champion godfather

Chapter 49 The True Legend
The word "legendary" is overused, but he was a true "legend".

— Arthur Wenger (Arsenal manager).

Mercedes-Benz on the A52 road is a red Ford Focus manufactured in 2001. There are four men sitting in the car, three of them are happy, and only one is complaining endlessly.

"Kenny, I have a question for you. Is your bar closed today?"

Burns shrugged. "I'm the boss, not the bartender. I don't have to be there all the time."

Dunn rolled his eyes, then turned his head to look at Walker who was sitting next to Burns: "Why are you here, Des?"

Walker just smirked and didn't answer.He and Burns sat in the back seat, excited like groupies going to a celebrity concert.

Seeing the foolishness of these two people, Tang En turned back, looked at the front of the car and yelled strangely: "This is too unfair. The boss invited me and Bowyer. Why do you two also want to come?"

"Don't be so mean, Tony. I think the boss would like to see us go to see him, too."

"That's right, more people are more lively."

Tang En didn't know what to say, he sighed and said to Bowyer who was driving: "Play a song and listen."

Bowyer pressed the play button on the car stereo, but the music coming from inside startled Tang En.It was a real "jump". If he wasn't wearing a seat belt, Tang En's head would definitely hit the roof of the car.

Because what came out of the stereo was the shouts of a group of fans, just like what he heard in the game.

"Is this music?"

The two people in the back row laughed out loud, and Tang En was so dumbfounded by their laughter.He found that there was an obvious "generation gap" between himself and these three people. The three of them seemed to have a tacit understanding when they were together. They knew a lot of things that Tang En didn't.Such as "Boss" and this "music".

After the fans' shouts were over, the music finally started, but after hearing the first sentence, Tang En was stunned again - this was the song he often heard on the court, Nottingham Forest's team song "We've `got` the `whole`world` in `our` hands".

"This is not for the fans..." he asked suspiciously.

Bowyer shook his head: "What you're hearing now is our own singing."

"And me," Burns added later.

"This was recorded in the recording studio by all the players of the Forest team." Walker further introduced to Tang En, "At first, a TV program invited them—I was not in the Forest team at that time—to go and sing this song on the show. song, and then it was made into a record and released."

"Sales are not bad." Bowyer said proudly.Then he hummed the tune of the song, louder and louder, and Burns and Walker joined the chorus.

Cars drive past signs that say "Derby" to the proud singing of the men.

Brian Clough.This name is very unfamiliar to Tang En who traveled from China.But it is the most distinctive name for the entire English football.Even if he has retired long ago, he still maintains enough influence in this circle.He can criticize players and coaches he doesn't like at will, and big names such as Sir Alex Ferguson dare not speak back when he scolds them.To put it in a movie line-I am not in the Jianghu, but there is a legend about me in the Jianghu.

From the moment he set foot in football, this name has appeared in people's sight again and again accompanied by various miracles.As a player, he created England's fastest record of 290 goals. He represented Middlesbrough and Sunderland in 260 six games and scored 220 seven goals, including 74 goals in Middlesbrough. Scored 63 goals, scoring 29 goals in [-] games for Sunderland.This is a goal efficiency that can be called terrifying in modern times.However, his playing career was very short. He retired due to injury at the age of [-] and took up the coaching position.

It is the position of head coach that really made him famous all over the world and became the "Godfather of Football".

Derby County, which just lost to Tang En, is currently only ranked 21st in England's second tier, and is still in deep financial crisis.But don't look at how desolate they are now, they used to be glorious. Their most glorious years are called "Brian Clough Era". Just by hearing this name, you can know who was the head coach of that team at that time.

In the 1965/67 season, Clough became the head coach of this team. It took him two years to bring Derby, which was struggling in the League Two (equivalent to the current League One), to the Championship of the League Two, and then in 71/72 The season won the League One Championship.The following season his side reached the semi-finals of the European Cup, where they lost to Juventus, who allegedly bribed the referee.

Next, he left the team and moved to Nottingham Forest, creating a brand new "Forest Dynasty" that dominated England and European football.At that time, the Derby team became the League One champion again in the 74/75 season because of the solid foundation laid by Clough's leadership, but they lost to the Spanish overlord Real Madrid in the European Champions Cup the following year.

As for Clough's achievements after becoming the head coach of the Forest team, there is no need to describe it any more.Anyone who has a little understanding of British football and European football in the late 70s and early 80s will know that the main color of that period was red, because at that time the two teams that dominated European football had red jerseys, and one was Liverpool. One is Clough's Nottingham Forest.

