Chapter 883: The Storm before the Night

It wasn’t until noon the next day that Twain met all the Nottingham Forest team members in the restaurant, both players and coaches. There was no one having meals in the restaurant in the morning. Twain knew that these people went through a full frenzy night of partying so all of them must have slept in. Anyways, the season had already ended so he would not ask someone else to knock on their doors.

After the team lunch, they would take a flight back to England, then an open-top double-decker bus from Birmingham Airport into Nottingham. After they arrived, they had an interview with the mayor at the city square, after which they would climb onto the town hall balcony and meet the fans that would gather there. That was their itinerary for the day. There was no arrangement to celebrate during the evening at the City Stadium as the City Stadium was fully closed for final preparations before its demolition.

On the flight from Madrid to Birmingham, Evan Doughty and Allan Adams were in first class seating and did not come to find Twain, thought Twain did not want them to disturb him either. He leaned against his seat and texted Shania to ask where she wanted to go this holiday.

Most of the players continued to sleep on the plane. The beautiful air stewardesses were elegant and careful, but they were also helpless in front of guys who were continuously snoring.

After the plane landed in Birmingham, it was Twain and Wood who were carrying the championship trophy and the first to walk down the plane’s ladder.

Reporters who had been waiting there for a long time swarmed up. In an instant, there were several flashes and some players who were still drowsy almost rolled down the ladder when they looked up.

Twain was interviewed after disembarking and was asked to give an impromptu speech.

“This is a gift to all the Nottingham Forest fans.” He held up his trophy and the silver glinted in the afternoon sun.

Instead of an emotional and passionate speech, he simply waved to the camera, “I love you all.”

Then he got into the crowd and left the scene under police protection.

This left a few stunned reporters facing each other. It was not like Twain to give such a short speech.

Only Evan Doughty and Allan Adams knew why – when Twain has decided to leave the scene, there was not much meaning to what else he wanted to say.

Twain forced a smile in front of everyone, but he was not in a good mood. If he were alone, that smile would disappear and he would just stare into space.

He stayed like this, zoned out, until he ascended to the second-floor balcony of City Hall to face the tens of thousands of Nottingham Forest fans below. He only got up when he needed to show up, choosing to hide behind the other players most of the time, his gaze was constantly moving.

Because every time he saw the enthusiastic fans below, he had to think about how to deal with them after he announced the news. What would the people who once supported him think? Would they continue to support him or would they shun him? Would he need to wear sunglasses and dress up differently whenever he walked within the city of Nottingham?

And his players. How would they feel in their hearts if his most loyal players knew their coach betrayed them? Twain did not dare to think about this future. He felt sorry for the team, but he had no choice, he did not want to force himself to stay anymore. Leading the team to the club’s unprecedented Triple Crown may be his only compensation for these people, so this also allowed Twain’s heart to settle a little.

Twain did not tell Shania when he was making the decision, perhaps he could have sought Shania’s comfort and support. But that would also make Shania worry for himself. Twain did not want this to happen, so he chose himself to bear these burden alone.

“Coach! Hey, coach!” Bale called a few times from the side before waking up the daydreaming Twain.

“Ah?” What’s the matter, little monkey? ” Twain called Bale’s nickname.

“They’re all shouting your name.” Bale pointed to the crowds below.

Twain knew he needed to go forward and wave again, so he squeezed towards the front.

The fans below stopped shouting his name when they saw Twain reappeared, then came a huge cheer afterwards.

Twain waved to them with a huge smile on his face.

Wood handed him the microphone from his hand. It was not as simple as just waving his hand, he needed to make a speech.

Twain received the microphone and looked at the people below, his mouth opened but he did not know what to say. So he dazed out on the spot while holding the microphone.

As the cheers faded, Twain realized that he would be exposed to be out of state if he continued dazing. He coughed and began, “Thank you all so much for being here.”

Then he got stuck again.

“Well… Thank you again for this… One season of support. He almost said, “the support of the past 11 years.”

“We won three of the most important championships. ” Twain pointed to the three trophies of different shapes and sizes in front of him. They were the English Premier League Champions Trophy, the FA Cup and the freshly released European Champions Cup. “Here are three love letters for all of you. I love you all. ”

When he said this, Twain was not being pretentious and fake. He really loved this group of fans. After all, He has coached this team for eleven years, there were no fake feelings involved.

Someone passionately screamed from below, “I love you, Tony.”

There was no shortage of sexy hot girls within the crowds. The players behind him whistled.

“We wouldn’t have achieved those results without your support, ” Twain continued after the commotion. “I will firmly remember you guys, this day belongs to you, go and have lots of fun!” he gave the microphone to the people around him and stepped back.

“The head coach is a little weird…” Bale muttered to Wood.

Wood looked at Twain and did not respond.

