1010 No Derbies, No Football (1/2)
Twain naturally has his reasons for placing so much emphasis on the match. However, he was not the only one to hold the match in such high regard. The Notts County manager, Dunn, felt the same as well.
Dunn suddenly became very serious after it was made known that his team would be up against Nottingham Forest in the next round. He has always been a thorough couch, but the Notts County players could tell that something was different this time round – he became even stricter during their training sessions. It was clear that their boss wanted to win the derby match.
It was not just Dunn. All the Notts County players wanted to win as well.
Both Notts County and Nottingham Forest were clubs from Nottingham, but they had very different fates. Nottingham Forest stood at the top, whereas Notts County could do nothing but gaze at them from below. Notts County might be playing in a lower league than Nottingham Forest, but that did not mean that their players did not have big dreams. They, too, longed to be like the Nottingham Forest players, and that was why the Premier League clubs were always able to attract many of their players over to their clubs year in and year out.
Men should always aim to reach greater heights, after all…
There was no such thing as loyalty. The talented players would only stay loyal to powerful clubs.
The Notts County players wanted to defeat the former Champions League winner Nottingham Forest to prove their abilities. It would be great if they could help their team get promoted to the Premier League, but even if they failed to do so, they would still be able to make use of the match to attract the attention of the various football teams in the top leagues and increase their chances of transferring to a better team.
To the Nottingham Forest players, this derby match was just like any other FA Cup match. The two teams were simply not on the same level ability-wise. However, to the Notts County players, this was a once in a lifetime chance to defeat Nottingham Forest. They were just like carps that had been given a springboard to help them leap through the Dragon's Gate [1].
Tang Jing was able to discern the restlessness of her husband. Dunn has always been lost in thought recently, and his brows were forever knotted in frustration. He would lock himself in the study room until past midnight, and he paid no attention to their child at all either. Not only that, her relationship with her husband has become distant in recent days as well…
Tang Jing was worried that her marriage would be doomed if she allowed the situation to go on.
She wanted to talk to her husband regarding whatever was troubling him. Her shy and introverted husband has never been so restless before.
Actually, if Tang Jing had seen what Dunn was like before the 31st December of 2002, she would not be this confused now.
The Dunn from before 31st December 2002 was just like the Dunn of today. The only difference was that he was single back then, and no one else would be able to see him lock himself in the room and discern his restlessness. To everyone else, he was just like a statue with an indifferent exterior.
Tonight was the night before the derby match, and her husband did not seem as restless as before. This could be the best chance to speak to him. Tang Jing made use of the rare free time that she had after putting her baby to bed to head over to the study room. She quietly pushed open the door and tiptoed behind her husband before wrapping her arms around his neck.
Tang Jing felt her husband struggle in her embrace for a moment, but he quickly relaxed after realizing that it was her.
”I think there's something off about you for the past few days, dear.” Tang Jing tried her best to speak to Dunn in a gentle voice. She did not want to provoke him. ”What happened? You've been a manager for seven years, but this is the first time that I've seen you like this…”
Dunn did not answer his wife's question directly. He lifted his head upwards to look at Tang Jing, who stood behind him, and said, ”There's a derby match tomorrow.”
It took Tang Jing a few seconds to react – this was the very first derby match that her husband had encountered as the manager of Notts County. The word 'derby' had a very, very special meaning in the football world, and as a former football reporter, it was impossible for Tang Jing not to know it. However, she still could not help but be confused: Notts County and Nottingham Forest were not on the same level, which meant that there was not much rivalry between the two sides. They rarely had the chance to face each other in a match, and there was no direct conflict of interest either. Unlike the AC Milan and Inter Milan fans, the fans from both teams would not get into fights with each other over the league trophy. The rivalry between them did not span hundreds of years like between Real Madrid and Barcelona either. In addition, the derby did not involve religion and was not as frightening as the 'Old Firm Derby' between Celtic F.C. and Rangers F.C. as well.
Why would her husband care about the derby match between Notts County and Nottingham Forest when their rivalry was not as great as among those other clubs?
Dunn placed his hands over his wife's. ”My opponent for tomorrow's match is Tony Twain.”
”Aren't the two of you friends?” Tang Jing was baffled. Twain was probably the only person whom she had been jealous of in the past. There were times where she felt that her husband cared more about Twain than about her.
”It's precisely because he's a friend that I have to defeat him.”
That was all Dunn said. He did not explain further.
Tang Jing turned around and stared at Dunn's face for a while before turning to leave.
”Friendship between men sure is hard to understand.”
Dunn smiled wryly to himself as he watched his wife close the door to the study room.
There would always be words one couldn't say to others, even if that other person was one's other half. His wife would never be able to accept the fact that he was actually a soul that had taken over another human's body. This was an extremely complicated issue to talk about, and it involved very deep ethical problems as well. Dunn did not wish to think about it, but there was one thing he was certain of: the relationship that he had with Twain was definitely not as simple as just that of 'friends'.
Looking back now, he could not help but wonder if he was the one who had snatched Twain's body or if Twain was the one who had snatched his. It was impossible to tell any longer. However, it did not matter either way since he was still in a job related to football. He was just working for a different team. Would he be doing much better than he was now if the switch had not happened back then? Or perhaps… Would he be doing much better than Twain was now?
It was meaningless to think about such questions since he was certain that those scenarios would definitely not happen. However, those thoughts kept haunting him over the past few days. He was just like a possessed man who could not stop thinking about those impossibilities.
The glory that Tony Twain – a man whose body had been taken over by another soul – achieved was like a mountain that stood before Dunn. It blocked the sun and cast a huge shadow upon him.
Dunn felt as though he was living in perpetual darkness. Was he really going to live in this never-ending shadow forever?
He would just be called 'Twain's successor' when he took over at Nottingham Forest next season. If that was the case, why did he agree to Twain's invitation to return to Nottingham Forest next season?
No. He had to defeat Twain!
That was possibly the only way that he would be able to prove to himself he was not the terrified and helpless lad from 16 years ago anymore.
※※※
Twain's gloomy face probably caused the Nottingham Forest players who regarded the derby match to be nothing more than a practice game to stop belittling their opponents.
”Do I need to remind everyone that this is a derby?”
It was halftime during the FA Cup match between Nottingham Forest and Notts County, and the home team, Nottingham Forest, was trailing by 0:1 at the Crimson Stadium.
Chen Jian had a five-minute meeting with the fans in the stadium prior to the match. He was not some famous superstar player, but the fans still gave him their warmest applause. He juggled the ball before approximately 60,000 fans and subsequently held the Forest scarf before him as a display of loyalty to the club. However, the meeting was not entirely amicable because he heard numerous boos from the stands – most of which came from the Notts County fans.
The Chinese reporters who had gathered at the Crimson Stadium to report on Chen Jian's debut match must have been disappointed by the fact that Chen Jian did not start in the match. None of the British reporters appeared to care about who Chen Jian was either. Their attention was focused solely on Forest's terrible performance on the pitch.
They were making comments such as: