becoming more packed. However, Tang En's job remained the same, leaving the team's training to Kerslake and occasionally giving Wood some guidance. After the match with Arsenal, everyone knew George Wood's impressiveness when it came to man-marking, as well as his weakness in zonal marking. So, the coaching staff intentionally reduced his man-marking practices, and instead let Wood participate in more Rondo trainings to train his zonal marking sense. Tang En and Kerslake both agreed that George Wood was a defense genius, and that as long as he trained properly and accumulated more experience during matches, this kid's future would be bright.
On the other hand, Tang En also focused more of his attention toward the future. Although Doughty did not give him a definitive date for his return, Tang En reckoned that it would be around the winter break. If it were any later, there would not be much use. If it were earlier, it was unsure if Doughty would have finished the things that he had planned to do.
As if to confirm the information that Tang En had searched on the web the other day, Nottingham Forest's stock prices continued to fall, and had already dropped all the way to 19 pennies per unit.
He knew that it was the time for Edward to act. No, perhaps he had already acted on it.
Then, it was time for him to act, as well.
A scout is a staff-member that could not be lacking in any professional football club. They were familiar with a specific place's football environment, had wide connections, were well-informed, and had a discerning eye. It was an essential profession that provided the football teams with fresh blood.
The amount of money required to hire a scout was quite considerable. The expenses were not limited to the scout's salary, but also included the travelling fees, lodging fees, equipment fees, and even the fees used to bribe the family members of the players. Nottingham Forest, which had fallen into a financial crisis, obviously did not care much about their scouts. As a result, most of their scouts left, and there were only three scouts left at the moment—58-year-old football scout Ian Storey-Moore, 35-year-old Dave Johnston, and 43-year-old Colin Hudson.
The latter two were often outside, and were not even locals of Nottingham. They would write letters back to the clubs irregularly to inform about the place where they found talented young players, as well as attach footage of that person's play—should the conditions permit. It was almost impossible to find them on the team's training grounds.
As the other scout, Mr. Storey-Moore was in charge of scouting for players in the Nottingham surroundings, and, theoretically, he should occasionally have been seen on the training grounds. Tang En thought for a while. Ever since he became the first team's manager, Tang En had not even seen Storey-Moore even once at Wilford, even though it was said that during that period of time, Storey-Moore had appeared on the team's training grounds before.
This person's whereabouts were elusive. Now that Tang En needed his help, he didn't want to hear that he had to wait at the training grounds for his appearance?
Tang En decided to find Walker, as he must know Storey-Moore's phone number and home address. If Storey-Moore could not be found in the club, then Tang En would phone his house and pay a visit to him.
He just did whatever he had in mind. Tang En was not worried in the slightest bit about the awkward situation if he were to meet Collymore in the first team's training venue. That was because he knew the chances of Collymore appearing at the training venue at that time were near zero.
The team was not performing well, and that idiot seemed to have resigned himself to it.
When Tang En reached the first team's training venue, the team's training had already ended. The players were either showering and changing in the changing room, or they had already left the training grounds.
He saw Walker and another old man standing together, their moods did not appear to be very good. The old man had his back to Tang En while he shook his head, while Walker repeatedly said something.
Tang En hastened his steps and approached them, waving toward Walker who was facing him. Walker saw Twain and said something to the old man, before walking toward Twain.
"Tony, why did you come here to find me? Ever since you went to the youth team, you haven't come here even once."
"Of course, you know, I don't wish to see Collymore. But I came here today with a favor to ask of you. Des, do you know Ian Storey-Moore's phone number and home address?" Tang En asked.
Hearing the name that Tang En uttered, Des was momentarily stunned before he turned around and laughed. "You came here at the right time, Tony." He used his eyes to signal to Tang En, to look at the old man behind him. "You see him?"
"Who is he?" Tang En asked in bewilderment.
"The person you're looking for, Mr. Ian Storey-Moore, the team's top scout."
"Ah? Thank God!" Tang En clapped his hands. Such a coincidence! He had appeared in front of Tang En right when Tang En needed to find him. "Thank you, Des." He patted Walker's shoulders, before walking toward the old man.
"Hey, Tony, but…" Tang En seemed to have not heard Walker, as he continued walking. Looking at his back, Walker sighed, "Forget it."
