That night, Don lost sleep again. Since he arrived in Nottingham, he has been in insomnia for three nights in a row, the first two times due to a little panic about the unpredictable future, and this time the insomnia has nothing to do with the boring things. When the night is over, he's about to face his first professional game in full charge.

An ordinary fan who used to be able to watch other people's football games excitedly in front of the TV, a poor otaku who can only vent his fanatical feelings about football through computer games, and a pathetic virgin who has no female relationship so he can only pin all his energy on football, even has the opportunity to stand on the field of professional football and direct the game of professional players who usually look great and awesome. Enjoy the tsunami-like cheers of the crowd and be interviewed by many media outlets after the game, and no matter what you say, you will have an impact on the public......

This kind of thing seems like a dream to Donn, it's not FM, or CM, it's a miracle that is really happening to him! The thought of tomorrow's game makes him so nervous and excited that he can't sleep. He just stared wide-eyed, stared at the ceiling, and fantasized about how he was going to behave tomorrow.

He didn't know what time he fell asleep, but he knew he didn't get enough sleep, and he had been yawning since he got up, dressing, washing, eating breakfast, and walking to the training base.

Ian goalkeeper at Wilford training base; For the third time, MacDonald was surprised to see the team's head coach early in the morning: "Tony ......" he opened his mouth and Donn interrupted him.

"I know that the game will not be played in the afternoon, and there will be no training in the morning. I just want to start my work from now on, can't I-huh-! Don yawned again.

"Well, of course." MacDonald came out and opened the iron door.

As Donn passed by him, he was heard saying, "Good luck, Tony." So he stopped and looked back at MacDonald.

The old man with full white hair had a steady source of income – the benefits offered by the political axe after retirement, but he still came to work here and insisted on a monthly salary of £100, which was symbolic of his surname. After the club fell into a financial crisis, he stopped taking even the hundred pounds. He only did this because he loved the club and loved the team, so he saw it as an honour to work at the club. He was courteous to everyone and always looked with respect for the players and coaches who came in and out of here every day, as well as the occasional Mr. President. Even if the team's results were poor, no one heard him complain and sigh.

MacDonald was startled by Donn's eyes now. Formerly Tony; Don is taciturn, but gentle to everyone, always giving you a polite look in the face, then bowing his head slightly and then turning away. How could it be like this...... What about staring at you with very hot eyes that make people feel a little uneasy?

MacDonald didn't know that when he was in China, Don was despised for always looking at others with such "very impolite" eyes. But Don never thought of changing his virtues.

Just when McDonn was a little nervous at Don's gaze, Don suddenly grinned: "Ian, do you like to win?" ”

MacDonald was stunned for a moment, then reacted, he nodded, "Of course, no one likes to lose, right?" ”

Donn's smile widened, and the corners of his mouth seemed to grin to the base of his ears. He said, "Me too." Where will you watch during the game? ”

MacDonald pointed to the janitorial behind him: "I'm listening to the radio here, just like I'm at City Stadium." ”

Donn nodded: "I hope you can keep hearing about our goal on the radio. Goodbye, and good luck, Ian. ”

"Goodbye......" Looking at Donn's back as he turned to leave, MacDonald froze in place. He hadn't recovered from the conversation he had just had, he had never seen Tony before; Don was so talkative, so full of energy, and had such a distinct smile on his face.

Could it really be a big change in someone's last name? Confused, he reached out and touched the back of his head.

※※※

Despite a three-goal defeat in their last league game, Forest fans are enthusiastic about the FA Cup. The game doesn't start until after 3 p.m., and after lunch, people are already gathering at the City Stadium on the banks of the River Trent. On the opposite side of the City Stadium, there is also a stadium across the river from them, which is Meadowlane, home of Forest's rivals Norts County, and the two stadiums are only 300 yards apart, which is probably the closest two stadiums in the world.

Like most cities in England, Nottingham has two professional teams. And these two teams are quite famous in history. The Forest (founded in 1865) and their rivals, NottsCounty Football Club (founded in 1862), are considered to be one of the four oldest teams in the world, the other two being Stoke City (founded in 1863) and Chesterfield (founded in 1866).

Incidentally, the shirts of Juventus and Arsenal, which are famous in today's football, originated from Nottingham respectively. Juventus' black-and-white sword stripe is because Nods County gifted their team's jersey to the Italian team. Arsenal, on the other hand, have been linked to Nottingham Forest since the day they were founded – their club was founded by two players from the Forest team: Freddy; Beardsley and Morris; Bates. Before the team's official game, Beardsley used his connections to ask Nottingham Forest for a batch of jerseys, so Arsenal's jersey was red, the same as Nottingham Forest. It wasn't until 1925 that they changed to the classic style of the current red shirt and white sleeves.

