Although Twain had sworn in his column that George Wood would not go anywhere except Nottingham Forest, the media did not buy it. They inevitably thought that as the manager, Twain must have been concealing the truth. The speculation about Wood and Real Madrid continued, but Twain no longer refuted anything. He had said what was needed to be said. It was unnecessary to entangle endlessly with the media on such matters.
Just a week later, a piece of news came from Madrid that shocked the international football circle and made many clubs applaud with approval: Mr. Florentino Pérez, the president of Real Madrid, announced his resignation as the president. His resignation was the direct result of losing three consecutive games after their loss to Barcelona at home. After the Bernabéu fans booed off Luxemburgo, they targeted the boos and aimed their middle fingers at the club president.
Florentino believed that he must take responsibility for the decline of Real Madrid, and the only way was to resign.
The stepping down of that major figure in real-estate was three months ahead of Tang En’s knowledge. He knew that he and his team had added fuel to the fire with regards to Florentino’s fall from his position. If he had not transmigrated here and coached Nottingham Forest, then matters might have progressed to the end of next February as scheduled. Florentino would have announced his resignation after being unable to bear the heavy burden any longer.
The manager had just left, and now the president had also resigned. Real Madrid’s situation seemed beyond hope. But maybe it was best to be hopeless.
Without destruction, there could be no construction.
The dismissal of Florentino indirectly helped the Forest team shake off the transfer rumors about Wood.
That was because the British tabloids had previously asserted that the Real Madrid person who was most interested in Wood was the club president, which increased the credibility and authenticity of their news.
Now that the most interested person had gone, then Real Madrid’s interest in Wood naturally vanished following Florentino’s resignation. Some people still speculated on the matter, but nobody paid attention because everyone felt that it was uninteresting.
With a stable environment restored, Nottingham Forest performed outstandingly in the following match.
The home ground game with Real Madrid gave the Forest team great confidence. They believed that there was no team in the world that could prevent their progress. Of course, that was also due to Twain’s “psychological instruction.”
In the next two rounds of the league tournament, Nottingham Forest, with their morale running high, respectively defeated Liverpool at home and Blackburn Rovers at an away game. They maintained pressure on Chelsea, the league’s top team.
Then, on December 8th, during the final round of the Champions League group stage competition, Nottingham Forest easily beat the group’s bottom-ranked Lille at home and advanced to the top sixteen together with Real Madrid. They were ranked second in the group due to fewer goals.
That match was rated as a “great victory” by the Nottingham media after the game. It was not because the opponent was very strong and that the victory was hard won. It was because Nottingham Forest successfully broke into the next round, proving that their rise was not a blip. They had the ability to prove themselves on a bigger stage.
Twain no longer had interest in such a victory. He was not like the Nottingham people who missed the former glory days. For him, that kind of victory was only a step on a long road. If he was ecstatic because of that achievement, then he should not expect to have any great achievements.
My Nottingham Forest team is not merely for people who miss the past. I want to create an era that is on par with the former Forest dynasty!
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The league tournament continued. When Chelsea’s continued lead was no longer news and there was no more news fromTony Twain, a surprising turn of events came from Manchester United Football Club, which had not been doing well lately. It was one thing after another for the Manchester United team, which had recently been eliminated in the Champions League group stage.
It was more than half a month later than the timing that Tang En remembered. This must be because his arrival changed a number of things in this world; some subtle, some significant, some well-known, and some unknown.
On December 8th, Manchester United Football Club officially announced that the “Red Devils” team captain, Roy Keane, had already terminated his contract with the club and left.
This news shocked many people and the fallout spread to all of the British Isles, including Scotland, Ireland, and Northern Ireland. No one had expected Keane’s sudden departure. Just this morning, he had still shown up at Manchester United’s training base in Carrington to train with the team. Prior to that, Manchester United’s boss, Sir Alex Ferguson, had claimed that Keane’s health was close to complete recovery. Some of the media reported that the 34-year-old Irishman had already renewed his contract with the club. All indications showed that Keane would retire in Manchester United and forever be part of Manchester United.
And then, at noon on that day, Roy Keane and Ferguson had returned to the manager’s office at the end of the training. The two men closed the door for a private discussion. No one knew what they had talked about except that on the same afternoon, the news appeared on Manchester United’s official website.
Twain learned the news online in his office. After he confirmed the news three times in a row, the first thing he did was to pull out the telephone number of Michael Kennedy, Keane’s agent, from the drawer and call him to discuss bringing Keane onto the team.
He was unwilling to let go of the chance to get the world-class midfielder for free.
As the team’s medical unit had said, the recovery of Albertini had not been ideal. He was still some ways away from his condition from before the injury. He could not keep up with the intensity of the team’s competition on multiple fronts. Twain believed it was necessary to add a midfielder during the winter break. He also had to take into account that George Wood had started to steadily receive penalty cards in this new season.
Roy Keane, having just terminated his contract with Manchester United, was undoubtedly the best candidate.
“Mr. Twain?” Kennedy was a little surprised to receive Twain’s call. “Roy expected teams to be in touch with him, but he didn’t expect it to be so soon. You’re the first one, Mr. Twain.”
“The first one. So, is there any discount?” Twain laughed.
Kennedy laughed too. “You’ll have to ask Roy about that, Mr. Twain.”
He did not have to wait long. Ten minutes later, Twain received a call from Kennedy. Kennedy told Twain over the phone that the meeting was set for tomorrow afternoon at a restaurant in Nottingham. He specifically reminded him that it was an “extremely private” meeting.
Twain understood his meaning. Was this advantage of being first?
Twain had been excited about it for a long time. He was filled with a sense of accomplishment whenever he thought that Roy Keane was about to become an important player on his team.
Watching famous players who had once stormed the international football world serve in his team one by one, he truly had a sense of being in a real-life FM.