174 Pressure Part 1 (1/2)
Chapter 174: Pressure Part 1
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
In the 42nd competition round of the English Football League Championship, Nottingham Forest ranked third, and was four points away from the second ranked West Bromwich Albion. There were still four rounds left in the League Championship.
In the 43rd round of the League Championship, Nottingham Forest would be playing against Millwall in a home match. This was a game that boiled the blood of the entire team, and Tang En did not have to worry too much about the outcome. Their rival, West Bromwich Albion, was heading north to challenge the fifth ranked, Sunderland, in an away match.
According to Tang En's plan, this game was their first opportunity to narrow the gap between them and West Bromwich Albion. He hoped that Sunderland would be able to create some trouble for their opponents at their home ground.
In the 44th round, Nottingham Forest would challenge Ipswich, which ranked a spot behind them, in an away match. The West Bromwich Albion people must be happy, as the result that they most wanted to see in this game must be a draw, or for the Forest team to lose to Ipswich in this away match. They had reason enough to believe that Ipswich would not let the Forest team get away in winning the home ground game, because they also had the same possibility of storming to the second place in the final three rounds of the League Championship. While the League Championship's third and fourth ranked teams were fighting each other, West Bromwich Albion was biding its time with ease, playing a home match against Bradford City, which would definitely be relegated.
The only one that Tang En needed to worry about for this game was himself, not his opponents. Only by defeating a strong opponent, could they be qualified to catch up to West Bromwich Albion.
In the 45th round, the penultimate round of the English Football League Championship this season, Nottingham Forest would play against Wigan Athletic F.C. in a home match, and West Bromwich Albion would play in an away match against Reading. This round of the League Championship, it was estimated that the points of both teams would not have any changes. If Sunderland could beat West Bromwich Albion in the 43rd round of the League Championship, then both team's points should only have one-point difference.
In this way, the most critical moment was the League Championship final round. In the 46th round, Nottingham Forest would be playing in a home match against their direct rivals, West Bromwich Albion!
If the Forest team's performance stayed stable before this game, then the outcome would be conclusive. By defeating West Bromwich Albion, the Forest team would be able to achieve the greatest reversal of this season, thus rising to the second ranking in the League Championship, and qualifying for a direct promotion.
And, if the Forest team played poorly in the three rounds before the last round, thus losing points, or if West Bromwich Albion performed steadily and continued to surpass the Forest team by four points, then this game would lose its meaning. It would then be time for Tang En to prepare for the play-offs.
When the Forest team charged up to the third ranking, those who once claimed that the Forest team could not return to the English Premier League at the end of this season, finally shut up! The more they looked down on this team and that manager, the better the team that he led performed. And now that it was already finalized, that the Forest team was qualified for the play-offs, most of these people were discreetly not talking about the Forest team's prospects, with the exception of a handful of diehard proponents.
The observant television viewers had also noticed that, in the recent show segments of , the object in Gary Lineker's hands had changed from a pen to ... a razor! Mark Lawrenson was not on the show, but he had promised in his personal column on the BBC website that, if he lost, he would personally shave his beard on .
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Millwall, this was the name that made the Forest team and the Forest fans furious, when it was mentioned. Initially, these two teams had little grievances with each other, but because of Gavin Bernard, the young fan who lost his life during that fans' clash, the two teams and their respective supporters became sworn enemies.
When the Millwall fans used Gavin to provoke the Forest team in the EFL Cup quarter finals, the Forest fans had waited for this day to arrive, having Millwall in the City Ground and wiping them out! To use their middle fingers and ”F***” to return their compliments! Let them know that Nottingham Forest was not to be messed with! And, to let them know the consequences for the profound sin of desecrating the name of the dead!
To prepare for this special game, Nottingham City deployed one-third of the city's police force, and concentrated all of them on the main roads, commercial streets, train stations and City Ground. There were even police cars driving back and forth, patrolling with loudspeakers to remind both sides of team fans to remain calm, and to not cause any trouble. But, who would care about this?
From the moment the fans from both sides met, the confrontation of obscenities and abuse began...
”F*** staying calm! You bloody Millwall bastards! You're not going to get out of this city alive!”
”You Nottingham hicks! We're going to make you pay today, for humiliating us at the EFL Cup! The team you support can forget about being promoted! Today is the day of your death!”
”The coward, who lost 1:7 to us, still has the cheek to mention that game here? Did you go crying home to mommy for her milk? Ah, haha!”
”You motherf**kers! F*** your entire family!”