Chapter 174: Pressure Part 1
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
In the 42nd competition round of the English Football League Championship, Nottingham Forest ranked third, and was four points away from the second ranked West Bromwich Albion. There were still four rounds left in the League Championship.
In the 43rd round of the League Championship, Nottingham Forest would be playing against Millwall in a home match. This was a game that boiled the blood of the entire team, and Tang En did not have to worry too much about the outcome. Their rival, West Bromwich Albion, was heading north to challenge the fifth ranked, Sunderland, in an away match.
According to Tang En's plan, this game was their first opportunity to narrow the gap between them and West Bromwich Albion. He hoped that Sunderland would be able to create some trouble for their opponents at their home ground.
In the 44th round, Nottingham Forest would challenge Ipswich, which ranked a spot behind them, in an away match. The West Bromwich Albion people must be happy, as the result that they most wanted to see in this game must be a draw, or for the Forest team to lose to Ipswich in this away match. They had reason enough to believe that Ipswich would not let the Forest team get away in winning the home ground game, because they also had the same possibility of storming to the second place in the final three rounds of the League Championship. While the League Championship's third and fourth ranked teams were fighting each other, West Bromwich Albion was biding its time with ease, playing a home match against Bradford City, which would definitely be relegated.
The only one that Tang En needed to worry about for this game was himself, not his opponents. Only by defeating a strong opponent, could they be qualified to catch up to West Bromwich Albion.
In the 45th round, the penultimate round of the English Football League Championship this season, Nottingham Forest would play against Wigan Athletic F.C. in a home match, and West Bromwich Albion would play in an away match against Reading. This round of the League Championship, it was estimated that the points of both teams would not have any changes. If Sunderland could beat West Bromwich Albion in the 43rd round of the League Championship, then both team's points should only have one-point difference.
In this way, the most critical moment was the League Championship final round. In the 46th round, Nottingham Forest would be playing in a home match against their direct rivals, West Bromwich Albion!
If the Forest team's performance stayed stable before this game, then the outcome would be conclusive. By defeating West Bromwich Albion, the Forest team would be able to achieve the greatest reversal of this season, thus rising to the second ranking in the League Championship, and qualifying for a direct promotion.
And, if the Forest team played poorly in the three rounds before the last round, thus losing points, or if West Bromwich Albion performed steadily and continued to surpass the Forest team by four points, then this game would lose its meaning. It would then be time for Tang En to prepare for the play-offs.
When the Forest team charged up to the third ranking, those who once claimed that the Forest team could not return to the English Premier League at the end of this season, finally shut up! The more they looked down on this team and that manager, the better the team that he led performed. And now that it was already finalized, that the Forest team was qualified for the play-offs, most of these people were discreetly not talking about the Forest team's prospects, with the exception of a handful of diehard proponents.
The observant television viewers had also noticed that, in the recent show segments of , the object in Gary Lineker's hands had changed from a pen to ... a razor! Mark Lawrenson was not on the show, but he had promised in his personal column on the BBC website that, if he lost, he would personally shave his beard on .
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Millwall, this was the name that made the Forest team and the Forest fans furious, when it was mentioned. Initially, these two teams had little grievances with each other, but because of Gavin Bernard, the young fan who lost his life during that fans' clash, the two teams and their respective supporters became sworn enemies.
When the Millwall fans used Gavin to provoke the Forest team in the EFL Cup quarter finals, the Forest fans had waited for this day to arrive, having Millwall in the City Ground and wiping them out! To use their middle fingers and "F***" to return their compliments! Let them know that Nottingham Forest was not to be messed with! And, to let them know the consequences for the profound sin of desecrating the name of the dead!
To prepare for this special game, Nottingham City deployed one-third of the city's police force, and concentrated all of them on the main roads, commercial streets, train stations and City Ground. There were even police cars driving back and forth, patrolling with loudspeakers to remind both sides of team fans to remain calm, and to not cause any trouble. But, who would care about this?
From the moment the fans from both sides met, the confrontation of obscenities and abuse began...
"F*** staying calm! You bloody Millwall bastards! You're not going to get out of this city alive!"
"You Nottingham hicks! We're going to make you pay today, for humiliating us at the EFL Cup! The team you support can forget about being promoted! Today is the day of your death!"
"The coward, who lost 1:7 to us, still has the cheek to mention that game here? Did you go crying home to mommy for her milk? Ah, haha!"
"You motherf**kers! F*** your entire family!"
Similar scenes like this confrontation, which took place across a wall that was formed by three rows of policemen, were repeated all around the City Ground. The mood of the fans had reached the critical boiling point, and they needed an outlet to vent. Since they could not charge towards each other and come to blows, they were only left with the game.
