Godfather Of Champions

1Nottingham Forest did not have a direct flight to Birmingham Airport, and they landed in London Heathrow airport instead. There were not many players who came back with the team as most of the players who were called up to play for their country split with the team at Monaco.     0

Only the five players who were part of the England squad returned to England with the Forest team. They then split with the team in London and went to Colney in North London. The place that was usually the training ground for Arsenal was now the exclusive training ground of the national team.     

When they went their different ways at the airport, Flores suddenly felt a need to expand his influence in the changing room as he looked at the five players gathered together. In the changing room now, the players were still discussing Tony Twain more than about him. This made him a little jealous.     

Therefore, he walked over, patted Bentley on his shoulder, and said using his less than fluent English, "Kids, don't get hurt."     

This sentence that was full of concern did not receive the proper response. The England players who were chatting amongst themselves turned to look at their manager without saying anything.     

Even Wood looked at Flores expressionlessly, bordering on being rude.     

Joe Mattock, the most inexperienced player on the national team there, broke the awkward atmosphere, "We'll take care of ourselves boss."     

After that, the group of them turned around and started talking amongst themselves again.     

Flores felt very awkward and did not feel good standing there anymore. If they were about a private topic… People might think that he had been eavesdropping by standing there, and it would be detrimental to him managing the players. Every player had their little secret that they did not want the manager to know.     

Resentfully, he left and returned to his place.     

Kerslake saw everything. In his heart, he pitied Flores. That was because even he unintentionally compared Flores with Tony Twain at that moment. He thought that if that had been Tony, the group of players would happily include him in their discussions and joke without holding back, attracting the glances of everyone around them.     

That was what Forest used to look like.     

Now, it was just a distant memory. The Forest team seemed to be in harmony on the surface because of the decent results. The players also said that Flores was a good manager when interviewed as the negative news of the team reduced a lot compared to three months ago.     

However, testing times would never come when things were going well. Once there were problems with the team's results, Flores and the team would be under a massive amount of stress. The restless media and fans would gladly summon Tony Twain again and reminisce about the glory days.     

As Tony Twain sculpted himself to be the King of the team, it also became a Damascus sword pointed at the team.     

How ironic.     

To fully rid Forest of Tony Twain's influence, it would take more than one season…     

※※※     

When Flores returned to his seat, the players continued their discussion. They were indeed discussing Twain. Other than Wood, the others were all excited and looking forward to being reunited with Twain—after more than three months, they could finally play under boss again!     

"I'm going to give boss a hug!" Aaron Mitchell announced excitedly the same way Pepe had in the changing room previously. He still regretted letting Pepe hog all the limelight last time, "As an apology! As my apology to him for ever doubting him!"     

"Okay, Aaron. You don't have to be so loud. Are you trying to let the whole world know that you wronged boss?" Bentley thought that Mitchell was like a kid sometimes.     

Mitchell lowered his voice and mumbled, "I'm going to give boss a hug anyway."     

"Come to think of it…" Bentley said while stroking his chin, "When boss was still around, I didn't think much about hearing him speak in the changing room. But it has only been three months, and I'm suddenly missing him inside the changing room…"     

"Hey, do you think the boss will give us special treatment?" Joe Mattock asked all of a sudden, stunning everyone.     

Mattock was someone on the peripheral of the national team, behind the pecking order of Ashley Cole, Leighton Barnes, and Lescott, who could also play in the left-back position. If not for the fact that Ashley Cole had not recovered from his injuries, he might not even have made it into the call-up list. Mattock felt that he had been chosen because he was a Forest player. It was a good thing to be called up, but if he was only called up for that reason… There might be a heavy burden on him.     

"I don't think so. Boss is not a manager who would give special treatment to people," Bentley refuted Mattock's thinking, "Besides, if he gave us special treatment, how badly do you think the outside media would criticize him?"     

Agbonlahor shrugged, "I'm not so sure. Boss is a unique person who doesn't care about what the media says; he even likes going against them. I think that boss is someone who wears his heart on his sleeve. If we perform well, I think we have a very good chance to be in the starting lineup!"     

George Wood did not want to join in the discussion as he thought this topic was boring. However, he was still pulled into it by the child-like Mitchell.     

"George, what do you think?"     

For a moment, the discussion stopped, and everyone turned to look at him.     

Wood could show a long face and act as though he was unwilling to talk to anyone—towards his agent, the media, and even to that man. However, he couldn't do that to his teammate, his comrade in arms.     

"I…I agree with David," Wood pointed at Bentley as he kicked the ball back.     

Everyone knew that Wood was not a talkative person, and they did not pester him anymore since he already gave his opinion.     

The group chatted for a little while longer before preparing to board the car.     

Mitchell was still lost in the discussion. He sighed and said, "Reuniting with boss on the national team, I've never even thought about it before…"     

What he said touched on the fact that Twain was no longer with Forest, and all of a sudden, they were no longer in the mood to continue chatting.     

And they stayed silent throughout on the journey to Colney.     

※※※     

Colney training base was in Hertfordshire, only a 45-minute journey from Arsenal's Emirates Stadium by car. This was now the training base for the England national team. The Arsenal starting team had three training grounds which were all used by the national team now. Those starting team players who were not called up to their respective national teams would train with the reserve team without worrying about causing any trouble for them. For a team like Arsenal, even their substitutes in the starting team were national team players. So, there were only a few players left behind, probably only the ones who were injured.     

