980 My Legend Is Still Here Part 1 (1/2)
The countdown to the 2018-19 Premier League season officially commenced when the Premier League champions Arsenal defeated the FA Cup champions Liverpool and lifted the FA Community Shield trophy.
All eyes were on the traditional 'big four' teams of England this season, with Manchester United and Arsenal being the teams that receive the most attention from the press and the rest of the world. There were not many people who talked about how England had just won the World Cup, or why Tony Twain had decided to retire.
Twain would often be surrounded by fans asking for either a photograph or an autograph when he takes his daughter out for a walk, but other than that, his life has been quite peaceful and he has never been bothered by the press. Twain does not like interacting with the press, but he likes interacting with football fans, especially fans of Nottingham Forest. Nottingham is his home ground, and every single Forest fan is just like a friend to him.
Of course, there were also times where Twain found himself in an awkward situation when he interacted with the Forest fans. For example, there would often be fans who ask him, ”Will you come back, Tony?”
Twain knew very well what they meant when they asked that. Nottingham Forest is in a mess right now, and everyone is hoping for a great manager to come and rescue the team. They thought about who this 'great manager' could be, and the only person that comes to mind is Tony Twain.
Twain does not wish to sadden or disappoint the fans who hope that he would return to Nottingham Forest as the manager, but at the same time, he cannot take back the words that he said previously either. Therefore, he would always respond to the fans with a wry smile, ”I don't know, who knows what will happen in the future?”
Sometime later, Twain received a call from John Motson. ”Tony, are you interested in coming over to the BBC5?”
BBC5 is a sports channel just like the CCTV5 channel. Every single match involving the England national football team would be broadcasted on the BBC5. Twain has worked as a guest commentator for BBC5 for a short period of time in the past, and he has provided commentaries on the World Cup and Euro Cup before. However, he has not worked for them ever since he took on the role as the manager of the England national football team.
”Go over to the BBC5?” Twain was puzzled initially, but he understood what Motson was getting at shortly after. BBC was able to triumph over Sky UK and ITV last year, and they managed to get their hands on the broadcast rights for a portion of the Premier League matches. Now, they are trying to recruit people from all across the country to become commentators for those matches, and the only way they would be able to recruit a popular commentator like Twain would be to make use of Motson's relationship with Twain.
”Yeah, I want you to come over and provide commentaries for the new Premier League season. Are you interested?”
”Ah, John… I still want to rest some more.” Twain shook his head and refused Motson's offer. ”I have only retired for two months. Surely the break that I deserve after working for the past 10 years is longer than two months?”
”That's a shame…” Motson knew Twain's disposition very well. Twain would not do anything that he is not inclined to do. Persuading him any further would just be a waste of saliva. Motson found it to be a shame that the British football fans would not be able to hear Twain's interesting commentary for the upcoming Premier League season.
A day after Motson called, Twain received a call from Martin Taylor. Just like Motson, Taylor also invited him to be a guest commentator for Sky UK for the upcoming Premier League season. Taylor had retired years ago, but he still has the company's best interests at heart since he had worked at the company for over 20 years. Hence, it is not surprising that he would try and recruit a good commentator such as Twain for his company even though he no longer works for Sky UK.
Nonetheless… Twain still rejected Taylor's offer. His reason remained the same: he still wants to rest some more.
Twain was well aware that working for the television station would be a very good option for him if he wishes to continue working after leaving his managerial post. However, he likes his current laid back and carefree lifestyle, and he also wishes to continue taking care of Theresa. His daughter has only been in England for half a month. How could he possibly throw her aside for work? Shania is the one working now, and he should just concentrate on being a 'house husband' for now.
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The new Premier League season commenced on the 17th of August. The opening match featured Manchester United against the newly promoted side Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club, and Manchester United eventually went on to win 2:0 at home comfortably.
The Premier League was in full swing the following day. Nottingham Forest welcomed their first ever opponent for this season at their home grounds – Everton.
Nottingham Forest might not be performing well in recent times, but their ticket sales have been impressive. They sold a total of 38,000 season tickets for this season, which is roughly the same as the number of season tickets sold in past seasons. The number of season tickets that were sold when Nottingham Forest was at its peak cannot be used as a reference because the capacity of the City Ground Stadium is much smaller than the Crimson Stadium. 38,000 season tickets might be about 10,000 tickets lesser than the 55,000 season tickets sold by Manchester United this season, but when one takes into the account the size of Nottingham, 38,000 is definitely an impressive number.