In the early history of English football, these two teams at Nottingham were very successful, having both won the FA Cup. However, in later developments, the trajectories of the two teams gradually deflected, and the results of Nodsshire, which was rooted in the miners' class, remained sluggish due to the lack of substantial financial support. Nottingham Forest, the representative of the urban middle class, ushered in their club's most glorious page in the late seventies.

In the legendary coach Brian; Under Brian Clough, the team took a rocket-like leap.

The Kaiserslautern myth is awesome, right? The team won the First Division title in the first year of promotion from the Second Division to the First Division. That's what Clough's side did two decades ago, finishing third in the second division (the highest league in England at the time, the current equivalent of the Premier League) and then starting a legend of dominance in English football. In the first season of promotion to the first division, the Forest team won the league with 25 wins, 14 draws, only three losses, and 64 points (at that time, world football was still a two-point system, winning one game to get two points, drawing one point and losing to zero points).

In the 70s, English football and European football dominated Liverpool, and the only team that was qualified to compete with Liverpool, the only team that could beat Liverpool three times in one year, and the only team that could scare Liverpool was Nottingham Forest, which was also red. After successfully winning the First Division, Forest beat defending champions Liverpool in their opening Champions League game the following season, and eventually became the king of Europe that season with a win over Houghton's big dark horse Malmo in Sweden. In the 1979-1980 season, Forest successfully defended their European title, this time beating Kevin, who had the European Footballer of the Year and England's top scorer in the final. Keegan's German Hamburg team.

What is even more striking in the meantime is that from the 0-0 draw with West Bromwich Albion on 26 November 1977 to the 2-0 defeat to Liverpool on 9 December 1978, Clough's Forest team went unbeaten in 42 consecutive English top-flight games. That record was not broken until 26 years later in the new century when Arsene Wenger's Arsenal went on a 49-game unbeaten run.

Of course, history is always glorious, especially in England, the birthplace of modern football, and it's no surprise how glorious it is. Compared to the glorious past, the current situation of the Forest team and Nods County can only be described as "heartache". Nods County faced several economic crises and even experienced 18 months of trusteeship at the beginning of the new century, when the last consortium and an FA Cup match against Chelsea saved the team - before which Chelsea agreed to give all ticket proceeds to Nods County in order to save the world's oldest football club. The Forest are a little better than their local rivals, but the team's past is too illustrious and fans will always have the illusion of this past glory and now the downfall, feeling that they deserve to achieve the same results as in the past, rather than settling for the lower leagues and falling like Nodshire County.

Today's Forest team is not confident when facing West Ham, you must know that West Ham's historical achievements are far less than those of the Forest team.

It was a match in the third round of the English FA Cup, which was not planned to be televised, but because the current situation of the participating teams was not very good and they were all in desperate need of a win, the BBC opted to broadcast it live, and they felt that there were enough hot spots in this game. Tony; Donne is certainly one of the hot spots, as he has just become the first manager in English football history to be hurt by his own players in a game.

※※※

Today's weather is good, and the sun is shining so that it doesn't feel like it's winter, which is the opposite of the rainy weather of the previous two days. When Don got off the team bus, he couldn't help but squint when he saw the bright sunlight outside, a little dazzling.

As the head coach, he was the second to jump out of the car, and the first to get off the assistant coach Des; Walker was warmly welcomed by the onlookers, who chanted Walker's name and applauded him. Walker, who has played for Nottingham Forest for many years and was one of the last witnesses to Nottingham's last glory, is understandably revered among fans.

But as soon as Donn's feet hit the ground, he was greeted with shrill boos. He looked up to see that the person who had taken the lead in booing him was familiar—the middle-aged men who had confronted him head-on in Burns's bar. He was able to recognize it at a glance because their leader had a piece of gauze on his forehead, which looked funny and very eye-catching.

Walker clearly didn't expect the manager to face such a situation, and he stood there a little overwhelmed. Just as overwhelmed as he was Michael, a member of the team who was about to get out of the car; Dawson, who had one foot out of the car door, dangled in the air when he heard the sudden boo, looked up at the fans in disbelief, and thought he was being booed.

It was Don who reached out and pulled him out of the car, and the boos stopped abruptly at the sight of the team's new hope. Then there was an embarrassing split among the fans - Michael; Dawson is the team's future hope, a popular fan, and such a player must and deserves cheers and applause when he plays. But the person pulling him was the acting head coach Don who they had just booed, and if he cheered, would it be considered a compliment to Done?

Donn was happy with the fans' performance and he knew it was going to happen. He patted Dawson on the shoulder and motioned for him to go to the locker room. The fans saw that Dawson had finally left Donn, and they were ready to boo Donn, who was still in front of the door. At this time, Don got into the car and pulled down another person, Andy; Red, the same young talent as Dawson, the same team hopeful. They had just put their hands in their mouths and had to put them down again.

