Volume 5 Red Chapter 53 Football should start from the baby

Apology: Due to my negligence, I forgot the most important event of the year, the "World Club Cup". I apologize to all of you. Since the VIP chapters have been updated, there is no way to modify them on the basis of the existing chapters. So I can only make a supplementary note here:

Nottingham Forest lifted the tournament with a 4-3 win over Boca Juniors in the Club World Cup. It became No. 1 in this year's world club.

Once again, I apologize to all of you, and thank you from the bottom of my heart for reminding me.

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When the schedule is intense, you feel like time flies. It's like once people get busy, they forget the passage of time.

Unconsciously, in the continuous battle, the time has crossed the year-end and New Year holidays. The commemorative calendar for Nottingham Forest at Don's home has also been changed from 2007 to 2008.

The league and the FA Cup are coming. Thanks to the well-structured training plan, the Forest's fitness has not been problematic during this period and the state has remained stable.

From December 1 to January 3, Nottingham Forest won seven in a row. They have also moved from third to first in the league rankings. December's brilliant six-game winning streak saw Donn named Premier League Manager of the Month and Nottingham Forest Team of the Month, but Player of the Month fell to Manchester United, Cristiano. Ronaldo was elected.

And the results of the year-end drama - worldwide and European-wide selections have also come out.

2007 was not a World Series year, and although there were the Asian Cup and the Copa America, these two competitions were not great competitions for European-centric world football.

As an important reference for these awards, it is the performance of the teams and players in the UEFA Champions League that matters most.

As European champions, Nottingham Forest are favourites.

Nottingham Forest have been honoured as the World's Club of the Year. The core player of the team, Frank. Franck Franck Ribery was named this year's winner of this year's European Ballon d'Or by the French newspaper La Liga, and although Kaka's performance was equally impressive, AC Milan's ability to reach the final was almost entirely to Kaka's credit. But Kaka lost on the collective honor.

Frank. Ribery also won the "Best Player in World Football" award from the British magazine World Football.

In the "World Footballer of the Year" competition organized by FIFA, the competition is fierce.

Because the selection system is different from the more professional European Ballon d'Or, the best in FIFA is voted for by the head coach of the national and regional teams affiliated with FIFA. It's not that the head coach of a country is the most professional candidate, think about China? As a result, many managers don't actually vote on the person's performance over the past year, but simply on the name they know best.

Kaka has taken advantage of this, and his reputation in the world is higher than that of Ribery, as is Cristiano. Ronaldo, as well as Messi.

Kaka's performances in the Champions League and the league are obvious to all, and AC Milan with him and AC Milan without him are simply two different teams.

Cristiano. Ronaldo also helped United lift the Premier League trophy last season, which had been lost for two years, and in the second half of the new season, he has been in even better form and is currently the Premier League's top scorer.

Messi benefited from Barcelona's wealthy background and the identity of "Maradona's successor", in fact, in terms of results, he was not as good as the above three this year.

The final result was that Kaka narrowly overpowered Frank. Franck Ribery was named World Footballer of the Year, with Ribery coming in second and the Silver Ball, while Portugal's Ronaldo won the Bronze Ball.

For Frank. For Ribery, even this result is enough for him to be happy for a long time. A few years ago, when he looked at the sea by the pier and didn't know where his future was, he didn't dare to think about today's scenery. But now, with Donn, with Nottingham Forest, this kind of thing that can only qualify in a dream has become a reality. He has become one of the hottest young players in world football, he is the European Footballer of the Year, he is the new core of the French national team, and his career has reached its peak.

George. Wood was named to the 20-man squad, but he didn't receive any accolades, which had to do with the fact that he was a full-time defensive player. In today's football, defense is not flattering, and being a defensive player basically means missing out on all the major individual awards. Cannavaro's World Footballer of the Year award is not so much a personal tribute as it is a reward for the entire Italian backline, and as the captain of Italy, he is just a representative of this wonderful collective.

Only Mr. Footballer is the most important play, and after this award, there are some small awards that are messy - maybe others disagree, but in Donn's eyes, they are some inconsequential awards. Even when he was named World Coach of the Year for leading Nottingham Forest to the European Cup, he wasn't overjoyed.

He took it for granted, and he couldn't think of anyone else who was qualified to stand on the stage to accept this award besides himself. The second reason is that he is still complaining about Ribery, he doesn't hate Kaka winning the award, he thinks that Ribery is more qualified to win the gold award than Kaka this time.

Therefore, his speech on stage to accept the award seemed a little arrogant and resentful.