In the locker room, Tang En looked at the players, who clenched their fists and shrugged, "I know it is difficult to ask you to be calm at this time. So, what I have to say is ..." He suddenly brandished his fist, "... Get out there and kill those bastards! Let them know that, once they have angered us, they will forever be trampled by us! Wipe them out! For our victory! Destroy them! For our promotion!"
Due to their fans' unruly behavior, the poor Millwall team would suffer repeatedly. At the City Ground, they experienced the same treatment from the Forest team as they had the last time at The Den. Whenever they had the possession of the ball, they were greeted with a barrage of boos and curses. When the Forest team had control of the ball, the Millwall fans tried to use the same method to deal with the Forest team, but their boos had just started, before they were drowned out by louder singing voices.
Such a terrible home ground atmosphere had caused the Millwall team to lose their fighting spirit, and the Forest players played more and more enthusiastically amidst the sounds of their fans cheering. By the end of the game, it was 3:0! Nottingham Forest won decisively and undoubtedly. When the referee blew the final whistle, the entire City Ground was filled by cheers. The Millwall fans were still swearing, but no one heeded them.
The Millwall manager had been changed from that incompetent Mr. Alan McLeary to Dennis Wise, the semi-retired player and player-manager. At the press conference, he did not say much about this game, but only admitted that Twain's team was better than Millwall in every respect, and that they had deserved to win. Millwall's goal was not for this season, and they had lost.
Winning was something that made Tang En feel good, but at the same time, the news from Sunderland had suddenly diminished his doubled pleasure by half. Even though Sunderland had created some trouble for West Bromwich Albion in their home match, the team did not persist to the end. West Bromwich Albion narrowly won against Sunderland in the away match by 1:0. Their seventy-eight points continued to lead Nottingham Forest by four points.
Tang En scored a beautiful victory in his home ground, and his rival did not drop the ball. So, now, the situation was disadvantageous to the Forest team. It would be too difficult to hope that West Bromwich Albion would lose to the second-lowest ranked Bradford City in the next round of the League Championship. He was unwilling to place his hopes of promotion in the hands of completely unrelated strangers again.
There were still three rounds in the League Championship. No, to be exact, there were still two rounds left. If West Bromwich Albion stayed on its current course, then Forest team's last round of playing against West Bromwich Albion in their home ground would be pointless.
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As if to reaffirm Tang En's worries, the Forest team played exceptionally hard in the 44th round of the League Championship, while on the other hand, West Bromwich Albion scored a two-goal lead early in their home match, and easily maintained it to the end.
The outcome of the game between Nottingham Forest and Ipswich did not become apparent until the last minute. Ashley Young's breakthrough led to a free kick for the Forest team, and Eastwood took the kick under enormous pressure. When he volleyed the ball into the goal, Tang En almost slumped to the ground, while everyone around him was jubilant. It was not just Eastwood who was under immense pressure, but Tang En, as a manager, as well.
He did not want to play the play-offs, because his team's stamina was already on the verge of breaking. The mid-season EFL Cup had cost them too much energy. At the beginning of the season, Collymore's slackness had resulted in the lack of systematic training of the players' physical fitness.
Now, all the repercussions flared up in the final stage of the League Championship. He simply did not dare bank on the play-offs, as the team's current morale was high enough to cast the physical problems aside for the time being. When the season was over, would the Forest team still be able to cope with the play-offs, once their rhythm had been interrupted?
Tang En did not know.
Consequently, the best way was to take advantage of the team's current high morale, and charge into the top two spots in a spurt of energy, to qualify for a direct promotion to the English Premier League.
Ah, as time passed, more things could crop up, and who knows what else can go wrong?
After all the matches in the 44th round of the League Championship had been completed, Nottingham Forest was still four points behind West Bromwich Albion, and there were only two rounds left, so it seemed impossible for them to achieve the goal of direct promotion. Just as Tang En was feeling down and in a bad mood, he received a call from Kenny Burns of the Forest Bar.
"Tony, if you feel a little stressed out, come have a few drinks at my place. Tomorrow night at 7:30 pm. Come and drink in my bar. I think there's someone who will probably want to see you."
"Who?"
"If I told you, you might not come. So, if you want to know who this person is, come and see for yourself!" Burns said with a smile. "Besides, you haven't been to my bar for a long time, ever since you've become the manager of the Forest First Team."
"Oh ... I'm sorry, Kenny. The immense work pressure has caused me to forget a lot of things. OK, I'll be there on time tomorrow."
What Burns said was right. When he took over the Forest team midway last season, he did not feel the same pressure as he had this season. This was because he was at a loss with regards to his future at that time, and was just satisfied to get by. Things were different now. He had a clear goal now, and he must strive towards that goal. And along with it, came immense pressure.