Chapter 171: Time to Speed Up, Forest Train!
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
In his newspaper column, Twain used his hair to make a bet with Mark Lawrenson, the BBC's famous football pundit in England, an interchange which soon became a nationwide topic, thanks to the highly developed media and paparazzi in Britain. Such an interesting manager would always attract the public's attention. The Nottingham Evening Post had made a worthwhile deal.
Since Manager Twain had already made a public bet with Lawrenson, Gary Lineker also highlighted this matter in the next program segment of "Match of the Day". Amid Lineker and Alan Hansen's roguish laughter, Lawrenson publicly responded to Twain's wager in the show, agreeing to Tony Twain's bet. If the Forest team did not end up continuing to stay in League One, based on his words, and instead, they advanced to the Premier League, he would shave off his cherished beard!
The next day, Twain's column quickly responded. Twain praised Lawrenson's courage, and very enthusiastically recommended to him which brand had the better razor to use, ranging everywhere from the traditional to electric shavers, including various models and different prices! This wager attracted a lot of attention, including, unsurprisingly, the Forest Football Club's own people.
Even the old guard, Ian MacDonald, would yell to Twain during his work at the training ground, "Hey, Tony! We all want that Lawrenson to shave off his beard. You have the confidence to win against him, right?"
"Of course, Ian. I have no intention of changing my hairstyle!" Twain would shout back, then they would look at each other and laugh.
Obviously, not everyone supported Twain. There were also many people, who thought that Twain was only bluffing, and that the end of the season was still a few months away. How could he be so certain that his team would advance to the Premier League?
Regardless of whose point of view it was, there was nothing wrong with what Mark Lawrenson had said. Even though winning the EFL Cup title was something that the Forest team could be proud of, there was no reason for them to arrogantly think that the Forest team could have the last laugh in the lengthy English Football League Championship. The Forest team was currently ranked 17th in the league table. Evidently, this ranking was also because they had two less rounds of matches than the other teams in the League Championship.
Skeptics and critics could not figure out one thing: Why was Tony Twain so confident? He was not coaching the world's strongest team, but Nottingham Forest, an ordinary League One team. Tang En was not interested in explaining this to them. Instead, he devoted all his energy to his work. With the EFL Cup over, the team's goals and plans had to be changed, and the coaching team must draw up a new program schedule.
Going into March, there were only two months until the end of the League Championship. The Forest team had to play sixteen rounds of matches within eight weeks. On average, there were two games every week. Considering the factors, such as giving way to the national team and the FA Cup, this density was overwhelming, which was the main reason why Lawrenson and the others were not optimistic about the Forest team's ability to be promoted successfully.
Tang En was also very clear in his mind about this. He already knew this League Championship game schedule by heart. In fact, he could almost recite it.
After going through the trial and training for the EFL Cup, Tang En already had a main lineup in mind. For the past two months, the team's breaking-in period had also gradually passed. He believed that they no longer needed to work more on the tactics.
Sometime into March, the team's training sessions focused on stamina and fitness training. The amount of training increased in order to build up the players' stamina, to cope with the intensive match events.
Stamina was what Tang En had repeatedly emphasized. Modern football, without stamina, would be useless. This was the basis of all technical and tactical skills. The advantage was that the team's morale was high now, and the locker room atmosphere was good. Tang En did not have to worry about issues outside of the field.
The EFL Cup was a goal carried out in stages, and the final League Championship was another step-by-step goal. When a goal was achieved, and before the start of another goal, Tang En thought it was necessary to gather the team and give them an "ideological and political lesson". And, of course, this was meant to be a joke. The main point was that they were entering the final leg of the League Championship. At such a critical time, he wanted to unify the team's internal way of thinking, and to clearly define everyone's goal, boost their morale, raise their spirits, and basically, to encourage everyone to do his best.
Although the training and tactical factors were important, Tang En believed that a true master-level manager must be an expert in the aspect of psychological regulation. He had to be adept at mobilizing the mood of the team, and at solving the psychological obstacles of the players. There was a saying, which he had forgotten where he saw it, but it had made a deep impression on him nonetheless, as he wholeheartedly agreed with it. It said:
A third-rate manager watches the players, a second-rate manager observes the tactics, and a first-class manager studies the mentality.
The more important the moment was, the more essential the role of the mental state was. Thinking back to the 2001 China national team, the players were still the same, but they eventually made it to the FIFA World Cup. In the past forty-four years, there had been countless more favorable situations than that one, and the China national team had failed every one of them, without exception. Only the 2002 FIFA World Cup was a success.
