211 The Fateful Matchup (1/2)
Chapter 211: The Fateful Matchup
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The tied game with Aston Villa on their home ground made the Forest players find that the number of reporters at the sidelines had suddenly increased during their usual training. Everyone knew the local media, which made them think that most of the unfamiliar faces were from London.
”We just tied a game. Why is the media so excited?” Eastwood asked with confusion as he pointed to the cameras behind the mesh wire fence during an interval in the team training.
”Because they've realized that we're destined to be the champions of this season!” Twain affirmed with a nod.
Eastwood turned his head in astonishment to look at Twain. ”Boss, you aren't kidding, are you?”
Twain seriously shook his head, ”No, of course I'm joking.”
Someone was chuckling next to him.
Next to them, David Kerslake explained, ”They are paying close attention to us, not because of us, but because of our opponents in next round. Arsenal.”
Recently, the media had been hyping up the fateful entanglement between Arsenal and Nottingham Forest. It was like a melodramatic primetime soap opera, and there were only a handful of people who did not know about it. Only people like Eastwood, who did not care about anything except playing football well, were surprised to see so many reporters gathering in Wilford.
Standing outside the training grounds with the other reporters, Pierce Brosnan could not help but lament the fateful arrangement: the opponent that Arsenal was facing while looking to break the record was the team that had created the record. When Brian Clough had led the team to create the record, it was thought that no one could hope to break it for a long time. And now the record was in danger of being broken while he was still alive.
The North London media, with the exception of those in support of Tottenham Hotspur, were unanimously in support of Arsenal and optimistic that Arsenal would break the 25-year record on the Forest team's home grounds. After all, Arsenal was strong and in good shape, and the Forest team still had not adapted to the rhythm of the Premier League. Their score of one point from a concession and a draw in the first two rounds of the tournament was unconvincing in the face of the mighty Arsenal.
At the end of training, the players walked from the training ground to the locker room, and along the way, the reporters came up to them to ask questions related to the record and Arsenal. Most of them asked, ”What do you think of Arsenal's strength? How likely are they to break the record?” Some players were able to politely answer the questions, even though they had little to do with them.
However, they occasionally met a bad-tempered player who was unresponsive to the reporters, like George Wood. He looked coldly at the reporters putting their microphones in front of his lips, and just as the reporters became full of anticipation, he turned his gaze away and left the group of reporters without a word.
Afterwards, there were more and more Forest players like him who treated the reporters that way. At first, everyone was interested in the attention, as it still felt fresh. After all, they were so far away from the record that happened 25 years ago that Arsenal breaking it wouldn't be too bad.
But if the people around them constantly asked questions like ”How's Arsenal,” and ”How's Henry,” and the like, they would feel that they were being derided.
At the Forest team's regular press conference, about 95% of the reporters asked questions about the next game, and 80% of those requested that Twain talk about his view on Arsenal looking to tie the record.
Tang En himself did not dislike Arsenal or Wenger; after all, he had a tiny bit of friendship with Arsène Wenger. But he detested the media, which was just playing up the news. He did not want to play nice with the media.
So, when all the reporters had finished asking their questions, Twain tugged his ears in front of the cameras and asked, ”I keep thinking I'm mishearing you, so I checked my ears to make they're working okay. But apparently, my ears weren't the problem. So then I thought to myself, maybe my brain's out of order. Maybe I just couldn't understand your questions properly. But that can't be right, because it's impossible for my brain to go wrong. So finally there's only one conclusion I could arrive at: you must be the problem.”
He had said so many misleading things that the reporters were completely baffled; they did not understand what he had said or what he wanted to express.
Looking at the bewildered reporters, Twain sighed. ”Sure enough, I have to be blunt so that you can understand. Ladies and gentlemen, you have come to the wrong place. If you're interested in Arsenal, go to North London. This is Wilford, not London Colney. Still, I'm sure that you won't be able to ask any questions that aren't about Arsenal, so today's press conference is over. Until the game is over, my team and I will not be accepting any types of interviews.”
After that, Twain got up and left the conference hall, leaving the room full of stunned reporters, looking at each other in dismay.
Twain firmly walked away, and Ms. Barbara Lucy from the Forest club stayed behind to clean up the mess for him. ”Ladies and gentlemen, today's press conference is over. Please kindly make your way back.”
After she was done, she quickly walked out to catch up with Twain, who was marching back to the office.
”Mr. Twain?” She called in an inquiring tone.
Twain stopped and turned around to look at Evan's private secretary. ”What can I do for you, Miss Lucy?”
”Um… I'd like to remind you that Sky TV has one more interview with you tomorrow morning.”
”To ask me questions about Arsenal while we sit in the café at the Wilford training base?”
”I don't know, but I think… yes.” Lucy nodded.
”Very well, you can help me reject it. If we've already agreed to the interview, let David deal with those pesky reporters while I train the team.”
Lucy nodded and left. Just as Twain entered his office, he received a call from Evan Doughty. ”Tony, I hear that you're make things hard for the media all over the UK.”
”You're very well-informed, Evan.”
”Don't forget, I have friends in the media too.” Evan laughed. ”They called and complained to me that the Forest manager refused to play ball with them.”
”I really wanted to oblige, but they were all about Arsenal. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't work with them.” Twain shrugged.
”Come on, Tony. You don't have to do this in front of me. You felt uneasy, didn't you?”
”Well… If someone was singing your direct competitor's praises in front of you, wanted you to say nice things about your competitor, and on top of that, would be dissatisfied if you didn't say anything nice… Well, I think you would be unhappy too, Evan.”
”With regards to that… You're quite right, Tony. Do your job well, and just let those who look down on us suffer!”
Having just finished his conversation with the club chairman, Twain received another call from Pierce Brosnan. ”Tony, did you really mean what you said at the press conference just now?”
Brosnan was still standing in the Wilford training base parking lot while the other reporters complained as they left about Tony Twain acting all high-and-mighty. He was the only one still reluctant to leave. He hoped to use his personal connection to obtain the rights to an exclusive interview.