146 The Cunning Allardyce Part 1 (1/2)

Chapter 146: The Cunning Allardyce Part 1

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

The stands of City Ground Stadium were already fully seated. At a glance, almost everyone appeared to be Nottingham Forest fans wearing red jerseys. There were only one thousand, three hundred Bolton fans there to root for their team.

The match had not started yet, and both teams' fans had just finished one round of ”antiphonal singing.” They temporarily lowered their banners and muffled their drums, deciding to resume the sounds of battle after the match began. The broadcasting system in the stadium started playing the Forest fans' favorite songs. Some of them were the newest and most popular songs, while some were oldies which had been popular during the seventies and eighties. These oldies had witnessed Nottingham Forest's first tastes of glory. As such, whenever they resounded throughout the air of City Ground Stadium, it was as though the older fans had travelled back in time twenty years. There, Nottingham Forest triumphed over their opponents one after another. They were fearless, and nobody could defeat them. They were England's champions. They were the Kings of Europe!

Now, even though the oldies and City Ground stadium remained, the people have changed.

Many fans looked forward to this EFL Cup semi-finals. Do we still have a chance to witness the start of another round of glory? they all wondered. Brian Clough, the legend of Nottingham Forest, once led the team to obtain three EFL Cup championship titles. Can Tony Twain, who has been deemed by most people as the person who resembles Clough the most, prove his own ability?

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Martin Taylor was a tall old man with white hair. From his looks, he did not seem to be any different from any other old gentleman from London. He wore a neat suit, had neatly combed hair, and had a natural smile. However, everyone that was familiar with English Football knew who he was. He was one of England's best football commentators, and one of Europe's best commentators. He was, in fact, one of the best football commentators in the world. His voice was widely considered ”the nicest-sounding sports commentary in the world.” His voice and pronunciation were clear, and his commentating style was humorous and interesting, calm and neutral, yet not lacking in passion. He had almost no shortcomings to speak of. He was the idol of many sports commentators throughout the world.

Andy Gray was an ex-professional football player who had, upon his retirement, become a commentator. Unlike Martin Taylor, his voice was quite passionate, especially when a goal was scored. The combination of these two men has been regarded as the ”golden duo” of English sports commentary, and their voices have been used as the commentary for several generations of the famous football game series, ”FIFA”. At the same time, they were also the two most reputable English commentators in China.

If the two of them appeared at a stadium at the same time, then there could only be one reason for it—they were there to commentate a match.

Gray smiled and looked at the man in front of them. ”John, the Sky plc is the one in-charge of broadcasting. What are you doing here? Be careful not to let those news reporters from smaller firms get a picture of you, or else they would publicize widely: BBC's best commentator John Motson intends to switch over to Sky plc!” Gray imitated the reporters and shouted like he was trying to make a fuss.

Motson smiled and said, ”Andy, why can't it be 'Sky plc's golden duo intends to betray their former company, joining the BBC as a pair?'”

The football commentators relied solely on their words and their wits. When it came to bickering, they would never lose to anyone.

Martin Taylor clapped his hands off to the side and said, ”Alright, if the two of you continue on like this, the argument will go on for another three days. Motson, what are you doing here?”

Motson had thirty-one years of experience commentating football matches, while Martin Taylor was very experienced as well. Before the German World Cup, he had already commentated for seven consecutive World Cup matches. With these statistics of his, it could be said that there was no one else more experienced than him in the entire commentating industry.

”Watching the match,” Motson said as he shrugged his shoulders.

His reply surprised Taylor slightly. ”John, I seem to remember that you aren't a fan of Bolton, am I right?”

”I'm not here for Bolton, Martin.”

”But you aren't a Nottingham Forest fan, either,” Gray, who was beside them, added on Taylor's behalf. No wonder they were the golden duo.

”Can't I watch their match if I'm not their fan, Andy?” Motson asked back, smiling.

He had a point. Gray scratched his head while Taylor immediately continued, ”John, you seem very interested in Nottingham Forest. I've noticed that you've commentated on almost all of their recent matches. What made you regard them so highly?”

”Hmm, instead of saying that I'm interested in Nottingham Forest, I think it's more accurate to say that I'm interested in their manager.”

”Tony Twain?” Gray asked.

Motson nodded his head and said, ”Martin, you guys have always commentated on the Premier League, so you might not know much about Twain. But, I advise the two of you to pay more attention to him during the match; you'll discover that he is a very interesting person.”

”Very interesting? How so?” Gray asked.