Chapter 159: Wizardly Twain Part 1
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
"Welcome to Wales! Welcome to Cardiff!" The Sky TV reporter stood in a crowded square with a microphone. Behind him was the largest professional football field in the United Kingdom, and one of Europe's most modern football fields, completed and put to use in 1999 - the Millennium Stadium.
Baring their teeth and waving wildly, the Middlesbrough fans walked in front of the camera and shouted, "The North will win! Victory to Middlesbrough!"
They had just walked past, when a group of fans from Nottingham, wearing red jerseys, jumped out and stood in front of the camera lens. With glowing red faces and beer bottles raised up in their hands, they shouted in unison, "Forest, Forest! We are the champions!" After shouting, they belched from the beer, laughing as they walk towards the stadium entrance.
"Welcome to the venue of the 03-04 season finals of the England League Cup, the Millennium Stadium!" continued the announcer.
Because the Millennium Stadium was located in the city center of Cardiff, whenever there was a game, traffic control would be implemented in several main roads to the city center. No vehicles were allowed to pass through, except for the team buses of both two sides. Consequently, the fans had to walk to the stadium.
Gareth Bale and his father were among the crowd flocking to the stadium. Since the First Team had advanced to the EFL Cup final, all levels of the youth team were not required to train today. His father decided to bring Bale Junior to watch the Forest team's glorious moment. After all, he was now a Forest player, so he should cultivate his feelings for the Forest team.
Besides, Tony Twain was the one who gave Bale a chance, and now Bale was doing well in the youth team. He was competent both as a left back, and as a left midfielder, and he also had a beautiful free kick. Also, now that he had been leapfrogged to the under-seventeen youth team, his self-confidence had greatly increased.
All of these things were thanks to Manager Twain. Since the game was held in in his home city, it would be inexcusable not to come watch and cheer Twain on.
After more than half a year of training and building his self-confidence, Bale was taller and stronger than before. A smile would often be on his face, when he was chatting with his father. He was no longer taciturn with the hangdog look.
While they were lining up outside the stadium and waiting for their tickets to be checked to enter, both team's buses arrived at the same time. This sparked a commotion among both sides of team fans outside the stadium. Everyone rushed to the side of the bus of the team they supported. They were cheering, singing, and loudly clapping to greet their respective team.
As the official jersey colors of both teams were red, the team bus colors also looked similar. The only real way to differentiate them was to look at the respective team emblem, as well as ... the Forest team's red color was deeper than that of Middlesbrough's.
Inside the deeper-colored red bus, everyone did not see Twain's figure. The cameras swept across all the players' faces, even the driver'sl, and still, the team's manager could not be found.
Where was Tony Twain?
In fact, Tang En was in the bus, but he hid in the back exit of the bus in order to change his clothes, as he did not want to be seen from the outside in that spot.
I didn't expect to arrive at the stadium at the same time as Middlesbrough. This made Tang En very happy. The confidence to strike my opponents begins now!
After they had waited for Twain to finish changing his clothes, the Forest players inside the bus compartment looked earnestly at the funny-looking tall man. Tony Twain, the manager of this England professional football team, was transformed into a "Feng Shui master", wearing a "Taoist robe" and carrying a compass. Furthermore...who could tell that he was an impostor, when they looked at his severe and serious expression?
Obviously, Tang En managed to convince himself, too. On the way from the hotel to the stadium, he stayed silent, and did not speak a word, continually self-hypnotizing to make himself believe that he was indeed a Feng Shui master from China! He seemed more mysterious and profound in the players' eyes, so it was exceptionally quiet inside the bus compartment along the way.
When the two team buses stopped and opened the bus doors, the camera lens respectively aimed at the doors of the two team buses, cutting between the two scenes. The first to alight from Middlesbrough's side was their manager, Steve McClaren, who later became the England national team manager, and his assistant manager, Terry Venables. The media's evaluation of the two men was: "The best person to be the assistant manager is the manager, and the best person to be the manager is the assistant manager."
This statement incisively pointed out what McClaren was good at, and his capability. And Tang En knew he was best suited to the position of the manager, and moreover, the First Team manager. Thus, this was a competition between a manager and an assistant coach.
Next, the Middlesbrough players got off the bus in succession, but there was no movement on the Nottingham Forest side. The deep red bus door was closed. Looking at the inside through the window, the Forest team players were all standing up and looking in the same direction, but did not move.
