Godfather Of Champions

January 1, 2019.

On this day, Nottingham Forest sent someone away and welcomed a new member.

Nottingham Forest announced that 34-year-old Brazilian center back Thiago Silva was out of contract now. He would be free to join Brazil’s Vasco da Gama, where he planned to end his career.

Silva left the club in the morning. In the afternoon, the team had their only one move that winter – introducing midfielder Chen Jian from the RCD Espanyol.

“Only reporters, no fans, and basically only Chinese reporters. It’s not the future I’ve planned for you, Chen Jian.” Sitting in the Ford car the club especially sent to pick them up, Xia Yang was looking at those reporters out of the window as he spoke to Chen Jian.

“The boss told me that the meeting with the fans was moved to before the Football Association Cup. As for reporters, the English reporters are waiting to see me become the biggest joke in here.” Chen Jian also turned his head to look out of the window, seeing many familiar faces.

Although Nottingham Forest now ranked lower than the RCD Espanyol in the league, after all, they were a traditionally strong football team that has taken the European Champions Cup five times in all. Chen Jian’s transfer this time has attracted domestic attention. He could tell this from the several familiar signs on the press people’s chests alone.

Chen Jian was getting used to all this. He was not the kind of nobody who had first come to England years ago. Now he was the number one Chinese player. The reaction to his transfer was predictable. Chinese fans still had illusions, though they were already very practical. Chen Jian’s achievement already made them happy and satisfied.

“You can really see this through. ” Xia Yang muttered to himself. The domestic response gave him a slight relief. Look at these reporters! It was obvious that Chen Jian was a star. He joined Nottingham Forest for a record-creating £9 million transfer fee, which was unheard of for a Chinese football player and had caused a great response at home.

In fact, £9 million was for the people who didn’t know the details. It was actually £10 million, but £1 million went into Xia Yang’s own pocket.

The negotiations were made personally by Evan, who slashed the price from the initial unacceptable £20 million to £9 million. If it were not for Chen Jian’s firm decision to leave the team, the RCD Espanyol wouldn’t want to sell him at this price at all.

“But this is not too bad. England is the birthplace of paparazzi, and the media industry here is very developed. If you play here you can get more attention.” As an agent, Xia Yang naturally commented on this transfer from his point of view. As for what happened on the court, he had no influence on that, so he did not consider it.

During the conversation, the car stopped at the entrance to The Crimson Stadium. It has long been crowded with media from China.

Chen Jian got out of the car and the flashes of cameras lit up. He didn’t stay long and walked straight into the press conference hall inside the stadium.

At the backstage, he saw the club president Evan Doughty and team head coach Tony Twain.

“Welcome to Nottingham Forest, Chen,” Evan Doughty, the club president, took the lead in welcoming him, reaching out his hand to shake Chen Jian’s.

“Thank you, Mr. President.”

Chen Jian’s attitude was not too humble, nor too arrogant.

Evan knew this occasion was not for him to play the leading role. That role was for the man behind him. So he didn’t say anything else to Chen Jian and went to see how the press conference was prepared, giving the stage to Twain and Chen Jian.

“After a circle, you come to the Nottingham Forest again, Chen Jian,” Twain said to Chen Jian in English.

“It’s always been my dream to join the Forest,” Chen Jian also replied in English.

“From the beginning?”

“From the beginning.”

Twain laughed with joy and stretched out his hand. Chen Jian thought he was going to shake his hand. He did not expect Twain to just pat him heavily on the shoulder.

“I hope Nottingham Forest can be the last stop of your career.”

Chen Jian thought about retiring at Nottingham Forest. It sounded like a pretty good thing. He nodded and said, “I hope so.”

“What do you think of the team’s results? I remember some media saying Nottingham Forest’s league rankings were not even as good as those of the RCD Espanyol,” Twain asked. “Some of the press is saying that your transfer was only for the money.”

