Chapter 603 Volume 5 Red Coach Roy
Twain still remembered the encounter he had with Roy Keane one and a half seasons ago. He originally thought that the matter would have a happy ending - an ending similar to the happy life of the princess and the prince: Roy Keane announced that he would freely join Nottingham Forest and become a member of Tang En's team.
But alas, not all stories are like fairy tales. Roy Keane's stubbornness and loyalty were beyond his imagination. In the end, the two met and separated in the vast crowd without any story happening.
Tang En's only gain is - having the friendship of this tough Irish guy. They got along very well. When the Forest team resumed training, Keane asked Dunn some questions about coaching a team. Of course, the proud Keane just asked some questions, and Tang En answered them. In addition, Keane is not overly enthusiastic and curious about the career of the head coach. At that time, Keane had not decided to retire, and becoming a coach was still just a dream.
But Keane did say to Twain more than once that after he retires, he hopes to become an outstanding head coach like Ferguson and Clough, who can influence the new generation of players to take the right career path.
He later joined Celtic and left England. When he left, he published a heartfelt open letter, thanking everyone, including the old man Ferguson who drove him out of the house. The only person he didn't mention was Tony Twain. He said he wouldn't make someone feel too good, and he did.
Now, a year and a half later, he is back, bringing his dream back to the stage that once belonged to him.
He is no longer the captain of the "Red Devils" Manchester United, nor is he the down-and-out player who was kicked out by the Manchester United club and has nowhere to go. He is wearing a neat suit, shiny shoes, and a dark red tie. Pinned to it is a tie clip with the Sunderland crest on it.
Now he is the head coach of newly promoted Sunderland in the Premier League.
"Do you like to hear me call you Mr. Keane? Or Coach Keane?" At the regular press conference the day before the game, Dunn met his long-lost old friend Roy Keane.
"It's all right. Whatever you want."
The two personality coaches held hands together in front of reporters' cameras, both smiling, but it wasn't publicity stunts. Tang En didn't have many friends in the coaching world—some people might not be regarded as Tang En's enemies, but they couldn't be considered friends either—fortunately, Roy Keane was one of them.
"Then I'll call you Roy, by the way. I heard about your achievements in the British Championship, and I must say that you did a great job!" When the two shook hands and hugged each other, Tang En whispered in Keane's ear.
"No matter how beautiful it is, it can only be 'Tony Twain's Second Miracle of Nottingham Forest'." Roy Keane shrugged and curled his lips.
Roy Keane decided to retire completely after playing half a season with the Celtics, and then he took a break. At the end of December last year, he was approached by Sunderland, hoping to hire him as the head coach of the "Black Cat". At that time, Sunderland had already ranked first from the bottom of the British Championship. Their remaining goal for the rest of the season was relegation, and nothing else was considered.
Before Roy Keane, Sunderland had looked for many other well-known or unknown head coaches, but no one was willing to take over this mess. At that time, some people in the Coaches Association were discussing this issue. Many people thought that going to Sunderland to coach was a disaster, or to put it more bluntly, "a very high-risk gamble". Maybe he will let himself be buried with Sunderland-downgraded to the First Division, which is England's third division, equivalent to the former Second Division.
Which coach is willing to do such a thing?
This matter aroused Tang En's interest, of course he didn't want to coach. Rather, he has a suitable candidate to recommend to Sunderland.
His advanced memory came to an abrupt end in the first half of 2007, and it is completely useless now. Even so, he still vaguely remembered that Roy Keane did coach Sunderland back then. As for when he started coaching this team, and whether he led the team to relegation or promotion, he didn't know. And he didn't know the story behind Sunderland's hiring of Roy to coach.
But now, he has the chance to make it happen.
Will Roy Keane become an excellent head coach and threaten Tony Twain's performance? Will he become a big man who will rival Twain in the league and European competition in the future?
Tang En didn't know, and didn't want to know. That was for the future, and for Keane himself. Now he just felt that Roy had told him more than once about his dream of being a head coach, so now that the opportunity came, he could use his little prestige in football to help Roy. After all, the two are friends.
Then he found Danny Quinn, the chairman of the Sunderland club, and recommended him the former Ireland international teammate.
Speaking of the young chairman of the Sunderland club, there are still some well-known "grievances" with Keane.
At the beginning, Quinn was the main center of the Irish national team and a loyal supporter of Irish coach McCarthy. In the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, when Keane and McCarthy fell out, Quinn stood firmly behind the head coach. In the following season, when Manchester United challenged Sunderland away, Keane also elbowed Irish compatriot McAteer on the field and had an altercation with Quinn. The relationship between the two is not good, so Quinn did not choose Keane, who was at home, when the club could not find a head coach.