At this point, despite the fact that the players were still filing out on the Middlesbrough's side, the television camera lenses were still firmly pinned on the Forest team bus. Everyone had the same question: Why Tony Twain was not on the bus, and what were these players doing?
What were they doing? Naturally, they were waiting for a person to get off the bus first.
Inside the bus, Tang En said to the players who were watching him, "All right, guys. When you get off the bus, no matter what you see or hear, don't look surprised. Everything is as normal. Got it? This is no different from you going to the locker rooms in the City Ground."
"Got it." The players answered with taut faces.
Looking at their expressions, Tang En nodded his head to show his approval, and then he said to the driver, "Please open the door."
Because the Forest team was late in coming out, it made people suspicious, so there were more and more people around their bus now. There were even Middlesbrough players, extending their heads to peer over this side. The game had not started yet, and the Forest team had inadvertently stolen all the limelight.
Just when "all eyes were on them", the door of the Forest team bus finally slowly opened, and everyone craned their necks, hoping to see what kind of Forest team would come out after the delay. Unexpectedly, the first person to appear caused an uproar across the board.
Clad in a traditional Chinese robe, and carrying a compass in his hand, Twain stalked down the steps. He immediately attracted everyone's attention! He became the real focus of the fans, the reporters, the television cameras ... All were attracted by him and firmly directed their attention at him.
And what about him? The silent crowd did not have any effect on him. It was as if he could not see these people or the cameras. He marched evenly and calmly towards the stadium along the separated passage, as though there was nobody else present. Regardless of the way he dressed, he did really have a bit of "the air of a grandmaster".
The players behind him looked as serious as he was. They were evidently intimidated by Twain's appearance. They did not dare to make jokes at this time, laugh loudly, listen to music or send text messages on their cellphones. They obediently followed behind the manager, and the team walked towards the corridor leading straight to the locker room in the stadium, all under the gaze of countless people.
McClaren was so flabbergasted by Twain's appearance that he stared blankly for a long while without any reaction. Is this still a football match? Can the English Football Association allow a coach to wear such attire onto the field?
In the midst of the uproar in the crowd, Gareth Bale laughed instead. His father looked at him with uncertainty. He pointed at Twain, who was walking in front of the team, and said, "Mr. Twain is very funny! I've never seen a manager like him, I want to follow behind him to walk in, as it must be very exciting! So many people are looking at them."
Again, he pointed to the Forest First Team players, then turned back to his father and said, "Dad, I really want to be inside with them now. I think it must be fun to play for him. Have you heard about it? They took the subway once to a game, and then they encountered some football hooligans!"
His son was speaking excitedly in front of him, and he seemed completely unafraid of the football hooligans. The father affectionately patted his son, and then said, "When you continue to do well in the youth team, I think this day will soon come, Gareth."
When the father and son looked up again, Twain and his team had entered the corridor. Apart from the media, the ordinary fans did not know what would happen inside. But there were still a lot of people milling around, and they were expecting the media to return with something interesting, and then broadcast it in the evening news.
But maybe they would be disappointed. The television station's filming could only follow to the locker room door, and then just shoot the inside from outside the door. They did not have the right to shoot inside the locker room.
The Forest team locked the door after they entered the locker room. Then, no one else would know what was already happening, or what would happen inside. Why was Twain wearing such attire? Was it just to do something wacky, to ease the pressure on the players? But his players looked more serious and tense than usual ...
And what did he have in his hand? A compass? But a compass could not be so complicated ... it was engraved with Chinese characters and strange symbols ... Could it be that this was the "mysterious gift from the East" that Pierce Brosnan mentioned in his article?
Did he plan to use this thing to break the curse of the south locker room?!
Steve McClaren, who was leading his team towards to the locker room, suddenly felt his eyebrows twitch. He stopped in his tracks and turned back to looked outside of the corridor. There was a large crowd of fans and media, who should have completely dispersed to either enter the stadium or go to the bars to watch the game by now.
"What's up, Steve?" McClaren's assistant, the Middlesbrough's assistant coach, Steven John Harrison, saw him stop, and turned to ask.
"Oh, nothing. Let's go ..." McClaren replied, as he shook his head.
Maybe I'm thinking too much?