Godfather Of Champions

There have always been two professional teams in the city of Nottingham.

If not for this FA Cup match, most people might have overlooked this fact.

Many cities were proud of their “high-quality derby matches” as it proved that football had a very strong influence in the place and the quality of the teams was very high. This was almost impossible in the town of Nottingham as Nottingham Forest and Notts County were not on the same level.

Nottingham Forest had already won five UEFA Champions League trophies, while Notts County had not even reached the Premier League yet.

Due to the massive gap in position caused by the inconquerable gap in abilities, Nottingham Forest and Notts County had little chances of an official derby match.

Thanks to the FA Cup, such an opportunity presented itself.

The fans of Notts County had to thank the FA Cup because their opportunity was finally here. They had always wanted to teach their arrogant neighbors a lesson, but they never had the chance to do so. Naturally, Nottingham Forest would not choose Notts County as an opponent for their pre-season friendlies. They were smart enough to be cautious, as an injury to one or two of their key players might affect their whole season…

Notts County had no rights to challenge Nottingham Forest previously. They could only curse them, insult them by saying they were the lapdogs of foreign capitalism and no longer an English team.

However, the situation had changed now. Tang’s arrival had strengthened Notts County noticeably and they were able to stabilize their position in the mid-table of the Championship. This made their imagination run wild and they wanted to prove their abilities to their old rivals. After all, “debauchery is a common vice among the wealthy”… Well, the meaning was not far off. As their abilities went up a level, their self-esteem naturally went up to a new level as well, and they dared to think about things that they did not fathom before.

That was why Nottingham started to simmer when the third-round draw of the FA Cup was out a month ago. At least half of the people in Nottingham were rubbing their hands in anticipation of the match. As for the rest, the Nottingham Forest fans were not that interested in a derby like this.

Maybe one could use this to describe the current state of the two teams: “Notts County only had eyes for Nottingham Forest, while Nottingham Forest only had eyes for the wide world.”

Therefore, even though it was a rare “derby”, the Nottingham Forest training plans did not change much and were the same as the training they did before any other FA Cup matches. The players did not talk much about the FA Cup opponents but focused on the league most of the time.

Chen Jian was the only one who thought that this was an interesting situation. He had experienced another derby in Spain before saying goodbye to that city. He did not expect to face another derby the moment he joined a new team in a different country.

He ended with a derby, and he would be starting with a derby. Interesting indeed.

※※※

“This derby is actually pretty interesting…” The day before the match started, there were finally people who remembered that the match would be a derby.

“The manager of Notts County used to be our assistant manager,” Gareth Bale was recounting the past to a bunch of new players who were engrossed in his tale. In the current team, there were not many who had experienced the days of the “Chinese assistant manager”.

“Come to think of it, I did not expect him to be a manager one day, much less our rival in the same city…” Bale said while rubbing his chin. “And he’s related to Chen Jian…” This brought all the attention of the people onto Chen Jian.

“Ah?” Chen Jian realized that everyone was looking at him and did not know what to say. He had just joined the team three days ago and was not familiar with the people yet. For a moment, he did not know what to say when faced with so many eager faces.

“They are both Chinese, of course they’re related,” Someone in the team said as a matter-of-factly.

“There are over a billion people in China. Do you think all of them are related to each other?” Bale said with some disdain. He pointed at Chen Jian and said, “Chen Jian left us when he was in our youth team then, but do you know how he came to Forest?”

Not many people knew about that. How many people would really care about the past of a Chinese player? The local media did not publish anything about it either.

“A commercial talent show,” Bale laughed as he looked at Chen Jian. “He got third place then. Tang, the assistant manager then, gave him a Forest jersey and that’s how he came here!”

The group of people learned something, and they were satisfied. The story was indeed interesting, similar to a legend.

Chen Jian was a little surprised. He did not expect someone on the team to know about this event of the past. After all, he did not publicize it. When he came to Nottingham Forest for a trial lasting a year back then, it was not a very sensational piece of news. The main team would not be interested in someone like him. Then he joined the youth team’s training, which was expected. Then after that, even though he signed a contract as a member of the first team, he had never appeared on the court and had never played a match in the Forest jersey before, not even a friendly game.

He had thought that nobody in Nottingham Forest of today, other than Tony Twain, would remember him.

He really did not expect the vice-captain of Nottingham Forest, Gareth Bale, to remember his past!

He suddenly remembered something that Twain told him before.

It was just after he participated in the press conference upon joining the team. The reporters had already left, and Twain had brought Chen Jian to the Crimson Stadium to step on the grass as part of another “welcome ceremony”.

“Chen Jian, do you know about the legend of Nottingham in the past?”

Chen Jian was stunned for a moment, then asked, “Do you mean the legend of Robin Hood?”

Twain nodded, stopped and looked at Chen Jian behind him. “Even though the name Nottingham Forest has nothing to do with Robin Hood, the crest is related to him. The thing that looks like a mushroom is actually an oak tree,” Twain pointed at the Nottingham Forest team crest on the stands, “And the oak tree is where Robin Hood and his merry band of brothers gathered. Doesn’t it sound like the Chinese classic Water Margin?”

Chen Jian was surprised. “Boss, you even know about Water Margin?”

“Not only do I know about it, but I’ve also read it a few times,” Twain wanted to reply to him like this.

