Chapter 729: The Young Guard

The transfer fee of 16 million pounds had used up almost half of Nottingham Forest’s budget for the season. Twain had to come to a decision over whether he should spend the remaining money on a top-class player or on several cheaper, average players who could each play at different positions in the team next.

However, it was not a hard decision for Twain to make.

In his heart, he knows that Nottingham Forest is a team that will rise from the ashes and emerge as a force to be reckoned with once again. Therefore, there is no need to spend money acquiring average players. He decided that he should assemble the ‘best army’ and bring in everything that is needed for the team’s rebuild in one fell swoop.

He had his eyes set on Valencia CF’s David Silva.

Unfortunately, he faced a huge obstacle in his pursuit of David Silva’s signature, because Nottingham Forest was not the only club who had their eyes on Silva. Big clubs such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool and AC Milan were also looking at him. Nottingham Forest was not a club that stood out when compared against these other clubs.

Twain decided to use 30 million pounds of his transfer budget to purchase Silva, but he was only going to pay in instalments. This payment method was not accepted by Valencia CF, however.

Valencia CF had performed well for the first-half of last season. However, the team gradually slipped down the table as the season progressed. The club’s financial problems had not been solved, and was only made worse with the arrival of the economic crisis, which forced them to consider selling David Villa and David Silva for money despite being adamant initially that neither player was up for sale.

When news that both Villa and Silva were available broke out, the big clubs pounced on the opportunity like a pack of wolves who had rushed in at the scent of blood.

Real Madrid led the race for David Villa’s signature, whereas competition was fierce for David Silva.

In the end, Nottingham Forest proved to be no match against the other big, wealthy and successful football clubs.

After his plan to acquire Silva ended in a failure, Twain came to realize that he needed to change his mindset. Rather than pin his hopes on being able to buy established and famous players like Silva, he should look at getting younger players into the team instead.

Hence, he decided to shift his attention onto acquiring Britain’s gifted young players.

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Right as Twain was wondering over how he should build up his team, his friend, ‘Crazy’ Stuart Pearce, gave him a call and recommended a player to him.

“I’m not recommending him to you because I have anything to gain from this transfer, Tony.” Pearce said. “I just don’t want his future to become bleak. His contract with his club expires in summer, but he doesn’t want to continue staying in that League One side. He is looking for a bigger stage to perform on. I also think that he would not be able to improve as a player if he were to keep playing in League One. There are a few clubs after him right now, but I believe in you, Tony, which is why I recommended you to him when he approached me for suggestions.”

Twain had been listening to Pearce go on and on without mentioning the player’s name. Therefore, he had to ask, “Who is he and who does he play for?”

“Joe Mattock. Leicester City’s left back.”

Twain realized after hearing the name that it was a name that he has heard numerous times before. The British media had hailed him as one of the top 10 youth players in Britain. He is only 18 years of age and has already been given a place in Britain’s national U21 team by Pearce. He has amassed a lot of experience as a first team player in League One. He is physically strong and good at defending and going forward to attack.

There are several clubs who are interested in getting his signature. Twain could not believe that Pearce had actually recommended him to a player of this caliber.

“No problem, no problem at all, Stuart. I promise you I will help you groom him into a much better player than he is now.” Twain naturally agreed to take the player into his team. How could he possibly say no to such a good deal?

They might have Leighton Baines and Gareth Bale in the team right now, but considering how Bale has to play as the left midfielder from time to time, it was a good idea to get another left back to fill in the gap during those occasions.

Additionally, Joe Mattock is very young and will be a good investment for the future.

All in all, it was a good deal for the club.

Pearce had not lied to Twain. Just two days after he gave Twain a phone call, Mattock’s agent turned up at the club to negotiate a deal.

What both parties had to do next was simple. They agreed on personal terms for Mattock and put pen to paper straight away. Nottingham Forest acquired one of Britain’s most promising left backs without spending a single penny.

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The Forest team made progress on trying to bolster their strength on other positions as well.

Even though Nottingham Forest was a team that did not appeal to foreign football stars and was also a team that did not have the finances to compete with bigger clubs like Real Madrid, Chelsea and Manchester City for those players, but in the eyes of the local British youth players, they are a team who is known for their abilities to groom young players, and they also have a charismatic and unique manager in charge. Nottingham Forest was an appealing team for those youth players to consider joining.