"I am very happy to receive this award," he said. This illustrates that the path I have chosen is the right one: victory, constant victory; Champions, constant champions. As long as the team can win more championships, individual honors are not in suspense at all...... But there are some surprises...... In conclusion, thank you FIFA for this award. Thank you! ”

Nottingham Forest's attacking heart Franck Ribery has not completed the Grand Slam, and the only flaw is that he has won the European Ballon d'Or, the best player in world football and the best player in the world. Other than that, the Forest team has had a perfect year and can't fault it.

A year full of honors has passed, and a new year with endless challenges is coming. All the glory will pass quickly, and these things will not help the Forest team to gain anything in the new year.

In the first round of the league in the new year, Forest emerged victorious, extending their winning streak to seven.

In the FA Cup, Done still sent the second-tier team to play and met Roy. Keane's Sunderland.

Due to the different situations of the two teams and the different attitudes towards this game, Don made it clear that he wanted to train. Keane is hoping to overcome the team's current predicament in the FA Cup, with 21 rounds to go, and Sunderland are third from bottom in the league with just 17 points, in the relegation zone.

Relegation is important, but Keane would rather use a win to boost the morale of the team, even if it's just an FA Cup game, and a win over the mighty Nottingham Forest will give him a way to get the team back out of trouble.

Done, of course, not because the opponent is Roy. Keane let the water out. Although he sent second-tier players on the field, in Keane's eyes, these second-tier players are even more terrifying. For Nottingham Forest's main players, the FA Cup does not inspire them, but it is true that the second-tier players have a great opportunity to show themselves in front of Donne, and no one wants only one chance like this, and no one wants to lose the team because of their performance. So, this game is very dangerous for Sunderland. The only thing Keane can rely on is to field the strongest squad and fight to the death at home.

He won.

After 90 minutes of very, very intense fighting, Sunderland narrowly beat Nottingham Forest 3-2. Successfully qualified for the next round of the FA Cup.

Having lost his last chance to work on the youngsters, Donn has been on his way back to Nottingham from Sunderland and has begun to seriously consider loaning out some promising players who are destined not to play in the current Forest team.

Adriano of the youth team. Mock was loaned to Sunderland earlier this season and is now a regular first-team player for Sunderland, and while there is no guarantee of a regular in the team, he is not a fringe figure on the bench. In this FA Cup game against Forest, he started the whole game. The performance was not bad, and Donn was keeping an eye on Mock's performance at all times during the game, and was a little bit of a loner...... But young people, they still have time to fix these stinky problems. Think of Cristiano, who has just arrived at Manchester United. Ronaldo, look at him now, he doesn't look like a person.

He wants to take out some of the youth team on loan, even if it's a Championship team, and he feels that for those people it's not going to improve just training at the Wilford training base and playing in the FA Youth Cup. If you want to go to the next level, you have to go out and play games, and you have to play real competitions.

This is something that will be done when I go back to Nottingham. In addition, with the winter transfer window open, are there any players that Nottingham Forest need to buy or sell?

At present, Nottingham Forest's rotation system is relatively mature, and there are good people in each position, Ribery has returned from injury, and Pepe's injury is also thinking of a better direction...... He thought about it, and it didn't seem like there were any players in particular who needed to be brought in.

So he decided to focus on the types of players who are still young and can be bought and loaned out to develop.

There are a lot of restrictions on this type of player, so it's not very easy to find. First of all, they need to be young enough to have time to wait for the opportunity; Secondly, they must have enough talent to make Don En tempted, and it is not worth spending years cultivating and waiting for ordinary people; Again, you have to be not famous, you won't be ambitious, Don doesn't want the kind of person who wants to be the boss when he comes; Finally, it's better if it's cheaper. Forest's new stadium has broken ground and construction has begun, leaving the club with very little liquidity on its books. Bidding tens of millions of euros for a young talent, Don can't do it.

As soon as these conditions are screened, most of the young geniuses who are already known to the world will be dismissed. For example, Doss produced by Barcelona's La Masia training camp. Santos and Bojan; For example, Carlos, who was loaned out by Arsenal. Vela and Wilshere, who has recently been in the Arsenal youth team; For example, the current hot young French talents Benzema and Nasri; For example, the Italian national youth team's treasure Rossi; For example, Pato, who has already been grabbed by AC Milan...... Wait a minute. These people Tang En can't grab them, he doesn't have the financial resources, and people may not come.

