118 The Hard-Nosed Millwall Part 1 (1/2)

Chapter 118: The Hard-Nosed Millwall Part 1

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

When the Millwall fans in the stands saw the sorry sight of the Forest players hurriedly running out, they roared with laughter. It set the tone for the match—this was not going to be a civilized and friendly game, but a real fight-to-the-death knock-out match!

Moreover, the relationship between the Forest fans and the Millwall fans had been tense since Gavin's incident. So, the Millwall fans were more than happy to jeer at the nearly late Forest team.

Tang En came out of the passageway and stopped at the sidelines to look up at the stands. Large areas of blue color were interspersed with white color. And the red color was squeezed into a corner, surrounded by the blue and white colors, but tenaciously jumping. Those were the waving arms of the Forest fans.

An away match? Jeering? We'll give you something to laugh about later, Tang En snorted in his heart and walked to the technical area. On the field, Dawson was the captain, and he was in front of the referee with the other team captain to do the coin toss to pick a side.

That small-built man was the Millwall team captain, Dennis Wise, who had played for Wimbledon and Chelsea before.

Wise was an English player who Tang En had a deep impression of. Because a long time ago, roughly before 1999, Tang En was a Chelsea fan for several years. At that time, Chelsea was not known as The Ruble Army. With Zola, Vialli, Gullit, Poyet, Wise, de Goey, Flo... and so many star players, they played what Gullit termed as ”sexy football.” In the Premier League, they represented the blue force and Arsenal represented the red force, and they competed with Manchester United for several seasons.

The first jersey that Tang En bought was Chelsea blue jersey, and he especially liked that lion on the Chelsea crest. Later, with the departure of Gullit, Vialli, Flo, and other players, and as Zola grew older, Tang En also gradually became a ”universal” fan with no favorite team. But that blue period of memory was left in Tang En's mind.

As the Chelsea team captain of that period, Wise was a player that Tang En was very fond of. He liked his bold style, his courage and daring to go up against Keane and Vieira.

When he cheered and pumped his fists in front of the television for this small-built man, he never thought that there would be a day where he would lead a team that was his opponent and enemy.

If the players on his team were defeated by his boldness, it was very likely he would curse him out instead of cheer for him.

Tang En shook his head and tossed the old memories out of his head. I'm Tony Twain, the Nottingham Forest manager; I'm Millwall's enemy and rival! I'll fight to the death with you today!

For getting the championship for the EFL Cup to qualify for the UEFA Europa League next season, this was the most feasible option that Tang En had chosen from countless options in his plan to promote the team's prestige and rebuild the team within a short period.

The FA Cup match schedule was too long and the odds of encountering strong teams were high. This option was discarded by Tang En first. The EFL Cup was the championship that the Premier League teams placed the least importance on within the three major championships. Many teams even used the EFL Cup as the place for their youth team and reserve team to warm up and condition. And the EFL Cup schedule was very short. The two semi-final games for the EFL Cup were held in January and the final match was in February. In other words, Tang En could focus his energy on maintaining the team's position within these three months and strived to take down the championship. And then they could concentrate all their efforts to qualify for the Premier League.

Tang En had a team building plan in mind and a list of players to buy. Since he had transmigrated to this world, he had an advantage that no one else could match. For example, he knew some players who were still unknown now but would become talents later on. Or he knew the right time to buy players in the future and when to spend the least amount of money to get the highest profits.

If the Forest team continued to remain in League One, then the chances of getting those players would be slim. He should at least get his team to the top 20 teams in the Premier League or qualify for a European tournament.

When he was a fan, Tang En did not place much importance on the UEFA Europa League, thinking that it was just an adjunct to the UEFA Champions League. But now he deeply realized the role of the UEFA Europa League.

This was the first coordinate of Nottingham Forest's getting back on track again!

Therefore, this match, no matter how bad the situation that they were facing was—the traffic jam, meeting the rival fans on the subway, the hard-nosed team—none of those could stop Tang En's conviction to seek victory.

A sharp whistle sounded, immediately followed by a surge of a tremendous earth-shattering clamor, and jolted Tang En awake, who had been lost in thought.

As he glanced around the stadium and looked at the crazy fans in the stands, he knew that the match with Crystal Palace was just a warm-up. The real game had only just begun now!

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