102 One-Time Handshake Part 2 (2/2)

Tang En hoped that Doughty could have the same attitude that Edwards had toward the team, and at the same time be more generous than Edwards. Hopefully, this would not be a lunatic's ravings.

Edward considered for a while before nodding his head. ”Alright, I agree.”

Hearing Doughty's reply, Tang En smiled. ”That's great! You know what, Edward? I actually don't care if you really like football, or how you look at the team. I also don't care if you wish to make money out of this club. As long as you give me sufficient freedom, I assure you that you will get everything that you want.”

Doughty extended his hand. ”Look, Tony. I've said before that we can coordinate very well!”

”You're right, Edward.” Tang En smiled and nodded his head vigorously.

Both of them shook hands.

After they finished discussing, Doughty mysteriously told Tang En that he hoped Tang En would not leak this news out beforehand. Tang En did not ask for the reason and agreed to it. After which, Doughty then left with peace of mind.

However, when Tang En, who was finished with the day's training, returned back home, the first thing that he did was not to change his clothes and go to the bar and chat with those people there. Instead, he sat in front of his computer and opened the Google webpage. After which, he keyed in the keywords ”Nottingham Forest”, and began his investigation work.

He wanted to verify a suspicion that he had in his mind right from the start.

When he knew that Collymore's contract was only one year, and he had his suspicions about it already. If it was like what Edward had said during the press conference for signing the new manager, that Collymore was ”Nottingham Forest's hope from the outside”, then why did he only sign a one-year contract with Collymore—a duration of one year was really considered short for a manager.

At that time, Tang En convinced himself that the reason was that Collymore was a newbie, and that the continuation of his contract would rely heavily on the results of the team under him. This reason seemed impeccable at first glance, but Doughty's confidence during their conversation made Tang En think about some other stuff.

The whole of England knew what kind of a person Collymore was. His personality and his temper were known by everyone. In this day and age of advanced technology, famous people had no privacy to speak of. Then why did Edward do the incomprehensible move of changing managers? Although Tang En's defeat in the playoffs could be used as an excuse, it should not necessarily have resulted in that. At least many people like Burns knew that if he had let Tang En continue, returning to the Premier League the next season would definitely not have been an issue for the team.

And now? On one hand, the team's ranking had fallen to sixth from the bottom, only three points away from entering the relegation zone. Faced with the reporters' accusations, Collymore only knew how to remain silent or shout as a response, completely unable to produce any good solutions. On the other hand, he still had the leisure to dress up like a poor playboy and flirt with the mother of a young player!

The board of directors could actually tolerate such an incompetent coach and let him remain in his position?

All these abnormal situations made Tang En think that he should shift the angle of his focus and thinking, from within the field to outside the field.

Looking at the very dense search results, Tang En directly skipped past all of the websites which were related to Nottingham Forest's history and its latest performance. After going through over 13 pages, his eyes finally stopped and became fixated on a short message.

”…. As a result of the team's poor performance, Nottingham Football Club's stocks listed on the London Stock Exchange have been on a steady decline. As of yesterday, they have already dropped to 21 pennies per unit of stock. According to the analysis of experts, if the team's results do not see an improvement soon, then even if the new chairman Edward Doughty appears to be a rich American, the stock prices which had gone up slightly because of his arrival, will continue to fall.” Although they had just announced that the club had already gotten out of the financial crisis and repaid all of its debts, this kind of situation was still unpreventable.

”…A noteworthy a piece of news for reference: Leeds United, which had been suffering from a financial crisis as a result of their poor results and entrance into the relegation zone, the price of their per unit stock has already fallen to 2.6 pennies! This is the lowest price ever since their entrance into the market…”

This was a piece of news briefly describing the performance of the various clubs recently in the stock market, and had been published four days ago.

Teams which had their stock prices fall as a result of poor performance, were not limited to Nottingham Forest. There was still the pitiful ”White Rose” Leeds United.

Tang En re-read this piece of news a few times, before finally stopping at the portion which mentioned ”if the team's results do not see an improvement soon, then even if the new chairman Edward Doughty appears to be a rich American, the stock prices which had gone up slightly because of his arrival, will continue to fall.”

Just as expected!

Tang En leaned against his chair and stared intently at the computer screen. Biting his lips, he fell into a deep slumber.