Chapter 912 Volume 7 The Heart of the Lion King Welcome Home, Tony

In fact, the tactics of the England national team are very similar to Nottingham Forest's. Except that they do not insist on defensive counterattacks blindly, the characteristics of wing assault, flying on both wings, and simple and fast passage through the midfield are still very consistent. The England team's positional combat ability is not very good, and neither Eriksson nor McLaren nor Capello has completely resolved this point.

After Capello took office, he tried every means to enrich England's routines in positional warfare, but the effect was limited. Compared with European Latin players in Italy, Portugal, Spain, and France, English players have rough footwork skills. The vigorous development of the Premier League for so many years has not changed this fact.

Now that Tang En has taken over the England team, he is not in a hurry to show England's positional warfare ability in this game. The simplest and most effective way is to let the team go back to the old way-holding high and playing high, flying with both wings, combining side and center with long-range shots. This style of play must be ugly, but England fans don't care about it. After all, not all England fans are also Arsenal fans.

The advantage of doing this is that the team is more familiar, and Twain is also relieved. Based on the abilities of these England players, they may not be able to play tactics that are too complicated. Nottingham Forest cooperated tacitly. Even if the head coach was changed, the strength of the team did not suffer too much loss.

Tang En responded to all kinds of changes with the same, and the tactics formulated before the start of the game made all England players feel very friendly-these are the essence of the training they have received since childhood...

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There is a big difference between the Crimson Stadium and the City Stadium. The player locker rooms and corridors of the City Stadium are very simple. Although it was renovated once in the 1990s to host the European Cup, it has been nearly 20 years and modernized. The Crimson Stadium is still very dilapidated by comparison.

Tang En pushed open the door of the locker room and walked out. He has to be on the field before the players.

Walking in the wide and bright corridor, he turned into the hall.

The hall is more than twice the size of the one at City Stadium. The smooth marble floor acts like a mirror, reflecting everything above it. Tang En looked down at himself at his feet, tilted his head and looked at it for a while. Then turn right and walk into the special corridor for exiting.

This corridor is wider than the one from the locker room. In Tang En's view, it can even accommodate two Hummer jeeps in parallel. Judging from this detail, it's no wonder that Nottingham Forest Club has been troubled by financial crisis before - the budget for building such a good stadium is not a small amount.

The wall on the left side of the corridor is painted with the team logo of Nottingham Forest - a large white oak tree on a red background. There is a sentence written on the right wall: In addition to victory, it is still victory!

This was Twain's suggestion at the beginning. He hoped to use this sentence to motivate the Forest players. Before every home game, they can see this sentence just by turning their heads when they come out from here, so that they can firmly remember what Nottingham is. Traditions of the forest.

It's a pity that he has left the team. I don't know if this sentence will be implemented.

Tang En stopped in the corridor, staring sideways at the words in a daze.

There is such a sentence above the player tunnel at Anfield Stadium: "This_is_Anfield." This sentence is the creation of the famous Red Army godfather Shankly. He hopes that every team that comes here to play will understand them. Whoever they are fighting with, this is their hell. Nowadays, many Liverpool players raise their hands and clap this mark for good luck before entering the field. This has almost become a tradition.

Twain, who is still the head coach of the Forest team, also hopes to use this method to remind his players - the pursuit of victory is always the tradition of Nottingham Forest, whether it is in the Clough era or the Tony Twain era.

Footsteps sounded behind him, and Des Walker walked to Tang En's side, and also found the words on the wall.

"It's really 'Tony Twain style'." He laughed.

Tang En ignored his teasing, just turned around and walked to the field outside: "Let's go."

Before Tang En went out, he could already see the media who had gathered outside and waited for a long time through the exit. Today's media seems to exceed the amount that should be in an ordinary friendly match. Even if this is a promotional activity deliberately arranged by the Forest Club, it is really too much.

Tang En certainly knew who these people were targeting. He suddenly slowed down, allowing Des Walker, who was closely following him, to overtake him.