What had changed for the China national team, who had always been "met with unexpected failure" and tied in matches to being "qualified, but will surely lose"? Milutinović's tactics did not cause too many people to slap the table and shout with praise, but his level of psychological regulation could definitely be classified as being world-class. His innumerable psychological regulatory methods worked like magic, and changed the mental spirit of China's national football team.
He inspired their fighting will, and enhanced their ability to create a never-seen-before miracle. And yes, it was a miracle. Since then, the overnight scene of seeing red color everywhere during that national celebrations on October 7, 2001, never appeared again.
It was also since he started to understand Milutinović, that Tang En, as a fan, regarded the role of one's psychological state in football as being particularly important. This was because, in front of him, was a living example. To be able to train what started out as an inept China national team, and turn them into a united and relentless team, wasn't this evidence strong enough?
And, currently as a manager, Tang En had many opportunities to put into practice the role of "psychological factors" in football. Therefore, on the first day of the implementation of the new program schedule, before the start of the training session, on a sunny morning, Twain appeared on the training ground to spend half an hour talking to the players. Des Walker and the members of the coaching team stood behind him and listened.
"How does it feel to be the EFL Cup champion, guys?" Twain stood in front of the players, and asked the question, as if they were friends greeting each other.
"Excellent, Boss!"
"Fantastic, Chief!"
"I haven't been able to sleep for days! I see the finals every time I close my eyes!"
"Hahahaha!" Twain laughed with the players, and did not stop them from being laxed on the training ground.
"Very good, it looks like you're all in a good mood." When the laughter died down, Twain continued, "But now, I have to start worrying about another problem." At this point, Twain paused a little, deliberately cryptic in order to further entice the interest of the players.
"Someone must have started thinking: 'What is the problem that I am worried about?' Thank God we have no serious injuries in our team, no losing streak, or low morale. What else could be wrong? Well, to be honest, I'm a little worried about whether you're still as motivated as you were a month ago. We've just won the EFL Cup. No matter what is going to be our ranking at the end of this season, we'll definitely be able to participate in the UEFA Europa League next season. You'll have the opportunity to be in all of Europe ... Oh no, in front of the world to show your talents. That's a very, very exciting thing! Am I right to say that?"
The players nodded.
"So, now I'm worried that, after you have won a championship, you will lose the drive to move forward, and think of the remaining sixteen rounds as 'a waste of time'. Perhaps you may think that we have completed all of our goals for the season, and that we can relax and unwind! Is that it?" As Twain was saying this, he already saw many people shaking their heads, some of whom were repeatedly whispering "No". So, he asked more loudly at the end.
As expected, everyone responded loudly, "No! That's not it!"
"The wind is too strong, I can't hear you clearly ..." Twain turned his ear towards them and said.
"No one thinks of it like that, Boss!" This time, the players were almost yelling, "No one!!"
Twain eased off, and nodded in satisfaction, continuing his pep talk, "Your voices are loud. It looks like you are sincere enough. So, can somebody tell me, now that we've won the EFL Cup, and we're booked for the European championship for the next season, why do we have to train hard and compete for the next two months? What are our goals? Wes, you tell us." Twain called out Morgan's name.
"For our team to be promoted, Boss! We want to advance to the Premier League, which we should have gone to last season!" Morgan hit the nail on the head with his answer, the painful experience of their last season's loss at the play-offs having scarred him.
This answer was exactly what Tang En had wanted. But, when he turned his head and saw the silent George Wood, he suddenly exclaimed, "George! Can you tell us why we have to fight hard to win in the next two months?"
When they heard Twain call out Wood's name, they all turned their heads and looked at Wood, curious about what kind of reason this normally quiet teammate would give. George Wood looked up at Twain, and did not answer his question. He did not seem to like to speak his mind in front of so many people.
Twain did not back down, but continued to look at him. The two men stared at each other in front of everyone, until one of them could not persist any longer and relented. Wood lost. He lowered his head and said, "You get a bonus, when you win the game."
After having taken quite a while just to make this remark, his surrounding teammates all laughed. Twain laughed too. But after laughing, he said to the others seriously, "George is right. You've all seen the EFL Cup prize money, and our chairman is not stingy at all."
He spoke the truth. After the EFL Cup victory, in the locker room at the Millennium Stadium, the excited Chairman Evan Doughty promised everyone on the spot, including the players and coaches, a five-thousand-pound bonus. Two days later, this sum of money went to everyone. Not only the players and coaches, who participated in the finals, but everyone in the club received the championship bonuses, the only difference was the amount.
