Chapter 224: Volume 3: Red Forest, Fateful Encounter
A draw against Aston Villa at home made the players of the Forest team realize that there were more reporters on the sidelines during training. Everyone knows the local media, and most of the unfamiliar faces are from London.
"We just tied a game, why are the media so excited?" During the team's training break, Eastwood pointed to the long guns and short guns outside the barbed wire in puzzlement and asked.
"Because they also know that we are destined to be the champions of this season!" Tang En nodded vigorously beside him, his tone affirmative.
Eastwood turned his head and looked at Tang En who was accosting in surprise: "Boss, are you joking?"
Tang En shook his head seriously: "No, of course I'm joking."
Someone next to him giggled.
David Chrislake explained from the side: "They pay so much attention to us, not because of us, but because of our opponent in the next round of the league - Arsenal."
Recently, the media has been hyping up the fateful entanglement between Arsenal and Nottingham Forest. It is like a bloody eight o'clock TV series. Few people don't know about it. Only people like Eastwood who don't care about anything but playing their own football are surprised to see so many reporters gathered in Wilford.
Standing outside the training ground with other journalists, Pierce Bruce had to lament the fate: when Arsenal broke the record, they faced the same team that made the record. When Clough led the team to create this record, it was considered unattainable for a long, long time. Now that he is not dead, this record is in danger of being broken.
The North London media, except those who support Tottenham Hotspur, are all overwhelmingly optimistic about Arsenal, believing that Arsenal broke the 25-year-old record at Forest's home court. After all, Arsenal are now strong and in good condition, while the Forest team is not yet adapted to the rhythm of the Premier League. They only scored one point in the first two rounds of the league. The results of one loss and one draw are really not convincing when facing the powerful Arsenal. up.
At the end of training, the players walked from the training ground to the dressing room, and reporters came up along the way to ask them about the record, about Arsenal. Most of them asked "what do you think Arsenal are capable of? How likely are they to break the record?" Some players can politely answer this question that has little to do with them.
When encountering people with a bad temper, they would ignore those reporters. For example, George Wood looked at the reporters who put the microphones in front of his mouth with indifferent eyes, but when the other party was full of expectations, he looked away again and left the group of reporters without saying a word .
And there are more and more Forest players who treat reporters like him. At the beginning, everyone was very interested in this kind of attention and found it fresh. After all, they are too far away from the record they set 25 years ago, and they don't think it is such a bad thing to be broken.
But if the people around you open their mouths and shut their mouths, "What about Arsenal" and "What about Henry", when people ask such questions, there will always be a feeling of "I am underestimated".
At the forest team's regular press conference, 95% of the reporters asked questions about the next game, and 80% of them asked Tang En to talk about his pursuit of Arsenal. Ping this record view.
Dunn himself didn't dislike Arsenal, nor did he dislike Wenger. After all, he and Wenger still had the slightest friendship. But he hates these media that see wind and rain, and he doesn't intend to save face for these media.
So when all the reporters finished asking their questions, Tang En dug his ear in front of the camera, and then asked back: "I tried my best to think that I had heard it wrong, so I dug my ear, intending to make this organ normal It works. But I found out that my ears are fine, so I try to make myself think that there is something wrong with my brain, and I can't understand your problem correctly. But it is too difficult to make me think that, because my brain is impossible Something went wrong... so in the end I can only come up with one problem: something must be wrong with you."
He said such a lot of specious things that the reporter was completely confused, not knowing what he was talking about and what he wanted to express.
Looking at this group of bewildered reporters, Tang En sighed: "Sure enough, I have to be blunt so that you can understand—I said, gentlemen and ladies, you have come to the wrong place. To pay attention to Arsenal, please go to the North London. This is Welford, not Kearney (Arsenal training base). I believe you can’t ask questions other than Arsenal here, so today’s regular press conference ends here, until the game Before the end, my team and I will not accept any form of interviews with any media."
After speaking, Tang En got up and left the press conference room, leaving a room full of stunned reporters here looking at each other.
Tang En walked resolutely, and Ms. Barbara Lucy of the Forest Club wanted to stay and clean up the mess for him: "This is the end of today's press conference. Ladies and gentlemen, please go back."