Outside here, all he can see is countless crazy media, so what else awaits him that he can't see?

His heartbeat suddenly accelerated, making him more nervous than playing a Champions League final.

He can ignore the cynicism or abusive attacks of his enemies, but he cannot ignore how those supporters treat him now.

But he can't keep hiding here and not go out, so many media are staring at him, he doesn't want them to see that he has a weak side.

He rearranged the collar of his suit, which seemed unnecessary since his clothes were so well dressed so far.

Then he stepped out.

When his figure appeared in the field of vision of the reporters, the flashes of those cameras had already started working. And when he completely walked out of the corridor and appeared in front of tens of thousands of people, the flashlights had already been connected together, and the sound of the shutter clicking could be heard endlessly.

Facing the reporters, Tang En was still able to maintain his composure. He walked towards the home team's coaching bench as if nothing had happened.

Des Walker couldn't close his mouth after seeing this scene next door. He really wanted to remind Tony that he had gone the wrong way...

There was also a burst of laughter from the fans who noticed this in the stands.

"Aha, what did we see? Tony Twain went to the wrong place! Haha! This is too rare, does he still think he is the head coach of Nottingham Forest?" The commentator in charge of explaining the match said. The tone and tone of fearing that the world will not be chaotic.

David Chrislake, who was sitting on the coaching bench of the home team, saw Tang En walking straight over, his face a little embarrassed. And Eastwood continued to observe with great interest, he wanted to see how the boss resolved the crisis.

In fact, the moment Dunn turned around, he knew that he was going in the wrong direction - he habitually walked towards the coach's bench at Nottingham Forest's home court, but forgot his current identity. But he didn't turn back immediately, that was too obvious, he continued to walk forward, and thought of a countermeasure.

I saw that when he was still far away from Martin O'Neill, Dunn had already reached out his hand, which was a gesture to shake hands with the other party.

Seeing this, O'Neill got up and walked towards Tang En. The two shook hands in front of a swarm of media.

"It turned out to be just a handshake." The narrator was very disappointed.

The roar of laughter disappeared when they saw Dunn and O'Neill's hands holding each other. Maybe the crowd who were waiting to see the excitement felt that this result was too boring.

But the reporters have other ideas-is this an official handover of the old and new Forest team coaches? They have even designed the lines for both of them:

Dunn: I entrust the team to you, don't let me down.

O'Neill: Don't worry, our goal is still the championship!

But the two didn't say anything, just shook hands. Then O'Neill gave up the coach's seat behind him. He knew that Dunn was not the only one who wanted to greet him.

Sure enough, after Dunn let go of O'Neill's hand, he walked towards assistant coach Chris Lack.

Chris Lark also wanted to shake hands with Dunn like O'Neal did, but Tang En hugged him unexpectedly.

Tang En, who was hugging Chris Rack, still didn't speak, but patted his hands hard, then he let go of Chris Rack, who hadn't recovered yet, and walked towards Eastwood.

Eastwood was not as dull as Chris Rack, he smiled and hugged Tang En, and even whispered in Tang En's ear: "Good luck, boss."

In this way, Dunn shook hands and hugged everyone on the Nottingham Forest coaching staff one by one. The media followed the whole process and took pictures of this scene.

"He looks more like the owner here than Martin O'Neill, look at his calm appearance..." John muttered to himself in the stands.

"He won't be able to calm down in a minute!" Bill screamed beside him.

John ignored him and stood on the new stand to applaud Dunn.

In the field, there are not many people like John. More people booed like Bill did.

They obviously couldn't forget what Tang En did two months ago.

After Dunn hugged and shook hands with all the forest coaches, he walked towards the coaching bench of the visiting team surrounded by reporters. At this time, the boos of the fans became more intense and obvious.

Just like that, Tang En came to his seat despite overwhelming boos.