Storey-Moore saw a young man headed toward him, with his hand extended and a face full of smiles. Was it an intention to shake hands? Storey-Moore also extended his hand.
"Mr. Storey-Moore, pleased to meet you. I am Tony Twain, the supervisor of the youth team," Twain introduced himself.
Moore nodded his head and said slowly, "I've heard of you, Mr. Twain."
Storey-Moore, who was 58 years old, had a head full of white hair. The crevices on his face intersected, and the pair of eyes that had discovered countless youth talents were buried deep within his eye sockets. In the dusk, they appeared to be not very clear, but Tang En was still able to see a glimmer of light flash past amidst the darkness.
"Can I help you?" Moore asked slowly.
Tang En smiled. "It's like this, I would like to engage Mr. Moore's help with finding someone."
Before he could even finish his sentence, Moore shook his head and refused his request. "Really sorry, Mr. Twain. I've already decided to retire."
"What?" Tang En thought that his ears were playing tricks on him.
Walker walked up from the side and sighed. "Mr. Moore came to find me to talk about this matter. I wanted to persuade him to change his mind, but from the looks of it, it seems fairly impossible." Walker shrugged his shoulders with resignation.
"But…" Tang En looked at Storey-Moore from head to toe and said, "But your body still appears to be in a great shape and can even rival those professional players!"
Moore smiled and said, "Thank you Mr. Twain for your compliment. If you are referring to those players over there," he pointed in the far direction at the group of Nottingham Forest players who had just exited the changing room and was walking toward the car park and said, "I think I am even better at running than them. But this part of me," he pointed toward his heart and continued, "is tired."
Tang En understood. It was yet another person that had been knocked down by Nottingham Forest's consecutive disastrous results and the bleak future of the team. Faced with an old man like this who had dedicated 30 years of his life to the club, what more could Tang En ask for? Could he say, "Don't worry, Mr. Moore. I will soon become the master of this place. When that time comes, Nottingham Forest will have a bright future"?
He could not, because even he himself did not know what would happen in the future. No, perhaps it should be said that even though he knew the fates of a few people and the occurrences of certain events over the next few years, he did not know his own fate in the future, not even his fate for the next day.
"Did Mr. Chairman agree to it?" Tang En did not want such an experienced veteran scout to leave just like this. He wanted to personally persuade him to stay.
Moore nodded his head. "Yes, he has agreed to my retirement."
What is that b*stard Doughty doing! This kind of person is the wealth of the club and should be held on to firmly. How could he let him go? Tang En scolded in his heart. Afterwards, he raised his head and looked at Moore, unwilling to give up just like that.
"Mr. Moore, although you've already decided to retire, can I ask for a personal favor from you to find a person?"
Moore looked at Tang En before replying, "A person that can make Mr. Twain so persistent… I would also like to meet him."
This is considered a yes, right? Tang En smiled. He whipped out a piece of paper that contained the name of the person he wanted to find, and passed it to Storey-Moore.
"Eastwood?" Moore read out the name written on it. "Only this? Nothing else? Is this a surname or a name?"
"It's a surname… Erm, I don't quite remember his name anymore." Tang En was not lying. He had only remembered this person's surname as it could be easily translated into Chinese: 东木头—Eastwood. As for his name, he really could not recall.
"Mr. Twain, there are more than 10,000 people in the whole of England whose surname is Eastwood—men, women, adults, children, old people… even your hometown is called Eastwood." Moore shook his head. Searching for this person was akin to searching for a needle in a haystack, and he was slightly inclined to refuse this request already.
Tang En quickly added, "I still have some other information regarding him. I believe it will prove useful to you, Mr. Moore. He used to be a player of Westham United's youth team, and should have still been there until the last season. I've tried searching him up on the internet, but Westham currently doesn't have such a person. I don't know where he went."
Tang En knew this person even before he time-travelled. However, that was only because of a coincidence, and he had not heard of him before that. When Tang En searched Gareth Bale's football videos on Youtube, he found a video compilation of several young players with a lot of potential called "Best Young Players Outside the Premiership." This person was one of the players in the video. After that, Tang En specifically went to look for his stats in FM07. What he found shocked him, and was completely beyond his expectations. That kid was very, very outstanding, and the few crucial statistics for the striker were all above seventeen. The maximum points for any statistic in the game was only 20!