“Maybe he was too tired…” Others were also aware about how weird Twain was as what Bale said. If it was like in the past, the head coach would surely deliver a speech here that would excite his supporters and incite fear in his opponents, then he would bring the atmosphere to its climax. But today’s head coach was like a poet. He was a little… sentimental…?

His statement garnered the approval from others. During these days, the head coach was really tired. Everyone saw this; it was definitely not fake. There were only players, hence they would at most be physically tired, but being the coach would involve being emotionally fatigued. If he was tired mentally, he would naturally not have sufficient strength to make an emotional and passionate speech here.

The revelry with the fans continued into the evening. Nottingham Forest’s players and the three trophies finally disappeared from the second-floor balcony. Their whole team went to the mayor’s dinner, and the fans were also leaving as they would continue to celebrate this great season in their respective bars.

※※※

On the same day, the media also started buzzing.

The Spanish media were not happy with the Nottingham Forest winning the Champions League. They did not think Nottingham Forest had any reason to win the championship and the trophy was stolen by them. Whether it was the team line-up, sports physique or the audience’s opinions, Real Madrid was more qualified to lift the trophy than they were.

In addition to criticizing Tony Twain for his lack of championship demeanor in his post-match press conference, they also talked about Pepe’s red card. A majority probably wanted to force Pepe to retire, if not they would not stop criticizing about it.

Real Madrid did not speak yet but Angel Torres, the younger brother of the president of Real Madrid, Angel Torres, who had a Real Madrid membership card, jumped out and publicly attacked Pepe, claiming that “Nottingham Forest should have expelled such violent players from the team”.

Despite Pepe’s public apology in the English media the next day and his tears of remorse, the Spanish people did not waver at all. There were still some Spanish media clamors for Pepe to be banned from matches forever. The reason being “In the final match of the European Champions Cup, in such an important, high-profile game, such violent actions were a disgrace to football, and such a person simply does not deserve to play football!”

Marca was concerned about UEFA’s reaction towards the incident. The UEFA’s response was swift — in fact everything regarding Nottingham Forest and Tony Twain, like penalty decisions were decided quite quickly. On the second day after the match they had already made a penalty decision: a 15-game ban and a fine of 50,000 euros for Pepe’s European-wide matches. That meant that even if Nottingham Forest reached the Champions League final next season, Pepe would miss all 13 games. On top of that, Pepe would be suspended for the European Super Cup at the end of August and then another match in the next season – that is, if Nottingham Forest could still qualify for European competitions, whether it is the Confederations Cup or the Champions League, or for the European Super Cup.

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This was a rather severe penalty.

Nottingham Forest did not appeal against this. Instead, they quietly accepted the penalty, so the Spanish media had speculated whether the Nottingham Forest club would also impose penalties on Pepe… Unfortunately, they did not receive any news on this and Nottingham Forest Club did not announce any form of punishment for Pepe — he would not even have a smaller winning bonus.

Pepe was in a very bad mood at first because after calming down, he also felt that he had broken into a great disaster. He even thought about retiring in his mind. If it were not for the coach, he might have just gone ahead and retired.

It was the head coach who found him at lunchtime the next day, pulling him into the corner for more than half an hour and explaining to him about the club and his personal’s stance. Regardless of this matter there would be no further complications, so just let bygones be bygones. Twain on his end understood what he did at that time and would not impose any further punishment.

Twain’s tolerance and understanding made Pepe grateful and strengthened his determination to remain loyal to the Nottingham team. Now Twain was still dealing with all kinds of issues, and when he was free, he would rebut against those Spanish media on his own forums. These Spanish people would definitely have the opportunity to suffer Twain’s scolding.

Most of the English media were speculating about another event that had nothing to do with winning the title — whether the affinity between Tony Twain and Nottingham Forest have come to an end. Ever since the news was exposed, it was like a tropical rainstorm, sweeping the whole English media. As for Tony Twain leading the team to attain the Triple Champions, the news rather became more common and uninteresting in comparison…

The mayor also asked about this matter during the celebratory dinner at the mayor’s official residence. The Nottingham team’s trio laughed harmoniously at the mayor’s concern, as if there were no contradictions at all. Twain continuously promised to “settle down in a few days first then consider a contract extension” and Evan Doughty assured the mayor as he swore that the club would offer their meritorious coach a contract that would match what he had achieved so far.

But the mayor would never know what the three people were actually thinking.

There were players who heard similar news from other sources, running to the head coach during the party and asking if he was really leaving. This was what Twain thought was the hardest to deal with: He did not want to lie in front of his players, but then again, this was not the time to reveal everything. He only entertained them by saying, “You guys will know then.” He wanted to pretend to be mysterious so everyone would not blindly speculate.

At the end he simply hid outside alone to enjoy the cold breeze.