Chris Rack looked at Dunn with some concern, and then looked around. He imagined the scene where Tang En came back, but he didn't expect that the Forest team would really dare to love and hate to such an extent.

The narrator was also a little lost, and murmured: "Listen to the boos, they are all for one person..."

The TV broadcast gave Tang En a very long close-up shot. On the screen, Tang En kept his lips tightly pressed, and did not raise his head to look at the fans in the stands. His eyes seemed to fall into the distance as if they were not focused.

"It's a pity. This is the welcome of the old forest king. Ha!" Carl Spike sneered from the stands. In the evening, his show has another topic.

Some radical fans not only booed Twain, but also gave him the middle finger, cursing.

Tang En's face was expressionless, and Walker next to him looked at him with worried eyes, fearing that his heart would not be able to bear such a stimulus. But Tang En didn't suddenly fall down. He stood where he was, letting the boos ring out above his head, and letting the reporters surround him and take pictures non-stop.

"I bet, he must regret in his heart that he didn't wear sunglasses." Spike glanced at the TV next to him, which was showing a close-up of Tang En's face.

Tang, who saw this scene from the stands, sighed lightly.

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The booing continued, and the players who were waiting in the tunnel to play could hear it clearly. They got together in twos and threes and talked a lot.

"What's going on outside?"

"who knows?"

"Cough... Well, it's not because of the boss."

"Hush him? No way?" The Forest players were very surprised. Hearing the boos of Tony Twain at the home stadium of Nottingham Forest was comparable to the revolution period of Comet Hale-Bopp, which only visits Earth once every three thousand years.

The players of the Forest team were surprised, and the discussion grew louder. The English players next to them could also hear it clearly, and they were also interested. The teams that had originally maintained two formations mixed together. Don't blame them either, the booing outside was just spectacular.

When the Forest team played in the city stadium, once the stands that could only accommodate 30,000 people booed collectively, the momentum was enough to make every visiting team feel tremendous psychological pressure. Now that it has been changed to the Crimson Stadium, the capacity of 60,000 people not only doubles the boos.

If a team is here as a guest, the boos of 60,000 people will be divided among eleven people. But now all these boos are borne by one person, the pressure can be imagined. These players can't imagine how long they can last under the boos of such power if they were replaced by themselves.

※ ※ ※

Tang En still stood motionless in front of the coach's bench.

John looked at the stubborn figure, and looked around again. Those who boo desperately accounted for the vast majority. He knows what he's doing will not be popular, but he's going to do it. Otherwise he feels sorry for his conscience.

He called a few companions with the same standpoint as himself, took out a piece of red cloth from his backpack, handed one end to his companions, and pulled the other end by himself.

The two stood apart, drew a certain distance, and with a shake of their hands, a banner appeared on the stands.

Welcome home, Tony!

"Hey, John!" Bill looked at his friend with some annoyance. What he did was to demolish himself.

"Leave me alone, Bill. Shhh yours, I'll do mine. Let neither of us get in the way." John ignored Bill's threatening gaze and continued to stand on the seat holding the banner.

The director of the TV broadcast also noticed this new banner that appeared in the stands. Unlike the surrounding slogans that insulted and ridiculed Tang En, this sentence was full of warm greetings and very eye-catching.

I don't know if Tang En saw it, but first the camera lens cut to it.

"It doesn't look like a betrayal." The commentator said after seeing the banner.

"Tony." Walker, who noticed the slogan, touched Dunn and let him read it.

Tang En turned his head and saw the slogan that John and the others held up. The corners of his mouth twitched, and for the first time there was an obvious expression change on his face, this time he smiled.

Then he ignored the reporters who surrounded him and took pictures, and turned around and sat back on the coach's bench.

※ ※ ※

When the players came out of the tunnel, the booing towards Twain finally stopped.

Since this is a game to celebrate the opening of Forest's new stadium, the arrangements for playing are also different from ordinary games. England went first, followed by the Nottingham Forest players. When every player came out, his name would be loudly broadcast on the radio, which aroused enthusiastic response from the fans.