It was very understandable for Nottingham Forest to pay Chen Jian a higher weekly salary than he got in RCD Espanyol. At the current stage of Chen Jian’s career, why would he choose to transfer for less pay? The RCD Espanyol hasn’t raised Chen’s salary since his arrival. Chen Jian was the RCD Espanyol’s main midfielder but still held the initial salary he got when he just transferred from the Eredivisie. His salary level was below the rank of the whole team. It was natural that Xia Yang always wanted Chen Jian to leave RCD Espanyol. His salary really didn’t match Chen Jian’s contribution to the team.

RCD Espanyol may still think the Chinese workforce was cheap, but Xia Yang was smarter than they thought.

“I am thinking more about the future. ” Chen Jian avoided the topic of money. He didn’t lie. Compared with that weekly salary, the chance to compete in European events at Nottingham Forest was what he wanted most. As a professional football player, if asked what his biggest regret was, he wouldn’t say it was never having won a title. Rather, it was the fact that he has never competed in a European event. Neither in Spain nor in the Netherlands. He was keen to play in the European Champions Cup and the UEFA Champions League, which represented the highest level of football.

“The future.”

Twain didn’t go on asking. He and Chen Jian were sitting in the background, waiting to come out quietly.

Evan Doughty welcomed Chen Jian on behalf of the club, and then Chen Jian walked out from the background advertisement board with the attention of all the Chinese media on site.

Unlike a big superstar joining the team, the press conference hall wasn’t even half full. Most of the media were Chinese, and the rest were Nottingham local press. Chen Jian’s eyes didn’t stop there. He glanced around, shaking hands with Evan Doughty and Tony Twain, then stood in front of the microphone prepared for him.

“I’m very happy to join the team that cultivated me at the beginning. It’s always been my dream to wear a Nottingham Forest uniform again.”

Many players would say that when joining the new team.

Something like, “I have wanted to play for Real Madrid since I was a kid.”

“It was my biggest dream to join AC Milan. ”

“I’ve always been a Barcelona fan.”

“It’s my pleasure to play for International Milan.”

…

And so on, this was almost the standard template. All the players had to do was change the name of the club.

So no one in the media took Chen Jian’s words seriously, even if they knew Chen Jian was really from the Nottingham Forest youth team.

When the media were free to ask questions, one of Nottingham’s locals immediately stood up and asked: “Nottingham Forest is currently ranked very poorly. Do you feel the pressure on your shoulder?”

“I want to play football and contribute to the promotion of the team through my own efforts.” Chen Jian’s answer was rather careful and mature.

The Nottingham local media was concerned about whether the arrival of Chen Jian could really strengthen the team, while the Chinese media were only concerned about whether Chen Jian could really perform in the team to his advantage.

The CCTV5 reporter stood up and asked, “You’re similar to George Wood in technical characteristics. Did the coach Tony Twain promise you anything before you joined the team?” He asked in Chinese.

Twain heard this, grabbed the microphone instead of Chen Jian and replied, “You will know when the game is played. Now Chen Jian and I don’t answer any of these tactical questions. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Chen Jian heard what Twain said, but he only smiled a bit. He did not say anything.

This has disappointed many people from the Chinese media. The press conference was meaningless without asking their most interesting questions.

The press conference was brief because there was no fan-meeting ceremony. After answering their questions, Chen and Twain pulled up a red Nottingham Forest uniform and showed it to reporters. It had Chen Jian’s last name and the number 14 on it.

If nothing unpredictable happened, this uniform would accompany him through five seasons with Forest, when he would turn 33. If he wanted to retire from the Forest, he’d have to come up with a better performance to please the picky head coach.

Standing in front of the reporters, Twain and Chen Jian both had smiles on their faces, but they weren’t sanguine. They knew that this was only the starting point, not the end for taking a long breath.

※※※

“Chen Jian joins the Euro Champions League hot team; he is called the successor of Wood!”

This was the sports news headline of the most famous portal in China. It was not the text under the heading that was most interesting, but the comments under the text.

“Shanxi netizen: don’t tease! The successor of Wood? Is the editor Chen Jian’s father?”

“Sichuan netizen: Sichuan netizen sends congratulatory message for Wood on finding his successor!”