One can tell from the number of tickets sold that Nottingham Forest is not encountering any financial issues, and the money earned from the ticket sales gives Evan the capital he needs when he has to bargain with the financial groups.
Not only that, one can also tell that the Nottingham Forest fans are 'die-hard' fans based on the number of season tickets sold. The Forest fans might be upset with the board of the club, but they still continue to support the club by buying the tickets to the matches. However, one of the fans said this when asked about why he was willing to buy season tickets, ”I just take it as spending 35 pounds every home game to scold that son of a b*tch Evan Doughty.”
The anger and hatred towards Evan Doughty is one that is shared by numerous Forest fans. Some of them even came together and formed a group called the 'Son of a B*tch Evan', and its members are the ones who create most of the banners that insult Evan Doughty at the Robin Hood stand.
Twain sat down on the floor and watched his daughter play with her rag doll after they finished eating the lunch meal that Twain had prepared. A moment later, he asked his daughter, ”Theresa. Do you want to go out and play with Daddy?”
”Okay.” Theresa stopped whatever she was doing and lifted her head to look at Twain. She was generally well-behaved and rarely disobeyed her parents.
”Okay. Then, do you want to watch a match with Daddy?” Twain magically dished out two match tickets from behind his back and waved them before Theresa's face.
Theresa tilted her head and mulled over what her dad just said. It took her a while to understand what he meant by 'match'. Thereafter, she nodded her head and replied, ”Okay.”
Twain was overjoyed. He quickly scooped up Theresa into his arms before planting a kiss on her tender cheeks.
”Let us leave at once!” He got into the car with Theresa in his arms and drove towards the Crimson Stadium that was located in the south-western part of Nottingham.
In truth, Twain did not plan to bring his daughter with him at the start. However, it is too dangerous to leave his daughter all alone at home. Thus, he decided to bring her along and let her experience the atmosphere at the stadium when a match takes place. Who knows? Maybe Theresa would start liking football! Her mother dislikes football, but if Theresa ends up liking football, then it would be two against one, and the majority would win!
Twain was the manager of Nottingham Forest for 11 years. He might not have been a Forest fan before he was appointed as the manager of the club, but now, he is a die-hard Forest fan. Just like all the other Forest fans, he too has invested a lot of his time and emotion into the club after so many years at the helm. It does not matter how disappointing Forest has become. Twain has been consistently buying the season tickets for Nottingham Forest every single year ever since he was the manager of the club, and he did not stop buying the tickets during the four years when he was the manager of the England national football team either.
The truth was that he has never actually watched a Forest match from the stands as an ordinary football fan before. There are only two situations in which he would watch a match from the stands: the first is when he is sent to the stands by either the referee or the Football Association for verbally abusing them, and the second is when he comes to watch the performances of the Forest players as the manager of the England national football team. All in all, he has never watched a Forest match as an 'ordinary football fan' before.
Watching as an 'ordinary football fan' meant that he would not analyse the tactics being used by both teams and he would not try and find a flaw in either side's tactics as well. He would not think about what he would do at halftime or what he would change in the next match either… Basically, he would not watch the match as a 'football manager'.
Twain felt very happy when he thought about how he would be able to watch the match without any burdens being placed on him, and he began humming a song as he drove.
Theresa looked like a doll as she sat on the passenger seat next to Twain with a seat belt on. She turned her head to look at her father, and she most likely is not able to understand why he is so happy. Why would her father be happier than her when they are going out to play?
Twain was not in a hurry to step out of the car when they arrived at the stadium. The first thing he did was to don a pair of sunglasses and a baseball cap. Thereafter, he turned his collar upwards and donned a pair of sunglasses on Theresa as well. The sunglasses was so big that it covered half of Theresa's face. He then placed a hat over her head and made sure that both of them would not be recognized by anyone else at first glance. Once he was satisfied, he opened the car door and stepped outside. He then held Theresa in his arms and followed the crowd towards the stadium.
Twain lifted his head to look at the gigantic Crimson Stadium before him as he trailed behind the crowd. This was the first time he has been able to admire the new stadium's exterior while being so relaxed. He has always entered the stadium via a special tunnel in the past – the manager of the England national football team would definitely not enter the stadium alongside the rest of the spectators.