The Forest fans dedicated their cheers to the glorious Treble-winning team, with deafening chants for every Forest player who played.

As the captain of the team, George Wood received the loudest cheers, but he still maintained his cold personality and did not respond to the fans' cheers.

The last one to run was central defender Pepe, who started the game alongside Brazilian defender Thiago Silva. The fans also gave him applause and cheers, but he didn't wave like the previous teammates did, and then ran out with his head held high.

Before he ran onto the field to meet his teammates, he turned a corner halfway and ran straight to the visiting team's dugout.

Then, under the watchful eyes of everyone, he made a movement that no one expected - he opened his arms and gave Tony Twain a bear hug who was caught off guard.

The cheers stopped abruptly. The huge crimson stadium suddenly fell into an embarrassing silence.

"...Pepe gave Tony Twain an unexpected hug. He seemed to be whispering something in Twain's ear..." The narrator was not sure what happened to Pepe. Now anyone who is not a fool can see the dislike of Forest team fans towards Twain, so as a Forest team player, he has to take the risk of offending all the fans to show affection to Twain. Why? Doesn't he want to continue to hang around in this team?

Tang En in the TV camera was also surprised. He was not because of Pepe's action, but because of what Pepe said in his ear.

"I'm sorry, boss." Pepe whispered in his ear. At this moment, the stadium was quiet, and his voice could be heard clearly in Dunn's ears. "I've decided to leave here. After playing this game, I'm going to Milan, Italy. AC Milan, that's my next stop..."

Hearing Pepe's words, Tang En suddenly felt that the Champions Cup life-and-death final two months ago was like a dream...

"I know why you left the team, so I don't want to stay here anymore. Thank you, boss, thank you. The years of playing under you are my most precious wealth."

After Pepe finished speaking, she hugged Tang En vigorously, let him go and ran back to the court. There were no cheers this time, but if you listened carefully, you could hear some sporadic boos.

Tang En was still sitting on the leather seat, staring blankly at Pepe who had returned to the team.

"Pepe! You really did it!" Gareth Bale stared at the running back central defender with wide eyes.

"Hey, do you think I was joking?" Pepe who came back smiled proudly. "I will do what I say!"

Pepe was bragging about his "feat" with his teammates, but Evan Daugherty on the rostrum stared at his back with a gloomy expression. This is the first time anyone on the team has openly challenged his authority. This is a red flag. Originally, he didn't intend to consider the offer from those wealthy teams to Pepe. After all, this is the core of the Forest team's defense. But now, he has to change his mind. Having just won the Triple Crown, the 31-year-old Pepe can still sell for a good price. If it's a year later, I'm afraid she won't be able to sell it even if she wants to...

Dunn didn't need to raise his head and look back, he could know the expression of Mr. Chairman Evan Dalgety at this moment. The fans booing him collectively must have pleased Evan, because it meant that the fans did not turn their hate guns on the club, but on themselves. That way his stress is gone. However, Pepe's actions express dissatisfaction with the club's top management within the team, which is a very dangerous sign. The locker room began to split.

The photographers surrounding Tang En dispersed, and now their targets were those players. Thanks to them, Dunn could see the players of the Forest team while sitting on the chair.

Those people were lining up for a group photo. This wasn't the kind of official family portrait that every club would take before the season, but it was very likely to be the last relatively complete family portrait in the Tony Twain era.

Is there anything more heart-wrenching than watching with your own eyes the gradual collapse of the dynasty you built?

Tang En thought for a long time, but couldn't find it.

The exquisite statues made of marble, the Qionglou Yuyu with carved railings and jade buildings, and the decorations pasted with gold and inlaid with silver seemed to have lost their vitality, and they collapsed piece by piece, fell to the ground, and broke into pieces. The color gradually becomes dull, loses its former luster, and is quickly weathered into sand. With another gust of wind, not even the sand on the ground can be seen.