347 The Tournament Part 1 (1/2)

With three consecutive goals in three games, Anelka's performance attracted the attention of the media. Although the media might have little affection for Anelka's two agent brothers, they could not ignore Anelka's performance. The return of a prodigal son was the best topic for the recent Premier League.

As a result, the Forest team's training ground had another increase of reporters. The buzzing flies had returned.

Looking at the reporters pestering Anelka, Twain suddenly felt that Anelka's two brothers did a good job. The price of forty thousand pounds per interview could really scare away a lot of people. He rubbed his chin and wondered if he should give himself a price of one hundred thousand pounds to make his life quieter. With the success of the Forest team, there were more and more people who wanted to get in touch with and interview Twain.

Twain would not reject media interviews, but he could not accept it if they went to his house and blocked his doorstep.

That was what happened to Anelka, and Twain did not plan to worry too much about it. The French striker was someone who had been in professional football for years. Some things were clear in his mind.

Anyway, he had made his stance pretty clear——Since you're on my team now, you will have to do a good job. When you do well, there will be lots of money up for grabs. But if you're not willing to do well and want to leave, I won't make you stay.

What he had actually said to Anelka said that day was, Whether you stay or go, I don't care.

Anelka was different from his other players. Twain did not need Anelka to be loyal to him because he was never part of his plan. He did not need Anelka to like him. He only needed Anelka to score for him.

What concerned him more was another person.

※※※

George Wood had encountered the most important problem in his nineteen years of life.

He thought that he should be a little different now from what he used to be, in training, in the locker room, and in the game....He should do some things that he had never done or paid attention to before.

But he did not know how to go about it.

Because he was the team captain. Although he was only a proxy, he was still the captain.

He needed to behave differently from the past because he wore the captain's armband.

To be honest, asking him to do this was a little difficult for him.

When Albertini was around, he was able to make his teammates feel his presence as a captain, whether during training, in the locker room, or on the field.

George Wood did not have that ability. More often than not, everyone did not feel like they had a captain at their side during training, in the locker room, or in games.

Even though no one complained openly about it, Twain could see some signs of it; he believed that Wood could see it too. He was not an idiot.

He felt that he had to intervene to help with the matter. Since he had handed the captain's armband over to Wood, he was obliged to pull him up when he encountered difficulties, or else he could hand the armband to Edwin van der Sar, or anyone else.

While the team was in training, Twain slipped back to his office and used the landline to call George Wood's home.

The person who received the call was Wood's mother, Sophia, who was pleasantly surprised to hear Twain's voice. ”Mr. Twain!”

Twain was not sure how to face the increasingly enthusiastic Sophia, so he rarely contacted her now. Nevertheless, it might be better for Wood's mother to deal with the matter.

”Hello, Madam. Are you feeling better?”

”I'm much better.”

”That's wonderful.”

”What's the matter, Mr. Twain?” Sophia could sense that Twain was beating around the bush, so she asked first.