“It’s one of the four famous classics of China, why would I not know about it?” Twain did not continue to dwell on this topic. Instead, he said, “The oak tree represents the brotherhood between Robin Hood and his companions, and it also represents resilience. The Forest’s legendary captain, Stuart Pearce, was known to have an ‘oak tree’s heart’.”

Chen Jian did not understand what Twain was trying to tell him. What he was saying seemed to be going way off topic. First Robin Hood, then the team crest, then the oak tree and now, the current England manager…

“What I’m trying to tell you is this: Nottingham Forest is just like the merry men of Robin Hood under the oak tree. The people here are very simple. They are either nice or not. If you want to be part of the team quickly, to be recognized and accepted, then there’s no point in acting. Just show them your abilities. If you can make them accept you for your abilities, you’ll be a part of the merry men. After that, you’ll be able to drink and eat with them heartily, ha!”

Twain laughed.

Chen Jian was a little shocked after hearing of such a strange team culture. He stood in the middle of the Crimson stadium, the stands were empty, and the afternoon sun could only shine on the east wing. The green field was inside the shadows of the stands and the roof.

The Nottingham Forest team crest was on the roof of the stands ahead of him. The metallic border shone with a golden light under the sun.

“…Nottingham Forest is just like a band of bandits, do you know what I’m saying? They will do anything for victory; stealing and robbing are just part and parcel of what they do. A team like this actually won the UEFA Champions League five times, what a tragedy for modern football…”

This was what a famous football pundit wrote on his blog after Twain led the team to the famous treble. Chen Jian had chanced upon it while surfing the net at that time.

Now that he thought about it, that person obviously hated Forest. He must have been a Real Madrid fan, but he was right.

Nottingham Forest was a lair where bandits gathered…

When Chen Jian returned to his senses, Bale and his other teammates were discussing Notts County again. They did not know much about this opponent. Twain had already shown them videos of Notts County’s games a few times during tactics briefing in the past few days, but who would care about such a weak adversary?

Therefore, their comments revolved around, “oh, I heard their number 10 is not bad”, “he was chosen to join the England under-21s team”, “number 18 seems to be decent too, but he’s not physical enough”, “they are just a championship team”, “I think we can attack their flanks…”, “What did the boss say?”

Once they mentioned the manager, Twain, everyone shut up.

After a while, the most experienced person, Bale, frowned and said, “I get the feeling that the boss isn’t taking this game seriously…”

Chen Jian wanted to laugh as he listened in. I don’t think you guys are taking this seriously either, he thought.

“To be honest, I think that if hope to qualify for a European competition next season, winning the FA Cup and joining the Europa League is the most suitable method,” Bale continued his analysis, “Yet I have this feeling that boss will give up on the FA Cup and focus on the league. But it’s too difficult to get into the top six…”

Chen Jian had done his research on Forest’s situation. After all, he was part of the team now… He had to admit that the vice-captain made sense. Even though the cup competition was very unpredictable, Nottingham Forest was a team that suited the big matches, and it might be good for them to focus on the FA cup. The league was too long, and who could say that there would be no other issues in the future?

“Why are you loafing around here?”

Just when they were thinking about the future of the team, the captain, George Wood, opened the doors of the dressing room and entered. “If you guys don’t go out now, you’ll all be late and you’ll have to run laps as punishment.”

With a rumble, the dressing room went into a stampede and within the blink of an eye, everyone disappeared from Chen Jian’s view.

“Um…” Chen Jian did not expect his teammates to be so quick to go.

Wood had wanted to turn and leave too, but he realized that there was one more person in the dressing room. When he realized that it was Chen Jian, he stopped and looked at him.

Chen Jian realized that he was misbehaving, and he lowered his head and hurried out of the dressing room.

This captain was really awe-inspiring. I don’t dare to look up while he is looking at me, Chen Jian thought as he jogged out.

Good thing he did not see the news from the Chinese website…

※※※

Bale was right. Twain had indeed wanted to give up on the FA Cup. However, he would never give up in the first round.

The Premier League teams would only begin their FA Cup journey after the start of the new year, so this was the first round to them, but it was actually the third round of the FA Cup.

Not only did Twain not plan to give up, but he was taking this game rather seriously. Otherwise, he would not have shown the players so many videos of the Notts County matches. It was a pity… He took the opponent seriously, but his players might not.

The players had their reasons for being lax about this match. The opponent was too weak. The Forest players estimated they would only need to use fifty percent of their abilities and it would be enough for them to win. So what if it was a derby? It was not as if they had not defeated Notts County in a derby match before. Of course, that was many years ago, and Wood was the only one in the team who took a part in that match. Even Bale was still training in the youth team and reserve team then.

However, this was a piece of history that could be dug out. The Nottingham local media was talking about the derby again after 14 years. That derby was the most recent one, and the media would naturally bring it up again and again.

With this kind of “historical results”, the Nottingham Forest players thought that victory was a given and they would be able to defeat their opponent easily.

Another manager might be thinking the same as his players. However, Twain had a special reason for taking this match seriously, a reason he could not share with anyone else.

He had always wanted to meet Tang in a match, to see the progress that Tang made over the years. He also believed that this was the best chance for Tang to showcase his abilities in front of the Nottingham Forest fans and Evan Doughty, and he would definitely not waste this chance.

Notts County would definitely give their all. This was a match that could not be compared to one of 14 years ago.

If they were not careful, he might… This was no ‘Battle of Waterloo’ this time. Nottingham Forest was no longer the force they were before, and Notts County was definitely not as weak as they used to be.