At the end of June, Charlton officially announced that their up and coming youth player, Jonjo Shelvey, was sold to Nottingham Forest for 2 million pounds.

The fee paid by Forest was quite high given that Shelvey was still a player who had yet to reach 18 years of age. However, Shelvey was worth 6 million pounds last summer. If it was not for the ongoing economic crisis that forced many other clubs to become even more careful with their expenditures, it would have been impossible for Twain to obtain the captain for Britain’s national U16 team for only 2 million pounds.

Shelvey might only be 17 years of age, but he was already quite famous in Britain. He made his debut for Charlton when he was only 16 years and 55 days old. He came on a substitute for the captain of the Chinese national team Zheng Zhi in that game.

However, Shelvey had already attracted the attention of numerous football clubs prior to that as well. In 2007, he captained Britain’s U16 national team that was crowned champions in the Victory Shield. He played as a midfielder in that game and scored 3 goals. He was already a goal scoring machine when he was playing games for Charlton’s youth and reserve team.

However, Twain does not expect Shelvey to be able to make an instant impact in the team and score lots of goals for them. The reason why he bought Shelvey is because he saw potential in him to become a great player in the future. This is in line with what everything that Twain has been doing during this summer so far, which is to lay the foundation needed for the future of the club.

Other teams such as Sunderland and West Ham United were also in the race to sign Shelvey, but what allowed Twain to triumph over them in the end was because he was Tony Twain.

Twain has made a name for himself these few years, and there are many people who like him as there are many who dislike him. He is called the ‘Arsene Wenger of Britain’ because of how he shows a preference to playing youth players in his team, and this makes him an attractive destination in the eyes of numerous youth players.

This advantage that he has over other rival teams is not only shown through his acquisitions of Joe Mattock and Jonjo Shelvey.

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Victor Moses was also another player that became a part of Nottingham Forest this summer. He was an 18 year old forward who played for Crystal Palace. He was born in Nigeria, but his family emigrated to Britain when he was five. He signed a four year contract with Crystal Palace when he turned 16.

Just like any other football player from Africa, he was physically strong and possessed exceptional pace. His football techniques were remarkable as well. His only flaw was that his heading ability was average at best despite being 185 cm tall and having a strong body.

Twain wished to use Moses primarily during squad rotations. Moses would play for the first team, reserve team or youth team when needed.

Besides those three players, Twain also had his eyes on Sunderland’s all-rounded midfielder Jordan Henderson. Henderson could play in numerous positions such as the right midfielder, central defensive midfielder and striker. He once led the Sunderland youth team into the finals of the FA Youth Cup.

Twain wanted to buy Henderson and groom him further, but Roy Keane did not budge even though they were friends. He was adamant that Henderson was not for sale.

Despite his failure to purchase Henderson, Twain was content with his summer signings. He had focused more on getting British players this season due to the upcoming implementation of the 6+5 rule in 2012.

Twain believes that the youth players would all become great players in the future as long as they can groom them properly and the players put in effort on their side. Of course, injuries also need to not pay them a visit that often.

The potential that those youth players have is right there waiting to be properly utilized.

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Contrary to their aggressive style of buying loads of players in the past years, Nottingham Forest announced during the start of July that the club would not be buying any other players for the rest of transfer window, and that the player list for next season has been confirmed.

This piece of news shocked the British media.

Who exactly did Forest bring in during the summer?

They have promoted John Bostock, Nicolás Millán, Adriano Moke and Chris Cohen from the youth team to the first team, but this does not count as bringing in new players into the team. All they have done is look inwards for new players.

They got ex-Leicester City left back Joe Mattock on a free transfer, paid 2 million pounds to get the current captain of Britain’s U16 national team Jonjo Shelvey from Charlton, and paid 3 million pounds to bring in Crystal Palace’s gifted forward Victor Moses.

Gabriel Agbonlahor was Nottingham Forest’s biggest expenditure for the summer at 16 million pounds. He was also the only established player that Nottingham Forest bought this summer that the media thought would perform well in the Premier League.

Agbonlahor has already proven himself after his stint at Aston Villa, and there was nothing else that he needed to prove at Nottingham Forest. He was a player who could be used in games straight away.