He doesn't have to worry too much about finding good talent, Nottingham Forest can afford to have scouts all over the world, and they also have a working SI, a company that also has a lot of amateur and professional scouts. In addition to making FM, they also created another version of the player database for the Forest team in accordance with the original agreement, which is slightly different from the more game-specific FM database, which has more rigorous numbers and more reference value.

The winter transfer window has begun, and Don needs to get that work up to speed.

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When Donn told his scouting team that he needed a list of potential players between the ages of fourteen and sixteen from all over the world, two days later, a collated report appeared on his desk.

He didn't study the report during training time, but took it back to read with Don.

Don first set his sights on the United Kingdom, on the one hand, it can be used to weaken the opponent. Next, there is the EU region, the Americas, Africa, and finally Asia.

After reading all the reports with Tang, it was already the second half of the night. Although they were tired and dizzy, they finally decided on a number of candidates, whose names were circled in red pencil. The next day, they will be handed over to the head coach of the youth team. Then, after confirmation, the Forest Club will either apply to the club where the players are going to buy them, or go directly to them to sign a contract and make them a member of the Forest team – there is nothing to be watched, some of whom have been watched by the Forest scouting system for a long time.

Two days later, the Forest Team's takeovers were launched around the world. Among these names, how many people will eventually come to the post-80s Shaolin abbot as Tang En wishes, and no one knows what the harvest will be before they are fished up.

In London, England, the genius John of Crystal Palace, who has just turned sixteen. Bostock (john_bostock) is facing his first choice in life – is to sign with Crystal Palace, who have developed him, and become a regular member of the club's youth team? Or signed with Nottingham Forest, who was halfway through, to join the European champions.

In Glasgow, Scotland, Rangers' sixteen-year-old John. A man who claims to be a Nottingham Forest scout has arrived at Fleck's (john_fleck) home and has offered the Scottish under-16 squad a contract from Nottingham Forest.

In Mexico City, the capital of Mexico, the fifteen-year-old midfielder of the Blue Cross team, Galwan. Martin's (galván_martín) dad received a call from England who claimed to be a Scout from Nottingham Forest and was very interested in his son.

In the port city of Porto Alegre in southern Brazil, the famous Gremio club received a fax from Nottingham, England, asking them to have a serious conversation about Gelson, the 16-year-old centre-back in the Gremio youth team. The future of Vieira (gérson_vieira).

The same fax is on the desk of the manager of the Colo Colo Colo club in Santiago, Chile, except that the player's name has been changed to Nikolas. Milan (nicolás_millán), number 10 of Colo Colo U16.

……

and many more such young people around the world.

How many of these people will eventually become Fabregas and George. Wood, Cristiano. What about Ronaldo, Kaka?

Don doesn't know that even if these young people have no more talent now, there is still a long way for them to become superstars, not just talent and strength will definitely succeed, sometimes it takes some luck, but it takes more effort on the road from now to superstardom.

That's why Don is casting his net all over the world. He can't guarantee that every one of them is described in the scouting report as a "second Maradona", "second Zidane", "second Ronaldinho", "second Ronaldo...... The little ones really can get their wish. The scope of the search is large and the number is large, even if the final elimination rate is high, it can ensure that one or two stand out.

Arsena. Arsene Wenger's vision of international football is no news for a long time, but there is no guarantee that all the players in Arsenal's Academy will become world-famous stars. You must know that the young people who eventually became talents are definitely not many compared to the young people who were abandoned by Wenger halfway through......

Donn once thought that if he had crossed over a few years earlier, would he have used his information advantage to take advantage of his lead for so many years to defeat Messi, who still had no money to treat dwarfism in Argentina, Kaka, who almost gave up football because of a spine injury caused by diving in Brazil, and Wayne, who was still showing his sharp corners at Everton. Rooney, the other Cristian's post-80s Shaolin abbot was killed.

That's something that most FMER dreams of, watching the stars of each side gather under him and play for him. Maybe it's exciting to think about.

But that's just for thought.

In fact, the situation is not bad now, because there are more possible surnames in the future. A future that he is gradually becoming unfamiliar with will give birth to those geniuses that he has never heard of? It's like treasure hunting, knowing where the treasure is, and digging it out; And I don't know where the treasure is, and I search the whole world to finally reach a treasure.

Donn thinks the latter is more fulfilling, as far as he is concerned.

George. Wood was the first gem he unearthed without even knowing it. The first and nth times are completely different meanings, so George. Wood: He wasn't going to let go.

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These poaching operations will not come to fruition so quickly, and the rest of the team's work will continue as usual, except for waiting for further feedback.

