Eastwood and George. Wood's meeting of the two logs was on the training ground on this day. Since the teammates had seen their new teammates at the gate, they didn't seem so strange to each other, and those who could play fun would make fun of Eastwood. The gypsies always had a very pleasant smile on their faces, and they didn't care about the jokes.

Only when he saw the silent George. The smile on Wood's face disappeared. He didn't say hello to Wood, shake hands, or do anything else to show friendship, and neither did Wood. But don't think that Wood is the same as the other party because of grudges, it's just that he usually looks like this when he sees strangers. He had long forgotten what the player who had broken his leg after a reckless foul he had tackled looked like and what his name was.

Don saw this scene from the side, and did not "kindly" remind George that his new teammate had been tackled by him. The players' personal grievances need to be resolved at the right time.

Right now...... That's it for now.

Eastwood is naturally optimistic and cheerful, which is evident in the fact that he has been able to continue playing football after breaking his leg and keeping a smile on his face. Don has no worries about his integration into the team.

But...... Will he play in the FA Cup?

Nottingham Forest's opponents in the third round of the FA Cup are fellow First Division side West Bromwich Albion (west_bromwich). West Bromwich Albion are currently in a good league position, sitting second with 47 points after 26 games, five points behind Norwich City, who are top of the league. But the gap to the teams below is very close, from sixth to second in the league by only five points. One piece of news that is good for Donne's goal of the season is that there is only a two-point gap from 18th to 14th in the league, a three-point gap to 12th, and only a three-point gap between 12th and 9th in the league. The gap between the mid-table teams is not huge, with three teams tied on 33 points, two teams on 35 points, and two teams on 36 points.

As long as Forest win a few crucial games and don't make any big mistakes in the league, they can steadily move up the table and return to the first group. When he moves up to within 10 in the rankings, he can officially sprint to the promotion qualification.

Nottingham Forest now have 31 points and are 18th in the league.

It is precisely because of such close points that Don dares to say such a "big talk" as returning to the super after the end of this season. This is not some incredible miracle, and those who think it is a miracle simply lack sufficient understanding and analysis of the situation.

For Donne, January and February are the most critical, and if the team drops the chain at this time, then basically you really have to count on a "miracle" if you want to chase it later.

Two consecutive Carabao Cup finals at the end of January are what Donn must win.

After thinking about it, Done decided to give up the FA Cup. He wants West Bromwich Albion to go further and further down the FA Cup road and, if they can, go straight to the final...... That would allow the second-placed team to distract more and allow Forest to pull them down...... Then the West Blom Albion team, who reached the FA Cup final, please create a gorgeous "proud record" of the second-tier team to enter the League Cup! As for the places in the English Premier League, let our Forest team "reluctantly" replace you!

Donne, who made the plan, told the coaching staff that the training schedule was focused on Nottingham Forest's next opponents in the league, Sunderland. It was an away game and Sunderland were fourth in the league.

For Donne, this falls into the category of "a game that must be won no matter what, no matter what means". And that category includes all the teams currently ahead of Nottingham Forest.

Playing away, Done still adheres to the strategy of focusing on defense, and Sunderland's results at home are quite good, with seven wins, five draws and only one loss, which can be regarded as a home dragon. It is indeed difficult to challenge such an opponent. The only thing Donn could take advantage of was that this team had a terrible backline, conceding the most goals of any of the top six - 38. You must know that the second-to-last Bratford only conceded 39 goals...... So the coaching staff followed the league training plan, with Rebrov in midfield and Gareth in midfield. Taylor is at the front. The two men have spent the biggest investment of the season, and no coach would rush to put them on the bench, and Donn drove Taylor to the reserve team for two games, which was enough to get a surname. If you want to run into a good old man like Ranieri, no one dares to offend, and the team is in chaos. As a result, Chelsea's performances this season have left new owner Roman Abramovich a little unbearable.

The topic is far away.

The person Donn focused on in training was the newcomer, Freddy. Eastwood. After two days of training, all members of the coaching staff were completely relieved of the player who had broken his leg, and he had no problems in terms of ability.

