286 Of Course We Will Win Part 1 (1/2)
Chapter 286: Of Course We Will Win Part 1
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Perhaps because they had drank with their boss, their luck became better. May first, the second-last round of the league matches, was Nottingham Forest's last chance to close in on West Bromwich.
In the end, Nottingham Forest beat Wigan Athletic on its home turf, with a score of 1:0. For that match, most of the Nottingham Forest fans were not focused on City Ground Stadium's field. Instead, they were more focused on Reading and it's home grounds, the Madejski Stadium. There, West Bromwich was met with Reading's tough resistance.
When the match results from there finally came out, City Ground Stadium was in a state of jubilation!
1:0! Reading had beaten West Bromwich on their home grounds!
Lady luck had once again smiled upon Tang En and his team at the most crucial moment. Now there was only a one-point difference between Nottingham Forest and West Bromwich!
If Nottingham Forest beat West Bromwich in their last match, they would be able to surpass them and gain second place, thereby attaining the qualifications to be promoted directly to the Premier League. Tang En felt that his confidence had been completely restored. He no longer needed to activate plan B, to study the situations of his play-offs opponents. He had already analyzed West Bromwich for a full month!
Because they had lost a match at such a crucial moment, it was believed that West Bromwich's morale must have taken quite a blow. On the other hand, Nottingham Forest's morale was high, and its players had never been so confident in their direct promotion to the Premier League. The last match would be held at Nottingham Forest's home stadium yet again, and over the span of a single night, almost everyone started favoring Nottingham Forest.
These people's opinions just bend with the wind! Tang En did not pay much attention to the opinions of others. When they did not look upon Nottingham Forest favorably, Nottingham Forest still did not lose even once. Now that they favored Nottingham Forest, the still weren't guaranteed to win.
The training plan had been arranged long ago, and the coaching staff was in charge of all aspects of it. Offense, defense, place kick, stamina, ball control, and various other things. Everything was going smoothly according to the plan.
The players' mentalities, after going through so many matches, had also been optimized.
Tang En and Walker had already analyzed West Bromwich for an entire month. He knew about the team's strengths and what kind of changes they had gone through even better than many of the die-hard West Bromwich fans.
What else did Tang En have to do? Before this extremely important match, he suddenly found that he had become the most idle person on the team.
It was almost May 9. Upon realizing this, Tang En felt that he should pay another visit to that place.
Exactly one year ago, Gavin had been laid to rest. One day later, Nottingham Forest had lost their first round of the semi-finals play-offs. One week later, Nottingham Forest had lost the entire play-offs. Tony Twain, who had been chosen as February's best manager and pursued victory as his target, had instead lost his most important match.
Although he claimed that ”I only pursue victory,” as long as he was still stuck in League One, he would always be a lying braggart, unable to raise his head in front of Gavin's soul.
Now, one year had passed. The time to decide Nottingham Forest's fate had come once again. As such, Tang En felt that there was a need to pay another visit to Gavin's grave.
On May eighth, the last morning before the match day, Tang En headed to that small grey church on the hill after the team's training.
Tang En figured that the cemetery would definitely not have any visitors aside from himself. However, when he finally got there, he realized, to his shock, that fatso John was there as well. He held a bouquet of white lilies in his hands, and was in the process of bending over and putting it down.
When fatso John stood up and discovered that there was another person beside him, he jumped, looking startled.
”Tony! You scared me.” He had really been frightened; the muscles on his face were trembling.
Tang En smiled dryly, chuckling.
”Why are you here? Doesn't the team need to train?”
”Training has already ended,” Tang En said, shrugging.
”Isn't the match tomorrow?”
Tang En walked up and placed the bouquet in his hands in front of the tombstone, right beside John's. Afterwards, Tang En stared at the short tombstone and said, ”It's because the match is tomorrow that I have to come here.”
John understood what he meant, and he was also lost in thought while he stared at the name engraved on the tombstone. For a moment, neither of them said anything. This quiet cemetery seemed to be completely empty, and the only sound was the occasional chirping of birds above their heads.
After a long while, Tang En sighed and asked, ”Do you and Michael still talk?”
John shook his head. ”No. Phone number, new address… He didn't tell them to any of us. It's like he disappeared off the face of the earth.”
”He must be living a good life in America.” Tang En did not know what else he could say. This did not seem to be a good place for them to chat.
”Michael… always liked football.” John murmured. ”In the past, when we were together, he would always say that he loved football more than his wife, and that football was his everything. He won't be able to live a single day without football. Can you imagine how crazy he must have been?”
Tang En nodded his head. For a person who had created a football hooligan firm with his own two hands, that degree of madness was normal.