695 Winter Has Arrived (1/2)

The most immediate impact of the Lehman Brothers' collapse on the Nottingham Forest Football Club was that their new stadium landed in a predicament of a shortage of funds.

Though Nottingham Forest's new stadium did not yet have an official name, it had become a highly anticipated British construction project because it was not merely about the construction of a stadium.

It was a massive real estate development plan. With Nottingham Forest's new stadium as the core, the development radiated outward to form a commercial and residential circle. It also included facilities like a football theme park, a national fitness park, and a green space. With Nottingham Forest's increasing rise to fame, Allan Adams also planned to open the site as a tourist attraction to the world in the future. Like Real Madrid's Bernabéu or Barcelona's Camp Nou, it was not just a stadium. Due to the glorious tradition of the teams, stadiums had become sacred places for countless tourists and fans.

The plan was huge, and the prospects were fantastic, but the cost was much bigger than building a single stadium. Manchester City's new stadium, City of Manchester Stadium, had cost just over one hundred and ten million pounds. Only one such stadium would not have been a big deal for Nottingham Forest's finances. They would only have to tighten their belts for a year.

But Allan's plan would cost at least six hundred million pounds and it did not include the investment from the Nottingham City Council.

If they did not want to spend that much money, then the Forest Club would end up with the ownership of a stadium with no other facilities to earn money and accumulate wealth. To maximize the club's development, Allan and Evan offered to be the majority owners in the project, in return for the development rights of the stadium, football theme park, and a commercial area.

America's financial problems were already prominent at that time, but who would have thought that the self-regulating capacity of the market economy was so vulnerable?

It had only taken a year to bankrupt the Lehman Brothers, America's fourth-largest investment bank.

Allan became more haggard during this period and flew around the world all the time. Evan Dougherty's businesses in the U.S. were completely over, and now Allan was busy looking for follow-up funding for the new stadium. Many banks had refused to lend to Nottingham Forest because of the global financial downturn.

Without a choice, Evan had to announce a temporary shutdown of the new stadium construction and other building developments. Otherwise, if they continued to invest money in the project, the entire Nottingham Forest Football Club would sooner or later be dragged into this bottomless abyss.

The news immediately made headlines in the British press. Everyone knew that the Nottingham Forest club was finally in big trouble after a rapid expansion in the last few years.

”I admit that the Nottingham Forest boss is ambitious and driven, but overly rapid development will lead to stalling,” said a news reporter. ”The Nottingham Forest team is widely popular in Europe, but their economic fundamentals have not kept pace with the team's progress or with the club's construction. Look at the other powerhouse clubs, both their results and the club's conditions are very much in line with their status. Only Nottingham Forest, like a deformed child, has a pair of fast-moving feet without a body that can withstand the impact of this speed.”

The various professional experts at the television stations analyzed Nottingham Forest's current predicament. They thought it was a reverse archetype of how a football club should survive and develop amid the world's economic downturn.

”I think the Nottingham Forest Football Club should reflect on their strategy of expanding everywhere. China, Japan, Southeast Asia, England, the United States of America and the entire world. Tony Twain's magic has caused his boss to think that his team and club are omnipotent. To be honest, I am not at all surprised by the current predicament when I know that the chairman and market manager of Nottingham Forest are Americans who have never cared about football before. They ignore the important point---a football club is different from an ordinary listed company. Other than having to abide by the laws of the economy, it also has to obey the laws of football. Tony Twain's magic has given the team a good foundation for development, but they still need to take it slowly and develop step by step. Evan Doughty revealed his goal of turning Nottingham Forest into a powerhouse club at a certain reception held in Nottingham. I've never heard of a powerhouse club that can be built in just five or six years. Chelsea is rich and has good results, but is it a powerhouse now? I think the vast majority of people will disagree that it is a powerhouse club.”

”Nottingham Forest is one of the clubs that has been established the longest in the history of the modern football world and the only team to still compete in the top leagues. However, now the club is giving everyone the impression that it is young. From the owners of the club to the manager of their team and the players, they are all extremely young. Young people will always make some errors in judgment and their estimation of the situation will be overly optimistic.”

”Now they know how bad the situation is.”

※※※

”There are sounds of plaintive whines everywhere.” Evan sat in the large boss's chair in the office and rested his chin on his hands. ”It's as if winter is coming early.”

He appeared to be talking to himself, but he was speaking to Twain sitting next to him.