At first, Quinn wanted to be the chairman of the club and the head coach of the team, but he had no wins in the first five games he coached the team, which made the Irish high center sober. He can rely on the strength of his hometown consortium to acquire Sunderland, which is in economic crisis, and then take the high position of chairman, but he may not be able to lead a team to victory. Then he found his mentor McCarthy in the Irish national team.
As a result, Keane, one of the most hated head coaches, did not succeed in Sunderland. A large part of the credit for Sunderland's bottom-to-last result was due to him. Two months later, the unbearable Sunderland board of directors decided Fire McCarthy. Then until before Christmas, Sunderland's head coach was made a temporary cameo by their youth team head coach. The team's morale was low, they lost consecutive games, and finally slipped to the twentieth place in the British Championship - the bottom one.
Does this look familiar? It was very similar to the situation when Twain took over the Forest team. The only thing that Sunderland was better than the Forest team was that they did not have an economic crisis. But if the team continues to lose like this, if they lose to the third tier league, no one dares to guarantee whether there will be an economic crisis.
At this moment, Tang En recommended Roy Keane to Quinn.
Tang En's reason for recommending it is simple: "...I think what your team needs is not money incentives or a certain star player, but to let the players get rid of the gloomy psychology caused by consecutive losses. In this regard, I believe Roy will be the one A leader who brought victory back to the locker room, back to the court."
Later, when he attended the press conference for the new coach's appointment, he was asked why he chose Roy Keane. Quinn repeated Tang En's words to the media.
After listening to Tang En's recommendation, Quinn weighed the benefits and felt that under the current circumstances, personal grievances were nothing compared to the club's current situation, so he generously took the initiative to find Keane, and sincerely hoped that Keane would En as the head coach of Sunderland. At the same time, Dunn also made a phone call to Keane, suggesting that he should accept this opportunity: "If you are worried about inexperience and leading the team to poor results...Look at the current Sunderland, do they have anything to lose? Anyway, you are just a rookie coach, no one will have unrealistic expectations of you. I think the current Sunderland is the best team to start your coaching career."
Roy Keane became the head coach of "Black Cat" Sunderland after Christmas.
The following story is simply a replica of Twain's first full season. Keane injected a strong spiritual force into the team. Just as Twain said, Sunderland, who got rid of their gloomy psychology, burst into their hearts. Strong fighting power. Supplemented by the financial support of the club's board of directors, and Keane's former club Manchester United loaning youth players to Sunderland, after half a season, Sunderland, the bottom one, became the number one in positive numbers. They not only succeeded in relegation, but also In one fell swoop, he won the qualification for the Premier League next season.
Manager Roy Keane's stunning debut couldn't have been more stunning. It's no wonder that some media linked the miracle he created at a young age with Tony Twain, and believed that Keane had the potential to become "Tony Twain's second".
But for the proud Keane, this is probably not a pleasant word, even if the comparison object is his good friend.
Twain knew that Keane said, "No matter how beautiful it is, it can only be 'Tony Twain's Miracle of Nottingham Forest No. 2'." There was some unwillingness and disbelief in his words. He smiled and patted Keane on the shoulder, what? Didn't say anything.
After the two head coaches sat down, they began to answer questions from the reporters, which mainly revolved around the game to be played tomorrow. Some people would gossipy and ask whether the friendship between the two would affect the result of tomorrow's game.
Tang En fully demonstrated the aura of the host at this time. He rolled his eyes at the reporter who asked such a stupid question: "Are you implying that there may be injustice in the game between our two teams?"
In fact, it cannot be said that this reporter was completely aimless.
Because after Sunderland was promoted, it bought people everywhere to strengthen its strength. Keane used two means to accomplish this work. One was to rely on the strong financial resources of the club's board of directors to directly purchase the players he liked from the transfer market; Talented young players increase the thickness of the team's bench. For example, he loaned central defenders Evans and Simpson to Manchester United. Nottingham Forest is naturally also the object of his loan. Tang En is also very happy to let some outstanding players in the youth team go out to see the world, accumulate game experience, and improve their own level. So at the beginning of the new season, he loaned Adriano Mock of the youth team to Sunderland. He also recommended central defender Aaron Mitchell and several other young players to Keane, but Keane didn't like it.
After the two teams have this level of relationship, it is inevitable to arouse people's daydream.
