The day after the Fenerbahce club’s announcement of Anelka’s transfer, Nottingham Forest’s official website also published a large photograph of Anelka with a prominent headline to usher in the Forest team’s new outstanding striker.
The high-profile publicity also confirmed the news from the Turkish side. The English media went into a tizzy.
Almost everyone looked down on the transfer. Many people questioned Twain’s decision.
“…I can hardly believe my own eyes. I thought today was April 1. Anelka’s back! Damn it! Pardon my language, but I really can’t figure it out. Why did Twain choose this man?”
“Tony Twain must be out of his mind to choose Anelka. Does he feel like his locker room is too calm?”
“What’s so good about the Frenchman? There are a lot of strikers who can score as well as he does, but there are few strikers in the world like him who are a headache for every manager.”
“I’m sorry, but I think Twain wants to challenge himself.”
“…This is good. We can take this opportunity to expose Anelka’s misdeeds in England over the past few years. But don’t expect us to interview Anelka.”
“I wonder why Anelka chose to return to England after just half a season. It seems like he wasn’t happy in Turkey. But I think that if he doesn’t change his character and fire his two agents, he won’t be happy anywhere.”
“To be honest, I’m completely doubtful about Tony Twain’s decision. Initially, I was full of anticipation for the Forest team’s new season, but now I’ve changed my mind …”
Twain shook those newspapers in front of Dunn and complained. “I never said I wanted to buy that Frenchman, and now I’m the one taking the blame for Allan’s decision.”
“But the media doesn’t know what happened between you two.”
Twain obviously knew this. After he fretfully paced around the room, he went upstairs to get his laptop from his room.
“What are you doing?” Dunn asked in puzzlement.
“I’m going to write an article for my column to scold those media bastards!” Twain gnashed his teeth as he pressed the power button.
“What are you going to reprimand them about? Scold them for not knowing what’s going on between you and Alan, and making stories up?”
“No, I’m gonna scold them for all their doubts, criticisms, and gibes about Anelka.”
Dunn was so surprised by his answer that he stopped watching his video. He stood up to go to Twain’s back and watched him open a document.
“You are not…”
Twain knew what he was going to say, so he nodded. “Yes, I don’t like that French striker’s two agent brothers, and by virtue of their relationship, I don’t like the French striker either. But now Anelka has become a member of the Forest team, which means he’s one of my men. I will never allow the media to chew out my players. I can’t break my own rules over Anelka. No one can criticize my players, except me. If someone wants to discipline the dog, it still depends on its master, does it?”
Dunn frowned and thought for a moment, “Are you angry with the media for questioning you?”
Twain shrugged his shoulders. “Think what you want.” Then he stopped talking and his fingers quickly jabbed at the keyboard.
※※※
The next day, the Nottingham Evening Post published the full text of Twain’s column, which fully refuted the media’s doubts and gibes about Anelka. Still, in the eyes of many professional sports reporters, the purpose of the article was not to refute the media but to demonstrate Twain’s stance. He was on Anelka’s side.
As the closest journalist to Twain, Pierce Brosnan was aware of Twain’s view of this transfer. Hence, after receiving the article, he was very surprised at Twain’s manner taking a 180-degree turn.
If it was about taking care of his own men… Brosnan thought that explanation was somewhat far-fetched.
Like Brosnan, Evan Doughty also thought it was strange. This afternoon was the press conference for Anelka’s joining of the Forest team. He felt that it was necessary to ask clearly.
Faced with the question, Twain smiled mysteriously. “Whether I like Anelka or not, he’s here. I can’t possibly tell Fenerbahçe to take the player back just because I don’t like him. That’s not how it works, right?”
Evan nodded in agreement.
“Since he’s here, I’m certainly not going to put him on the bench just because I don’t like him or send him to the reserves. That would be a waste of the club’s money. So, I’m going to use him well and let him play to the best of his ability.”
Evan continued to nod. Even an idiot could understand his point. But he did not understand what that had to do with his question.
Looking at the puzzled Evan, Twain cleared his throat. “Everything that was said before was nonsense. I’ll tell you the truth, Evan. There’s a saying in China: ‘an iron hand in a velvet glove,’ which means to use gentle methods and force at the same. The carrot and stick have to be used to deal with Anelka. A single method is not effective. You have to let him know that the manager trusts and supports him. At the same time, I have to let him know that if he intends to use this to step out of line, there will be nothing good coming for him. And now, as a welcome gift, I made him feel the warmth of the team and a manager’s support for him. And later…” Twain winked.
※※※
At the press conference that afternoon, Twain showed his so-called “enthusiasm” in front of everyone. He praised Anelka’s scoring ability, which was a headache to the opposing defenders, but he did not mention Anelka’s equally troublesome temper. In short, if one listened to Twain’s speech at the press conference, one would think that this was the Forest team’s most important acquisition of the summer. Anelka was simply the future hope of the Forest team.
Brosnan shook his head as he listened. Based on his understanding of Twain, when Twain was being so obvious and slightly exaggerating his praise of a person, it often meant that the person being praised was not going to have an easy time.
However, Anelka, who did not have much contact with Twain, did not know that. He was very happy with the support and trust showed by the manager.
Being able to return to the heart of the football world and have the manager of the new team support him made him talkative at the press conference. Naturally, he also talked about his original intentions in joining the Forest team:
“The Forest team is a very enterprising team. Manager Twain is also a very capable coach. He has talked to me about his many great goals. I hope I can help him achieve them.”
Almost all the reporters rolled their eyes internally. Who could believe Anelka’s words?
Did he believe them himself?
When Twain and Anelka stood up at the end, holding the number 39 Forest team jersey for a group photograph, the reporters looked at the dazzling smile on Twain’s face and then saw Anelka’s slightly shy but confident smile; they all knew that there would be a good show from the Forest team this season.