After speaking, she also walked out quickly, catching up with Tony Twain who was striding back to the office.
"Mr. Tang En?" She called Tang En with a questioning tone.
Tang En stopped and looked back at Evan's private secretary: "Miss Lucy, what can I do?"
"Uh...I want to remind you that there will be another interview with Sky TV tomorrow morning..."
"Sitting in the cafe at Wilford's training ground and asking me about Arsenal?"
"Well... I don't know, but I think... yes." Lucy nodded.
"Very well, you can help me refuse. If we have agreed to accept this interview, let David receive those annoying reporters, and I will lead the team to train."
Lucy nodded and left. Tang En had just entered his office when he received a call from Evan Daugherty: "Tony, I heard that you have embarrassed the entire British media?"
"You're very well informed, Evan."
"Don't forget that I also have friends in the media." Evan laughed, "They called me and complained, saying that the head coach of the Forest team was not cooperative at all."
"I want to cooperate with them, but all they ask are questions about Arsenal, and I can't cooperate even if I want to." Dunn shrugged while holding the phone.
"Come on, Tony. Don't be like this in front of me. You're uncomfortable, aren't you?"
"Well... if someone praises your direct competitor in front of you, and then asks you to say good things about this competitor, they will be dissatisfied with it if they say something bad... I think you will be very upset, Evan. Not happy."
"That's...you're right, Tony. Do it well, and let those who look down on us suffer!"
Just after finishing the call with the club chairman, Tang En received another call from Piers Bruce: "Tony, are you serious about what you just said at the press conference?"
Bruce was still standing in the parking lot of Wilford's training base at this time, and the other reporters left here while complaining about Tony Twain playing big names. Only he is not reconciled, hoping to use his personal relationship to obtain exclusive interview rights.
"Of course it's true." Tang En said in a non-joking tone.
"this……"
"Okay, Mr. Reporter." Tang En always called Bruce "Mr. Reporter" habitually. He didn't want Bruce to feel that the relationship between the two was very close. "Some things I think it's more appropriate for me to say it myself than for you to say it for me, so I will update my personal column on the Evening Post soon."
"But..." Bruce still hoped to have his name signed on a report that could attract public attention.
"Mr. Reporter, do you dare to call your colleagues 'sons of bitches' in your report?"
"How is this possible...why should I..."
"That's right, I dare." Tang En laughed loudly and hung up the phone.
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Tony Twain's column on the next day's "Nottingham Evening Post" published a statement on the refusal to interview the reporter. In the article, Tang En scolded the media for not knowing respect for others and having no professional ethics. Here, he uses the phrase "son of a bitch" to the press for the first time. Of course, despite the use of swear words, his tone is not intense, and it is still his inherent style-sarcasm and foul language coexist, irony and various weird metaphors complement each other...
Tang En just didn't cooperate with the media, and it was wishful thinking to get any news from him. The first one to bump into the window was the reporter from Sky TV. Twain refused this TV organization that exclusively broadcast the Premier League on the pretext that he wanted to lead the team in training, and that it was not appropriate to be distracted at the moment of the battle.
The media can only dig deep-seated gossip. They do everything possible to find players from the Forest team twenty-five years ago, but there are not many people who can find them...Of course, most of the focus of attention is still on the Forest team. Team head coach Brian Clough.
Clough's doorway, far away from Derbyshire, gathered more than 20 reporters in one day, and they all wanted to hear the record maker's views on record catchers.
In terms of dealing with the media, Clough is much more experienced than Tang En. In the interview, he lavishly praised Arsenal, saying that he is an admirer of Wenger, his favorite team is Arsenal, and his favorite striker is Henry. He believes that Arsenal plays artistic football that is ten years ahead of the Premier League. So he has nothing to complain about being matched and possibly broken by such a good and great team. Finally, he also encouraged Arsenal to go beyond the forest at that time.
What he said might make the Arsenal fans very happy, but then this rebellious old man added: "As Coach Tony Twain said, all records are meant to be broken. After all We have created a record, no one can despise the existence of the record, for me, 42 games unbeaten is more exciting than the Champions League, Arsenal is just the younger generation who challenged us."
This sentence was said last, but it was enough to show the pride of the old man. Unfortunately not everyone noticed this.
Tang En noticed that these words made him feel much better. He knew that the boss was still helping him, but the way the old British man expressed his emotions was full of British tradition—he always liked to express their feelings in a silent and low-key manner.
I support you, Tony. But you don't expect to hear a single good word from me.
Maybe one day, when you reach the height I was back then, I will reluctantly say: "It's okay, it's the same as when I was young."
That's the highest compliment I can give you, boy!
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Unlike Twain's rough treatment of the media, although Wenger didn't like the English media, because when he first arrived in England, the paparazzi in England claimed that the French were gay... But he always tried to be cautious and rarely went alone in front of the media.
Now that Arsenal's record is about to break, he has to appear on TV cameras more times than usual, or on the sports pages of newspapers.
Speaking of Nottingham Forest, he expressed the necessary respect for the team. Clough said he was his idol, and Wenger was a little excited to speak. He announced that he was also a fan of Nottingham Forest. He liked to watch Clough since he was a child. The team played in the forest team, the years when the Forest team swept Europe is still unforgettable to him, and he is very excited when he thinks about it...
But who knows how many sentences are true and how many are false...
When talking about the upcoming game, Wenger put away his admiration for Nottingham Forest. Although he affirmed what Tony Twain did in the transfer market in the summer, he also expressed confidence that his The team is ready to set a new record.
"The best way to pay tribute to the record creators is to beat them and create a new record." Wenger walked back to the office building after saying the "declaration of victory" that excited the media. He already knows how to deal with the media, but apparently his opponents don't.
Thinking of the tension between Tang En and the media because of this incident, a smile appeared on the Frenchman's face.
Thirty-five-year-old head coach? so young...
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"Welcome to Nottingham! A historic city in central England. Here is the dense Sherwood Forest, and the world-renowned Robin Hood, who steals from the rich and gives to the poor! There is also a great team here - Nottingham Forest!" Sky TV reporter said At this point, the cameraman tacitly took a shot of the city stadium behind the reporter, zoomed in, and featured the Nottingham Forest logo in close-up, the red one was particularly eye-catching in the sun.
"Yes, Brian Clough created the Forest Dynasty and left a record that future generations will look up to - England's top league unbeaten record: forty-two games! Until today... twenty-five years, This record may be rewritten. And we have to lament the magic of the hand of fate: if the team that has the opportunity to rewrite the record wants to succeed, it must defeat the creator of this record!"
As soon as he finished shouting, he saw two groups of fans who were also wearing red jerseys but walked past him. The Arsenal fans sang songs supporting Arsenal, while the Nottingham Forest fans sang for them A new song written by Tony Twain.
The cameraman's lens closely followed the two groups of people, and seemed to see the appearance of the game waiting for a while from them.
The stands were already full, and the news media was almost crowded outside the stadium. Everyone was looking forward to how the two opponents who were brought together by the hand of fate would perform in such a fateful duel.
Arsenal and Nottingham Forest have a deep relationship, because two of the founders of Arsenal were Nottingham Forest players. When Arsenal was first established, they didn't even have their own jerseys. It was the two founders who went to the Forest Club to borrow a batch of jerseys and footballs, which was considered to be their own team.
But the subsequent development of the two teams can be described as very different. Arsenal relied on Chapman to create their dynasty in the 1930s, and they have embarked on a road of wealth ever since. And what about Nottingham Forest? It has never been considered a wealthy family, at most it is an old-fashioned strong team, and it only became a household name because of the Clough era. Economy, influence, strength... No matter how you compare it, the Forest team is like a poor relative in the countryside in front of Arsenal, even though it was this poor relative who gave them a hand when Arsenal had no milk.
In front of Arsenal, the only thing that can keep the Forester's self-esteem is the two silvery Champions League trophies and the record of 42 consecutive unbeaten games in England's top league.
But now... the Champions League trophy is a matter of the future, and it is impossible to say which year or month it will go to. But the record of 42 games has been tied by Arsenal, and the day when this record was broken was publicized by the media as if it was today.
The glory of the past is gradually leaving them, and now the forest team starts from scratch...
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I can't update due to something on Saturday morning, please forgive me for posting tonight and tomorrow morning. (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in
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