This training base had an area of 143 hectares, out of which, 45 hectares were covered by woods. The environment was very pleasant with no skyscrapers around, unobstructed views, fresh air, and it was so quiet that it felt like a hidden utopia. Training in a place like this was a luxury. Compared to Colney, Nottingham Forest's Wilford training ground was a much stingier place. It was no wonder that Even Doughty planned to build a new training base. It looked like he was planning to reach the "big club" status in terms of equipment and facilities.     

Colney was the best training base in England. If the training base that Evan Doughty had in mind was built, Colney would have to settle for second place. As for now, there were no other training bases that could displace it from its top position.     

Ten standard-sized pitches, each installed with an underground drainage system and an automatic watering system. Two of the pitches were even installed with an underground heating system so that outdoor training could still take place even when it was snowing.     

That was why the English Football Association picked Colney as England's designated training base.     

When Wood's gang of five arrived at Colney, the England team had just ended their morning training, and the players were going back to the changing room. Only a few players were stopped by the media for interviews outside.     

Their arrivals attracted the attention of the media. If they hadn't been in the middle of interviewing other players, they would have rushed towards them.     

At this moment, Des Walker appeared between the two parties and took them away.     

"Tony wants to see you guys," he told Wood.     

Bentley whistled from behind. They knew that Walker meant Wood when he said that Twain wanted to meet with them.     

"Leave your stuff in the hostel and come over."     

Wood did not ask silly questions like "where's the hostel" or "where is he." this was not his first time participating in the national team's training. He dragged his luggage and signaled for his teammates to go with him.     

The reporters went after them and only stopped after taking dozens of pictures.     

"The national team is all here now. Hey, I have insider news…" The reporters gathered to talk after finishing their interviews.     

The others became interested after hearing him say that as this reporter was from The Sun.     

"Things are not well between George Wood and Tony Twain!" The reporter said with a mysterious tone. He was not afraid that these people would take this piece of news and publish it as their own insider story as The Sun had already decided to publish this in their papers tomorrow. They had specifically waited for Wood to arrive at the national team for better effect.     

"Eh? Is that true?"     

"Surely not? Didn't they say that they were like father and son?"     

"Wood was found and trained by Twain himself, and there are even rumors of some weird relationship between Twain and his mother…"     

The reporters were all shocked.     

That reporter was very satisfied with their reactions.     

"Why is it impossible? Italy's Cassano treated Capello as his father too, didn't he? In the end? Didn't they turn against each other too?" The reporter from The Sun gave a clap, "Who knows, the relationship between Wood and Twain might be a timebomb in the national team. Now that Wood is becoming more and more impactful in the team, he is basically the forecast of the team's results. If his form is good, the team's result will be good; if he's in a bad form… Capello is a good example."     

The reporter from The Sun laughed.     

Everyone understood why he was acting like that. Twain and The Sun were at loggerheads, and they would grab any opportunity to make things difficult for each other.     

The reporters thought about the relationship between Twain and Wood, and some of them immediately thought that this was a deliberate move by The Sun to make things difficult for Twain. The rumor of Wood and Twain falling out became half as believable.     

The Sun's reporter could tell that some people doubted him. He did not bother to explain himself, merely saying, "Ha, we'll wait and see then!"     

Those reporters were still being kept in the dark. The Sun had paparazzi all over England, and they were guaranteed to be able to get the most accurate, most confidential, and latest news!     

"We'll show Tony Twain tomorrow when the papers are published!" the reporter thought to himself.     

※※※     

George Wood knocked on the door of Twain's temporary office with his teammates in tow.     

Twain and Kerslake were talking happily inside.     

When the five players from Nottingham Forest appeared in front of him, Twain stood up and walked towards them with his arms open.     

"Welcome, my friends."     

Wood was standing right in front, and he should have been the first one to hug Twain. However, Aaron Mitchell rushed out with his arms open from behind, as if he was afraid that he could not keep his promise.     

"Boss!" he shouted excitedly and embraced Twain.     

Twain did not let anyone see the expression change in his face—he had planned to give Wood a hug to soften his stance. He had not expected Mitchell to pop out first. He could only play it by ear now…     

"Oh—not so hard Aaron!" Twain shouted. Mitchell used so much force in his excitement that Twain felt pain.     

"Ah, sorry, sorry… boss!" Michell let go quickly, panicking a little.     

But Twain just smiled and looked at him with an expression that suggested he was looking at his own child.     

"You look tired," he said.     

"I'm not!" Mitchell shook his head vigorously.     

Twain smiled without saying anything, and he looked at the next person.     

Bentley did not hug Twain like Mitchell, he merely looked at Twain and said, "It's been awhile, boss."     

"You guys saw me a fortnight ago."     

"We were… opponents then, this is different."     

It was Agbonlahor and Joe Mattock's turns to be welcomed after Bentley.     

Finally, he appeared in front of George Wood.     

The smile on Twain's face disappeared because there were no traces of a smile on Wood's face.     

The cordial atmosphere previously suddenly became awkward.     

His four teammates tried their best to not look at the two of them as their eyes darted around the room to hide the awkwardness.     

Twain did not know what to say either. He reached out and patted Wood on the shoulder.     

Next, he turned towards the others and said, "There's a training session in the afternoon. Don't get hurt, and have a good rest."     

The meeting ended.     

※※※     

When the players were gone, Kerslake was a little perplexed and asked Twain, "I thought you were going to ask George to stay back to talk to him alone."     

"This is not a very big place," Twain meant the training base. "Is there any news that we can hide from others? I don't want people to think that I'm giving special treatment, that would be detrimental to the team's harmony."     

"Then George…" Walker was still worried that Wood might think differently.     

"I'll talk to him properly of course, just not now…" Twain mumbled as his eyes darted around.