Even Walker had to admire Donn's vision again. He really didn't know how Don found out about this man who had never played in any first team, was abandoned by his old club because of a broken leg, and then ran to play in the amateur league...... Don certainly can't tell that he saw a video of him playing three years later in 2007 and used him in a football manager game. He simply didn't give any explanation, and let his colleagues look at him with adoration. It's actually a good thing to help you continue to establish yourself and your authority.

You can't show everything, even if he's your best friend and worker. In particular, a manager who needs charisma must have some mystery that everyone can't understand. It's like Brian. Clough was the England international and the main player of the Nottingham Forest team who won the European Champions Cup twice. Hilton said something like this: "The coaches Shankly, Ramsey and Stern are great, they have aura and magic, but Clough also has the mysterious X-factor. ”

So, it turns out that maintaining a proper sense of mystery and unapproachability in front of others can actually help to increase one's prestige and prestige in the team.

※※※ On January 3, at the City Stadium, Forest will face West Bromwich Albion in the third round of the FA Cup. Ahead of the game, Donn had Eastwood appear in the middle of the pitch to meet the fans in a Forest shirt. The fans reacted somewhat coldly to the strange guy, and there was no welcome scene like the cheers that shook the city stadium.

The meeting ceremony itself was simple, with Eastwood going up and waving and standing on the sidelines with a Nottingham Forest scarf for reporters to take pictures. In less than five minutes, he came off the pitch, took off his shirt and sat in the stands box to watch the game - he wasn't even in the squad.

Forest were knocked out of the FA Cup with a 2-1 home defeat to West Bromwich Albion in this game. The fans were a little disappointed, but they gave the team a round of applause after the game. After all, the team has reached the semi-finals of the League Cup, so don't be too greedy.

However, Eastwood, who made his pre-match appearance, quickly became the focus of media attention. Quite simply, as some media found out that Eastwood had just broken his leg and had been playing in an amateur team all amateur and had no experience of playing in the first team of a professional team at all.

Although the deal only cost the club £100,000, the media still hyped it up. Many media outlets questioned Donn's eyesight, as well as Eastwood's ability.

And the media somehow got the dramatic scene caused by Eastwood's arrival at the Forest team that day, they exaggerated what happened that day, laughed at Eastwood as much as they could, and finally sarcastically asserted in the report: "A gypsy who lives in a caravan, brings horses into the training base to report, seems to live a primitive life, can only play in an amateur team after a broken leg, and usually helps his father sell used cars...... Tony. Donn's Blade? Hope for Nottingham Forest? The world must be crazy! ”

In fact, Bruce was also a little worried about the ability of this newcomer, but out of trust in Donn, he did not publish any articles in the newspaper that were unfavorable to Eastwood, but only cautiously expressed his lack of optimism about Eastwood's prospects, and was careful with his words. But other media can't control it so much. The war between the Forest and Millwall did not start, and they were a little unwilling. No, it can be regarded as a good opportunity for them, how can they let it go so easily?

“…… I've seen pros who work as painters, I've seen pros who work as plumbers, I've seen pros who do chores in restaurants...... But I've never met a professional player who lives in a station wagon with his family and lives the life of a homeless man! ”

"As far as we know, Freddie. Eastwood broke his leg when he was in West Ham's youth team when he was badly violated by a Nottingham Forest player in a youth league game. Could it be Tony. Did Mr. Donn sign such a player who has not proven his ability at all out of the psychology of repaying his debts? Hey, Mr. Donn, are you going to change careers as philanthropists? ”

"Charlton Athletic Club once came close to becoming Freddy. Eastwood played for the club and at the time Eastwood wanted to try out with the south London team. But the club knew that he had broken his leg and did not hesitate to reject him. ”

Of course, it wasn't all skepticism, but there were people who stood up for Donn and Eastwood, although there was only one person – Mr. Stimson, the former manager of Eastwood's former team Grace Athletic, who was furious at the media mocking Eastwood and thought that the player he had been persuaded to return to the pitch would surprise everyone with his performance. "When he played with my team, he often scored five or six goals in a game!" But who cares about the evaluation of an amateur team coach? His remarks were quickly used by the media as a new pretext for ridicule - "What is there to boast about when a player who has received regular youth training from a professional team goes to an amateur game to score five or six goals?" ”

(To be continued)