"So, if we can advance to the Premier League after the end of this season, I think Mr. Chairman will definitely be happy to give out another bonus. As for how much each of us can get, that is up to our performances for the next two months!"
The players gave a cheer when they heard about the money. Twain was very pleased with the players' reactions. No matter who it was, this type of motivation always worked the best. Who did not like money? Who did not want to receive more money? From this perspective, George Wood's answer was what Twain had wanted most.
"Very good, now I believe you do have enough motivation to push forward!" he said with a shrug.
The players chuckled. Even Walker and the others who stood behind Twain, laughed as well. There were few managers, who could joke with the players in this way, as most managers always wanted to maintain an imposing manner in front of the players, wearing solemn expressions to make the guys fear them and not dare to refute any of their words. They did so because they wanted to establish their authority in the team through highly pressured means.
But Tony Twain was this way. He was very young, and familiar with the thinking of many young people. He knew whom among them liked to listen to songs by the band, Oasis, and whom liked to secretly have a drink or two at the bars. And, as long as it was not particularly serious, Twain would not get to the bottom of it, and he would just give a reminder to his players on any issue.
He was frank with the players, and did not call them "players", but "guys". He never deliberately showed his authority, but everyone listened to him. He was rarely angry, but everyone was afraid that he would be angry, for fear that they would be sent to play in the reserve team, with the reason given that it was "because you play better than the Third Team".
The players treated him as if he were a friend. In some cases, such a relationship would sometimes cause them to overlook the gap in their respective ranks. But, when Twain needed them to work for him, these people would have no complaints.
This manager, in order to be able to achieve this, it was no wonder that he could lead the team to become the EFL Cup champion. Collymore was too lax with the players, and so he did not receive the support of the players. Paul Hart was too serious. Although Twain was trained by Hart, he had already surpassed his mentor, because he had his own uniqueness.
"Guys, do you like me?" Twain suddenly asked.
"Yes, we do!" This was the expected answer.
"That's great! You all know about my bet with that Lawrenson, then? Let me ask you this... You guys don't wish for me to have to shave my hair, right?" Twain asked expectantly.
"No, Boss!" Eastwood shouted in reply. His answer made Twain happy, and he was about to compliment the Romani Gypsy, when unexpectedly, Eastwood immediately smiled and added, "Uh, actually ... Boss, we all think it's nice for you to have a change of hairstyle!"
"Ah ... You cheeky bastards!" Looking at the players, who were having a ball laughing, Twain reluctantly admonished, "The chat time is over! Get back on the field for your training! I'm going to kick your a**es! Lay waste to you! So, you won't have the strength to think of these bad ideas! For the coming week, the stamina training will be increased to twice a day!"
"Woah!!" The players gave a plaintive whine.
"Know your places, boys!" Twain snickered.
※※※
At the City Ground two days later, the great cheers from the stands rang out in the night sky of Nottingham. That song "We've Got the Whole World in Our Hands" was sung repeatedly, and the applause were endless. Twenty-seven thousand fans in the stadium had once again witnessed an overwhelming victory.
"The referee blew the whistle at the end of the game! 2:0! Tony Twain's team played a fantastic game on the City Ground, and they got an impressive three points from winning against Gillingham! Including the 34th round of the League Championship three days ago, Nottingham Forest won two consecutive victories after three tied games! What's even more incredible, is that, after battling hard at the EFL Cup semi-final and final, Tony Twain's team had not lost a game in the League Championship since he took over!"
The impassioned voice of John Motson rang out from the television. While he was being affected by Twain, he had unknowingly become the Forest fans' favorite commentator, all because he always said nice things about the Forest team!
The post-match Nottingham Evening Post published an article written by Pierce Brosnan, which was so filled with praises, that Twain almost became the spokesperson for victory. Brosnan gave the many Forest fans a recorded account of every victory since Twain took over, and every victory was thrilling.
Of course, the icing on the cake was the EFL Cup title. But Brosnan also did not forget to tell the fans that they could continue looking forward to more. The Forest team was not done yet. By the end of this season, there was the possibility of them entering the first group as one of the three teams to join the Premier League in the next season.
From March 6th onwards, after the 35th round of the League Championship, there was a piece of paper in the home team's locker room in the City Ground, which was posted on the most prominent position on the wall, and it read:
Nottingham Forest Exclusive Train
The next arrival station – English Premier League!
The scheduled arrival time - May 9th!
The forecast – possibility of an early arrival!