Allan was not in the room. He was on his way to China. The investment projects in China also ran into financial problems that he needed to solve personally.

Twain looked down at the sweater he wore inside his suit. ”Winter is not that far away...”

After a 0:0 draw with Middlesbrough, the team was dismissed again as the national teams' games resumed. The players flew to various countries in the world for the World Cup qualifiers on all continents. Some of them did well, others performed badly. The players who returned to the Forest team after two national games were mostly unsatisfactory in terms of their form and physical strength. Under such circumstances, Nottingham Forest lost its away game to Liverpool and quickly slipped to the seventh spot in the league table. It was the first time in two years that Nottingham Forest had placed seventh in the league. The last time they were in the seventh spot in the league tournament was on October 14th, 2006, after they'd lost to Manchester City in the eighth round of the league tournament.

The score was 2:3. They'd worked hard but still lost. In the post-match press conference, Twain expressed concern about the fatigue of the Premier League players and suggested that the Football Association should consider giving the players a breather by setting up a winter break. His suggestion elicited no response and he did not receive any reply from the Football Association. The idea of a winter break had been hotly debated for years, but it was just wishful thinking on the part of the coaches and players. Neither the Football Association nor the league committee would agree because it would negatively affect their income.

Now Twain was about to lead the team to Italy to compete against a strong rival, Juventus. Before he went to Italy, Evan came looking for him.

Twain knew what Evan was there for. Could it be anything else other than the team's recent poor results?

There was nothing he could do about the current situation. The players' physical strength had been depleted by the club and national team competitions. The continuous twice-weekly games had left them with no time to rest and adjust their form. For Benítez to have been able to reverse the score in the last five minutes, the Forest lads had already played outstandingly in the game against Liverpool. But it also took a lot of physical energy to play like this, and the whole team was exhausted after the game. He did not even know how to face Juventus.

He could not afford to buy anyone during the winter transfer window, so he had to rely on the players to stand for one season. Twain had not given up, though. He still preached to his players that their goal was to win at least one title this season. No matter how bad the situation might be, the team could not lose its confidence.

”I know what you're going to say, Evan. The team will win against Juventus.” Twain stood up, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible.

Evan smiled and did not detain him.

※※※

Two days later, at the Stadio delle Alpi in Turin, Nottingham Forest lost 2:0 in the away game against Juventus.

Twain sat in the technical area of Stadio delle Alpi's visiting team. His expression was not angry. He did not throw his suit jacket down, nor did he kick a water bottle. He just sat there with a helpless look on his face. Just before the final whistle had sounded, he had still been angry like a bull that saw red. He flew into a rage on the sidelines over the team's performance.

He had deployed the strongest lineup he currently had, but his tactics were not effective against Juventus at all. After all, his routine bore a lot of resemblance to the routine that Juventus was best at, and Ranieri knew how to deal with him.

Defensively, Juventus was no worse than Nottingham Forest. The Italians' blood had long been infused with defensive instincts. No matter how much the Forest team dispatched back and forth, no matter how quickly and suddenly the Forest team counterattacked, Juventus' rear defensive line was not disorderly. Moreover, they used sneak attacks to defeat Nottingham Forest by scoring a goal at the start of the first and second half.

Twain's tactics came from Juventus during Capello's time. Juventus's football was ugly to watch but stable and capable of obtaining victories and winning titles. Now that they were up against Juventus, which was more stable than themselves and hungry for victory, he could not take any advantage. The Forest players had depleted their strength due to the consecutive campaigns and could not get into their competitive form, as if they had eaten too much and not fully awoke. After Juventus scored their second goal, Nottingham Forest did not appear to have any desire for victory even though there were almost forty minutes left. They were simply too tired. The players were human too, not machines. They were worn out and it produced some negative thoughts.

There was nothing Twain could do about it. No matter how energetically he tried to rouse the players in the locker room, the players did not have any strength at all. It was impossible for them to generate infinite power out of thin air and then blast their opponent away just because they heard him roar a few words of ”we must win!” Nor could they win the game indefinitely just because he'd promised Evan Doughty that the game must be won before coming to Turin.

The Juventus players embraced each other with exceptional excitement after they won the game. Kerslake, who could not stand the spectacle, snorted.

”It's not as if they won the Champions League title. It's only a victory in the group stage. Must they be so excited?” he said bitterly.

”They did beat the defending champion after all, since their return to the Champions League...” Dunn explained.