Clough is like most head coaches if he is remembered only for his grades.But in fact, he is the most special one among all the head coaches in the history of English football. His charisma can be compared with the greatest team leader in Liverpool history, Bill Shankly (Bill Shankly).

Tang En deeply agreed with this, as long as he looked at the performance of the three men around him, it was very clear.He felt that it was very similar to his previous school experience.A good class teacher will make his students remember him long after graduation, and the attitude of mentioning him must be respectful.On the contrary, an incompetent class teacher will only make students curse him and laugh at him in the future.

Clough is one of those very, very good homeroom teachers.

Just winning the Best Coach of the Month once made Tang En feel complacent for a long time.But he was like an ant facing a mountain in front of Clough, just a speck of dust under Clough's feet.

And today, he will face the most individual coach in the history of English football.Looking at the increasingly bustling street scene outside the window, he suddenly had an extraordinary feeling in his heart - I am not going to have afternoon tea with an old man who has retired from the coaching position, but to go on a pilgrimage to meet the man who founded the forest dynasty emperor.

After retirement, the handsome man's home is no longer in the downtown area of ​​Derby. He bought a small manor similar to a farm in the northwest suburb of Derby.Hanging alone outside the city, there is only a narrow and hard-to-walk forest path connected to the bustling world.

Cars form bumps on the road.Tang En almost got carsick. He never thought that such a great head coach would actually live in such a place. Looking at the dirt road under the wheels, it is estimated that it will be even more muddy and difficult to walk on rainy days.

"Here we are." Bowyer said suddenly, Tang En found a red brick building exposed in the low woods ahead, no different from the brick buildings he had seen anywhere in this country.This place was too inconspicuous, Tang En was a little disappointed.

As soon as I got out of the car, I heard a dog barking.Then he saw a golden shepherd dog rushing out of the yard and pounced on him.

"Wow!" Dunn covered his face with his hands and shouted.He is really afraid of dogs...

But the collie just put its front paws on his shoulders and stuck out its tongue, wheezing to lick his face.

Seeing Tang En's embarrassment, the three people beside him burst into laughter. "Hey! Tony, it just wants to make out with you." Walker laughed.

At this time, an old but somewhat sharp and loud voice came from the yard.

"Looks like Sam likes you, boy."

Hearing this sound, except for Tang En, who was being "fascinated" by the dog, the other three people stopped laughing and stood there respectfully.

An old man walked out of the yard slowly, looked at the three people standing by the car, and muttered, "Damn it... I only prepared two tea sets for guests. Walker, what brand of juice do you like?"

Hearing this, Walker was dumbfounded: "Boss, I'm already an adult..."

The two people next to them lowered their heads and tried their best to hold back the laughter and finally ran out of their mouths.

The old man ignored Walker's complaint and turned to look at Burns. "It's been so many years, and you haven't become more handsome, Kenny."

Burns smiled awkwardly: "Boss, you know...I don't like plastic surgery." When Burns was a player, he was once publicly announced by his head coach that Kenny Burns was signed by him. The ugliest player ever.

Hearing this answer, the old man smiled.Then he looked at Tang En who was still "making out" with the dog, and exclaimed: "I didn't expect you to like Sam so much." He whistled, and the big dog immediately let go of poor Tang En and ran back to its owner around.

Tang En wiped the saliva off his face with great effort, and only then did he see clearly the old man standing in front of him.

His face was haggard, bags under his eyes were swollen, and his eyelids were drooping all the time, as if he hadn't woken up.Is this the legendary coach Brian Clough who was famous in European football back then?Tang En felt that the reality was really far from the dream...

"Are you disappointed?" Clough's words startled Tang En.The old man guessed right.

"Oh, are you going to re-evaluate me now?" Clough continued,
Tang En shrugged: "Evaluating others is the job of the personnel department..." Facing this sharp-eyed old man, for the first time, he felt that he didn't know what to say.It seemed that his hunch was correct on the way.

"Wrong, boy. What do you think a head coach does?"

"Leading the team to victory..."

"That's just part of the job." Clough beckoned. "Come on in, I think the cookies are baked, let's chat over tea. I love you at halftime in the FA Cup The play that was played at that time."

Bowyer dragged himself to the back on purpose, and whispered to Tang En when he came up: "The boss likes you very much, but he has such a personality, so don't take it to heart."

Tang En nodded: "I like this character."

Bowyer smiled: "We love it too.

(End of this chapter)