This was the corner of the garden of the official residence. It was very dark, and usually no one would come to this place. Twain hid here, thinking that he could get through the night, but he did not expect to meet yet an uninvited guest.

“If I said, ‘Hey, what a coincidence!’ You wouldn’t buy it, would you?” The visitor was carrying a wine glass and it looked like he was coming out to enjoy the cold breeze as well.

Twain looked at him and did not say anything.

The man continued, “You don’t have to be like this right, Twain? Since you have decided to leave, then the feud between us should be written off, shouldn’t it? ”

Twain voice seemed to come out of his nose, “Good evening, Mr. Allan Adams.”

Twain was finally willing to talk to him. Allan smiled, “I have not much opinions about you, Tony. Everything I do is based on the financial considerations for the club. It’s like everything you think is based on team results. The two of us… well maybe if we weren’t handling such matters, could be friends.”

“Maybe,” Twain said coldly. If it were not for the man in front of him, his affinity with the Nottingham Forest might not have been broken so fast.

“Can I ask you what you’re going to do after you leave here?” No, it’s not the question asking where you are going with your wife, it’s about football…” Allan waved.

Twain thought, then shook his head, “I don’t know, no plans. Maybe I’ll go some time without touching football.” Then he smiled coldly. “Are you still worried that I’m going to Manchester United to become Nottingham Forest’s enemy?”

Allan did not say anything, it was as if he was acknowledging it silently.

“I’m not interested.” Twain shrugged. “I can’t be too sure about the far future, but I won’t be coaching any Premier League team in the years to come. ”

He did not say why, but the reason was obvious. Leading the Nottingham Forest for eleven years, this team had long been integrated with him — both entities were one and the same. He was simply unable to imagine himself standing as the manager of another Premier League team and directing them against Nottingham Forest. When he was at Nottingham Forest, he managed to put the rest of the Premier League on the opposite side of Nottingham Forest and made them enemies of Nottingham Forest, so how could he now turn around and become the very enemy he created?

Allan seemed relieved. When they signed the contract with Twain, they had never thought of what was happening today, otherwise he would definitely write in the contract, “Once the two sides decide not to renew the contract, five years upon the expiry of the contract, Party B would not be allowed to coach any team within the same league.” At least now he was a little settled.

Was he afraid of Tony? To tell the truth, he was indeed afraid. He was afraid to become an enemy of Tony Twain. When this guy goes crazy, he throws everything out of the window, he would become a completely different person.

After confirming this matter, Allan had no more reason to talk about the past with Tony Twain, he used an excuse to leave the place, leaving Tony Twain alone behind. Twain looked at the brightly lit doorway, as the noise came out vaguely.

He suddenly felt a little lonely, but he liked this type of loneliness. If it was possible, it was best to keep him lonely until the end of the dinner party, and then he could go back and hug his dear wife.

After spending a moment alone in the dark, Twain returned to the lively hall. Chris Kerslake came to him, “Where have you been, Tony? I was looking for you but could not find you. ”

“Go outside and catch a breather. What are you looking for me for?”

“Well… I heard a little rumor.” Chris Kerslake looked at Twain.

“And you want me to give you validation?”

Chris Kerslake nodded.

Twain hesitated for a while.

“You’ll know by then, David. ” He was still using the same excuse to avoid the question.

“When? If you want to renew your contract with the club, it would be usually around these few days?”

“You’ll find out in a few days, David. “Twain patted his old partner on the shoulder.

He did not lie on purpose, but he really did not think about how to say goodbye to the people closest to him. After today, the team would be immediately disbanded and everyone could go and settle their own respective matters. Some would go on vacation and they would not meet each other until the next gathering. Because of the World Cup, the first to return to the team were those players who were not selected for their respective national teams, Twain needed to commentate on the World Cup, so the team would be led by his assistants on the time being. By the time the World Cup was over, his contract with the club would have long been expired.

He also knew that Evan and Allan would not really wait until June 30 to find his successors, and the news would not be able to stay hidden for a few days. Still, he wanted this to drag on, so at least he was able to think of ways to bade farewell to these people.

“If there are any developments, I’ll turn to you first to let you know, David.” Twain laughed.

“Okay…” Chris Kerslake sighed helplessly. “My handphone will be switched on twenty-four seven. ”

“Thank you, David.”

“What are you thanking me for? Sigh, I also don’t know why, but my heart feels a little uneasy. Maybe I drank a little too much?”

Chris Kerslake muttered and turned away.

Twain’s troubles weighed heavier and heavier.

“I’m sorry, comrades. I’m not going to continue to lead you to victory and championship. I have decided to resign automatically when my contract expiresd because of some conflict between me and the club. I wish you all all the best.”

There were so many people, how could he say all of them in front of them?

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