The resolute ‘anti-Twain’ Carl Spicer sarcastically mocked Tony Twain for his joke of a transfer window in his column:

“When he got married to his supermodel girlfriend, he was all gung-ho and went to great lengths to make sure the whole world could witness the scene as he kissed Shania. But, when it comes to bringing in new players for the Forest team, he acts as though he has his hands and feet bound and has done little but save money for the club. Look at the players he bought… The only player that I approve of is Agbonlahor. As for the rest of them… If Mr. Tony Twain’s main intention for buying those players is so that he can sell them for a higher price in the future, then I must applaud Mr. Tony Twain for having an excellent business sense. Everyone knows that Nottingham Forest Football Club is going through a hard time. Their new stadium got discarded in Clifton right after the workers finished laying out the foundation needed for its construction, as though it is mocking its American owners for being overly ambitious. The club is in dire need for money currently, and what should they do to solve this issue? The only thing they can do is to sell players, obviously. So, they find numerous young players from all over the country who have the potential to go on to become football stars, and they groom them for a few seasons before selling them for a high price… That is a good business strategy.

However, if Mr. Twain intends to rely on those players to bring Nottingham Forest back to the top, or if he thinks buying those players is all he needs to have decent results in the league, then I’m sorry, allow me to laugh for three minutes. Is Nottingham Forest really in such dire straits that they are choosing to rely on a bunch of kids who are probably still feeding on their mother’s milk? Or is it that all Mr. Tony Twain is aiming for is to avoid relegation next season? And then get the team to make occasional appearances in the Europa League… Oh, that reminds me, he has yet to clinch a Europa League trophy! This lends credence to my earlier speculation. But, allow me to be blunt, Mr. Twain. With your current squad, it would be a challenge to even get into the Europa League…”

The article was full of sarcasm, mockery and distrust towards Twain, and some of the words used were of a derogatory nature. The article led to a buzz after it was published in The Daily Telegraph.

Everyone knows that Carl Spicer has a long-standing agenda against Twain. However, if you take away the strong words that he used in the article, everything he said has actually hit the nail on the head.

The current Nottingham Forest without Piqué, Bendtner, Ribéry, van der Vaart and Arshavin was a team that consisted mainly of young, inexperienced players and it lacked competitiveness.

George Wood was definitely still a player that everyone could trust, and other players such as Gareth Bale and Pepe have both proven themselves to be good players as well.

As for Tiago, it remains to be seen if he is truly suitable for Nottingham Forest.

Twain’s insistence on giving Žigić a chance to prove himself next season was also worrying. After all, it was not as though Twain has not misjudged players in the past.

Eastwood’s ankle and knee are both quite fragile. No one knows when is the next time he has to lie on the operating table.

Şahin? That kid has yet to prove whether he is able to regain that form that he showed before he got injured. His performance so far has been largely inconsistent. Of course, from a neutral standpoint, his inconsistent performance has been influenced by the team’s poor performance as a whole.

Petrov? He is getting on with his age and has lost a lot of pace. His attacks are also a little too one-dimensional.

Kris Commons? All right, let’s be frank. We have nearly forgotten about him…

Tony Twain might be called ‘Britain’s Arsene Wenger’, but he is still immensely different from Wenger, and Nottingham Forest is not Arsenal either.

Even Arsenal did not manage to attain any notable results with their exceedingly talented youth team. They failed to become champions in the Premier League, did not win the Champions League, was eliminated in the quarter finals of the EFL Cup and did not progress beyond the semifinals for the FA Cup…

It goes to show that it is not beneficial to have a team that is made up of very young players if the team wants to become champions of a particular competition. It is impossible even if you have a team like Arsenal’s with 23 young players who are overflowing with talent.

What you need to become champions is not talent or an exceptional gift that excites people. Rather, what you need is an abundance of experience and the ability to perform consistently. Of course, you need luck on your side as well.

If Tony Twain truly intends to rely on a bunch of kids to stage a comeback, he must certainly be building castles in the air!

We would not mind mocking him when he fails. After all, he has a nuclear-powered heart right now. Even if his heart stops all of a sudden, he would be revived on the spot.

He will not die.

Tony Twain is a scourge. Scourges typically have long lives…

Of course, we would be more than happy to watch him ridicule himself if he uses his heart problem as an excuse for his failures.