Keane also clarified with a straight face: "A personal friendship is a personal friendship, and a game is a game. I will drink with Tang En after the game, but before that we are enemies."
Tang En looked at Keen in a tacit understanding, nodded and said: "When you leave, I will start fighting with him immediately. These are the inside stories that will not be known to you."
His serious expression elicited laughter from the reporters below, and this embarrassing question for the two head coaches was skipped.
Then everyone asked some very routine questions, such as "Can you give us an outlook on the game?" "Mr. Tang En (Mr. Keane), what do you think of the Sunderland (Nottingham Forest) team?" ... The two head coaches answered in a satisfactory manner, which did not allow the sensitive media to grasp anything.
After the routine press conference, Keane went to the stadium to watch the team adapt to the field training, while Twain had to go home and prepare for the next day's game. As Keane said at the press conference, the two need to put aside their personal friendship and concentrate on playing the role of "enemy" before the end of the game. So Tang En didn't warmly invite Keane to have dinner together, and Keane didn't take the initiative to talk to Tang En again.
After shaking hands and saying goodbye at a press conference, the two parted ways.
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When he got home, Tang, who had been waiting at home for a long time, asked him, "How do you feel?"
"How does it feel?" Dunn was at a loss when asked.
"Old friends meet again." Tang's words were as simple as ever.
Tang En knew that he was asking how he felt after meeting Keane. The routine press conference is very boring, I believe the reporters will feel the same way, there is no story happening at all. But he remembered the whispered conversation he had with Keane before, and a small detail re-entered his memory.
"Ah, you said Roy. Fortunately, Keane wearing a suit and tie is a bit unfamiliar to me. I'm still used to seeing him wearing a Manchester United jersey and frantically blocking opponents' knees on the field." Dunn shrugged, "His performance in the British Championship last season is really amazing. To be honest, when I recommended him to Quinn, I didn't expect him to do so well at all."
Tang smiled slightly: "So do you feel threatened from him now?"
Tang En, who was pouring tea for himself, looked back at Tang who was sitting on the sofa. He shook his head: "No. No, not far."
"The water is about to overflow." Tang pointed to the teapot in Tang En's hand.
Tang En put down the teapot, picked up the teacup and walked over. Pass a cup to Tang, and enjoy a cup for himself.
"For Roy..." He continued after taking a sip of tea, "The beginning was too amazing, it may not be a good thing. Destiny is really wonderful, I sometimes think..." He looked up He glanced at the red sky outside the window. Huoshaoyun at dusk, tomorrow will be a fine weather.
"If Gavin hadn't had an accident, the morale of the team was high, I was in good form, led the team to the Premier League at the end of the first season, and then returned to the youth team without being dismissed, and Michael would not have gone far to the United States... Four years After that, can I still appear in public as a head coach who has won the Champions Cup and the Super Bowl?" Tang En looked out the window and muttered, "I don't know...I really don't know."
"Some things seemed abrupt and accidental at the time, but after a long period of time, I have to admit...they are all related to the present." Therefore, the heaven will send a great responsibility to the people, and they must first suffer His will, his muscles and bones are exhausted, his body is starved, his body is empty, and his behavior is disturbed by his actions, so he is motivated and patient, and he has benefited from what he can't do'." Tang En recited a passage of "Mencius", as long as he has accepted it in China Anyone who has nine-year compulsory education will know this passage. "It was said by the Chinese ancestors again. To be honest, I hate this kind of rhetoric-why does success have to accept failure first? Why should failure be success? But...it's a pity, whether I like it or not I like it, this is really reasonable, and it has been passed down for more than two thousand years, which means that it is a wise saying, and it has a reason to exist and continue. This is a natural law, and there is no way for humans to fight against it. Do you understand, Don?"
Tang nodded. Although he is not an authentic Chinese, he also understands the meaning of these words.
"I... have experienced many things, good and bad... That's why I can achieve what I am today. This is a causal relationship. And Roy...success is too fast, which is not very beneficial to his future coaching career." Having said that, Tang En withdrew his gaze from the sky outside the window, turned around to look at Tang, and said with a smile. "If God wants a person to achieve great things, he must first hone him and let him experience failures, setbacks, and hardships. But now Roy has not experienced these. He came to the Premier League with the hat of a 'genius coach' It's not right, it's not reasonable, there's something wrong with God." He pointed to the sky outside the window.
"So, I decided... I will act for the heavens."
If you want to win, just say it... Tang murmured in his heart.