82 To Stay Or To Go? Part 1 (1/2)

Chapter 82: To Stay Or To Go? Part 1

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Tang En stood in Wilford Lane, which was shaded by the trees with the incessant song of the cicadas above him. To the north of him was the youth team training ground and to the south was the adult team training ground. Both training grounds were quiet and deserted today.

He knew that the adult team would only begin the formal training tomorrow, and the youth team was still on holiday. Other than the staff, there would be no one else in these two grounds. For them, their long and beautiful vacation was not over yet.

Tang En walked in from the gate of the youth training ground. There was not a single car in the parking lot and the office building door was closed. Both his feet felt hot as he walked on the asphalt road with the scorching afternoon sun beating down on it. Today might be the hottest day of the year.

He skirted around the two-story building and walked toward the sidelines of the first field, and it was empty with no one around. The first and third fields were connected and separated in the middle by wire mesh fence up to seven meters in high. Tang En looked out and saw that there was no one on the third field either. It seemed that the youth team was still on holiday.

Tang En stood on the empty training ground. If he chose to stay, this would become his domain, and Kerslake would become his assistant again. But what good was it to lead the youth team matches? Tang En was feeling a little depressed. In his eyes, the sense of achievement brought by the youth team's match victory was no more than one third of that of the adult team. As he was accustomed to being the focus of attention, what was the point, even, if he led the youth team to win the Youth FA Cup championship?

He looked at the field and decided to leave.

He came to a forked road when he stepped out from the first field. If he went straight ahead, he would return to the main gate. If he turned right, it would lead to the northernmost side of the second field. The quality of the turf in the second field was not very good, so it was rarely used.

Tang En had a completely different feeling from everyone else regarding the second field. He had only been on the second field once after he started coaching the Forest team. That experience occupied an important place in his memory. He had met the adorable Gavin there, and George Wood also gained his first fan.

It was a place of sadness for Tang En. All the events of great joy and sadness for the latter half of the 02-03 season started to turn from there.

Standing at the fork in the road, Tang En felt that all this seemed to reflect the choices he had to face now—move forward and leave the training ground, leave the sleeping Forest; or go right ...What does it mean to go right?

Tang En looked at the path that had been extended to the front and hesitated. He then chose to go to the second field.

As he approached, he found that there was a man on the field, running back and forth between two cone markers.

It was George Wood!

Tang En did not think that he would see him here. Had the clock turned back the time? Was it not June 27th now, but March 21st? Well, there was something different, like Wood did not have a coach around him, and Tang En did not have Michael and his son Gavin beside him.

He stood outside the wire mesh and quietly watched Wood train. Wood did not discover his presence. He just continued to concentrate on doing the most basic exercises.

Tang En stood and watched for about 15 minutes before George Wood finally changed his training routine. He put the two cone markers together with about half a meter gap in the middle. Then he stood five meters away to kick the ball toward the cone markers. Tang En did not understand what he was trying to do. He also did not see this kind of training routine in Kerslake's youth team training or Walker's adult team training. He had intended to quietly walk away, but now he decided to stay. He wanted to see what was going on.

Wood kicked the ball 10 times. He was obviously not training to shoot the goal, because he was deliberately suppressing the speed and power of his delivery and was very careful about his accuracy. If the football shot past in between or outside of the two cone markers, he would shake his head. If the ball hit the cone marker, he would make a fist.

Then Wood changed his angle and positioned himself at a 45-degree angle to the cone markers to repeat the 10 ball kicks. As before, most of his shots would pass the sides of the cone markers and only very few finally hit the target.

Tang En looked at the distance between the two markers, and then he looked down at his legs and separated them slightly, about half a meter apart. It was exactly the length of the gap between a man's legs when he stood with his legs apart!

This kid was trying to practice passing on his own!

The end of June was the hottest time of the year in Nottingham. In the empty training ground, only George Wood was hard at work and training. The hot season, bad weather, relaxing vacation... he was unconcerned with all of these. And because it was during the vacation, the training ground would not provide a lunch specifically for him. He had to make several round trips between here and his house every day. His training jersey had been soaked with perspiration many times over, so he simply took off his jersey and hung it on the goal crossbar every time he started training and trained shirtless. His muscular, tense body seemed to contain an explosive force. Every time Wood unleashed an action, the sweat would run down his clearly-defined body. His entire person would glisten with brilliance under the scorching sun.

George... If you can't succeed, then no one in the world canl succeed!

In order not to disturb Wood's training, he quietly left the remote training ground surrounded by the woods. Looking up at the sky, Tang En decided to go to one last place.