“Beijing netizen: again the Title Editor. What is the point of sticking to the Title Editor for more than twenty years… Psycho!”

“Tianjin netizen: ‘Chen Jian, when do you become Wood’s successor?’ ‘Tomorrow, tomorrow!’”

“Sichuan netizen: why can’t Chen Jian be the successor of Wood? I think it’s reasonable. I believe Tony really wanted this when he bought him, didn’t he?

“Chongqing netizen: Upstairs Baby son, our captain can kick to 40 years old. Can Chen Jian also do that? When he retires, the captain will still be playing!”

“Shanghai netizen: Ah, we will not see Chen Jian in the Barcelona derby anymore.”

“Zhejiang netizen: Why should not he be happy? Looking at what they’ve done at home to the RCD Espanyol in the last few years, it’s a hell of a ~~”

“Hubei netizen: Yellow dog dies!”

…

“It’s funny, all the news about you can be connected to the other clubs’ resentment.”

Living in his temporary hotel room in Nottingham, Chen Jian was preparing to write on the portal’s blog via the internet.

Xia Yang was watching the news on the website next to Chen Jian. That was the sentiment he felt after reading the comments.

The website was originally contacting him through Xia Yang, who opened a guest blog for him in order to gather popularity. However, the website’s headlines were still tasteless.

“I don’t recall saying anything at the press conference about being Wood’s successor,” Chen Jian looked at Xia Yang.

“Then post an article on your blog for rebuttal! It will increase your popularity.”

“Did you arrange all this, Uncle Xia? ”

Xia Yang spread out his hands.

“You were known in the RCD Espanyol as the ‘Smaller Size George’. This has long been circulating in China, and it’s natural for other people to think about this. ”

Then Chen Jian wrote on his blog about the team’s press conference, explaining why the website sports news said he was Wood’s successor. He said he wasn’t Wood’s successor at all and that no one had said such a thing at the press conference. It must have been a misunderstanding by Chinese reporters.

The original blog title was “Finally, I realized my long-time dream!”

This was originally a very inspirational, but not very creative title. However, the portal editor deliberately changed the title into “I am not Wood II, I want to be Chen Jian I!”

The click rate and the comments were coming like nonstop tides. And of course, there was plenty of negativity.

The next day Chen Jian told his agent to stop blogging on the website after the contract with it expired. What the website was doing was so bitchy. Xia Yang shrugged. “You are a public figure, and every word you say can be distorted by the media with ulterior motives.”

“So I will remain silent from now on,” Chen Jian said with a poker face. “I will only show myself on the football field. If there is any media blog or column invitation in the future, refuse them!”

Xia Yang agreed, but he was still thinking, You cannot refuse all forms of interview, Chen Jian! You have to get used to the fact that the media are playing with their words to make any news more eye-catching!

※※※

The next day, Xia Yang went to find a house for Chen Jian, while Chen Jian went to Wilford to report that he will attend training with the team. At the training ground, George Wood, as the captain, welcomed the new teammate on behalf of the team. As Forest players, they were no stranger to the former teammate who once walked out of Forest.

Without Thiago Silva, and with Balotelli having a more positive attitude, the atmosphere within the team was now very harmonious. Chen Jian has not suffered much trouble or obstacles.

Fortunately, China’s media influence was confined to China. Otherwise, if the Nottingham Forest’s team knew what happened on the Chinese network two days ago, Chen Jian really had no idea what they would think of their new teammate. What idiot would challenge the captain’s authority the moment he first joined the team and plan to take his place?

Therefore, the Chinese unqualified network media could do nothing good, but would pull him back. In order to catch the eyes of netizens, they gave up on any credibility and integrity. Plagiarism, fabrication of fake news and rubbing of the edges were all commonplace, not to mention a twist of the original title.

Anyway, Chen Jian has begun his new life in Nottingham Forest. After four years, he finally got his way and put on a Nottingham Forest uniform to represent being a part of the team. It was believed that, in the history of Nottingham Forest, two Chinese names would be written and memorized. Their presence didn’t change the backward state of Chinese football, but at least it gave a lot of heartbroken Chinese football fans a little solace.