The centre-back from the youth team, who is more than two metres tall, Aaron. Mitchel has been loaned to Championship side West Bromwich Albion. Eighteen-year-old right-back Gavin. Kavanagh (gavin_kavanagh) has spent time on loan at Wolves, also in the Championship. Another eighteen-year-old midfielder, Lewis. McGougan (lewis_mcgugan) has been loaned to Stoke City. Mark. Barney (mark_byrne) went to Watford.

Nottingham Forest's most promising youth squad has largely been loaned out, and what they can learn from those teams is their own business. Tang En doesn't look at the process, he only looks at the result, stays when it is successful, and sells it if it is not successful.

The young men who left Wilford knew it well. From now on, they are no longer rookies waiting for opportunities in the youth team, they are birds who need to fly out and take chances on their own. What the future holds is under their legs. As for how many people can come back here and stay in the end, ...... Still a fan.

The league continues.

Forest, who lost the FA Cup, seemed to be haunted by bad luck. They first faced Derby County away from home, dominating the game and bombarding the opponent's goal, only to accept a 2-2 draw. Facing underdogs Derby County and failing to get three points, it annoyed Donn. What annoyed him even more was the performance of the opposing home fans after the game.

Due to the historical feud between Nottingham Forest and Derby County, Nottingham Forest, who won the European Champions League, were finally held to a draw by promoted Derby County, and Derby fans were as happy as a holiday. So, in stark contrast to this, it is naturally Donn's black face.

Prior to this game, Forest had won seven in a row and reached 50 points, surpassing Arsenal on 49 points and Manchester United on 48 points to return to the top of the league table.

But this draw was immediately crushed by Manchester United, who won the game, with a goal difference advantage - 51 points, but Manchester United first.

In the next round, Forest lost at home to Everton. Left behind by both winners Manchester United and Arsenal, they are back in third place in the league.

The team's form has had some ups and downs, and Donn has spotted the problem – the rotation system.

The rotation system is of course to keep the team fit when playing on multiple fronts, while also ensuring that most of the players have the game to play and stay in shape. But if the rotation is too frequent, it will make the team's players a little confused - this lineup played well in the last game, but the next game the head coach will change another lineup, or even tactics, how can it be possible to ensure the continuity and stability of the team's overall state?

After Christmas, in fact, the team's schedule is not intensive, anyway, the FA Cup was eliminated early, the Champions Cup knockout stage has not yet begun, there is only the league, and the rotation system is really not needed in the case of one game a week.

So after losing the game against Everton, Don temporarily abandoned the rotation system, or at least the kind of large rotation......

Things quickly picked up and Nottingham Forest won 2-0 away at Middlesbrough in their last game of January.

And during this period, there is also good news in the plan to invest in the future.

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John. Bostoke accepted Forest's contract, opting to go to Nottingham Forest, where he could offer a better contract when he turned 16. Of course, the recent accolades won by the Forest team are also the reason for his determination.

Galván. Although Martin is in Mexico's famous powerhouse Blue Cross, Nottingham Forest and Europe's top football level are clearly more attractive. He agreed to join Nottingham Forest. But there are some tricks: Mexico has a rule that players under the age of 18 are not allowed to play abroad. Martin is only fifteen years old now, and when he turns eighteen, it will be at least three years. Are Nottingham Forest willing to wait? Don nodded, waiting.

The Forest team and the Blue Cross reached an agreement that Martin's permanent ownership would belong to Nottingham Forest, but until he turned 18, he played for the Blue Cross, trained at the Blue Cross, played for the Blue Cross, and not only was the salary paid by the Forest team, but the Forest team also paid a separate sum of money to the Blue Cross every year as a "training fee".

There are no such regulations in Chile, so the post-80s Shaolin abbot, only these three people were signed in the end, but Tang En was very satisfied. The construction of the youth team and the discovery and acquisition of young talents are the norm and require long-term perseverance, so three at a time is already very good. Rome wasn't built in a day, and a youth academy with a reputation in Europe and the world didn't rise in a day.

Nicholas. Milan and John. Bostock came to Nottingham Forest, and Don went to pick him up, met with him, and introduced himself. He was then handed over to the Academy Director, but everyone knew he would be keeping a close eye on the performances of these new young signings.

There's no way around it – for years to come, Donn may have to tighten his belt as long as Forest's new stadium isn't finished...... And it is much more cost-effective to search for young talents from all over the world who have not yet become famous and train them themselves than to directly spend a lot of money to buy famous stars.

(To be continued)