Don looked at the awkward facial expressions of the men and grinned triumphantly.

Red's side was a little strange, it was the first time he saw the head coach so enthusiastically and personally take them out of the car, "Boss, what are you laughing at?" ”

Don looked at the fans next to him and said, "It's nothing, I think maybe we can get a win." ”

This time he didn't leave Red again, and the two walked into the narrow passage leading to the locker room together. The fans put their fingers to their mouths several times, but in the end, there was no way to shush them.

"This cunning fox!" Michael, who took the lead, lowered his hand in annoyance and punched the iron railing in front of him.

※※※

Done's performance in the last two days has been somewhat unusual, strictly the last four days - since he was beaten by David in the game on January 1; Johansen was very abnormal when he fell to the ground, and the taciturn and somewhat gloomy Tony before; Don was like two people. The players are worried about this, wondering if there is damage to the nerves in the brain, and if there will be any terrible sequelae, such as dementia, forgetfulness, schizophrenia......

So in the locker room, it was not absolutely that the person who laid out their tactics was not the head coach, but Dees, one of the assistant coaches; Walker, no one found it strange. But the one next to him didn't say a word, Bitony; Donn's more gloomy old man, Ian; Bowyer, who seems more unusual, usually does what he does, but now it has become the work of Walker, the little man. Fools can tell that it comes from Tony; After Donne was promoted from youth to first-team manager, Bowyer was disappointed.

That's also normal, although Bowyer has been with the team for quite some time, is 51 years old this year, is the oldest member of the coaching staff, and has played twice for Forest, a regular player who has won two European Championships. But he and Tony; Donne's intersection is pitiful, and Donn has been following Paul before; Hart, who leads youth teams to practice and play at Paul; After Hart became first-team manager, he became the youth team director. And Ian; Bowyer has always been an assistant coach in the first team, and he has assisted many coaches, Brian; Clough's successor, Frank; Clark, Frank; Clark's successor, Stuart; Pierce, Pierce's successor, Dave; Bassett, Long; Atkinson, David; Pratt, Paul; Hart. There's just no Tony in it; Donne's name.

Although the two are in the same club, they are not on the same training ground, and the training base of the youth team and the first team is separated by an alley less than five meters wide, but it seems to be half of the city of Nottingham. Tony the Silent; Donn is not enthusiastic about all kinds of social and party activities, and he and Bowyer barely communicate with each other, at most they will nod to each other when they meet at the training base and then walk away.

Now in the locker room, it's like a stranger. Tony; Donn's right-hand man, Des; Walker is arranging the players for the next game, and another assistant coach, Ian; Bowyer sat by the wall and watched the excitement.

The real protagonist Tony; What about Donn?

He's not in the locker room, he's in the toilet.

In addition to the toilets in the two locker rooms, there are ten toilets of various sizes at the City Stadium. Most of them are open to fans, and there are two lounge corridors outside the VIP boxes, with the smallest one remaining for the home team's staff, where the home team's coach can smoke a cigarette and relieve the pre-match stress.

That's what Donn is doing now.

After a morning, he felt that he was not so nervous anymore. But when he saw the jerseys and boots that had been placed in advance by the staff in the locker room, his heart began to beat uncontrollably. So he made an excuse to dump everything at Walker and slipped here himself.

The staff-only toilet is in a very remote corner of the stadium under the main stand, and it is rarely visited. Through a glass window outside the bathroom, you can also see the stadium, the green turf that is shining in the sun, and the stands that are gradually filling the fans.

Don took out a cigarette from his pocket and reached out to grab a void before remembering this Tony; Don is a non-smoker or drinker.

He muttered and leaned back against the wall.

It's not a football manager game he's played many times, it's not a champion manager (CM), it's not a football manager (FM...... It's a professional league and a professional team that really exists on this planet. You can't re-read a game if you lose, and you can't add a new manager to beat a tough opponent. If you lose, you lose, and maybe you lose the most important game of your life. In this game, you can't quit halfway, not even alt+f4......

Isn't life like this? People always complain that if they had been like back then, they wouldn't be like this now. Looking at it this way, Don is also grateful to fate for giving him a chance to re-read the file. Even though it's only been four years since it was restarted, and it's still someone else's archive.

But so what? Now that this body belongs to him, it is better to work hard once, and don't let time waste again. From another point of view, it can be regarded as worthy of the former owner of this body.

At this time, there was a faint sound of singing outside, which felt quite like what Don had seen on TV, except that the voice was quieter. He decided to listen intently and figure out what they were singing. But soon the song was interrupted by boos. Don retracted his head and smiled helplessly.

It's so real, it's professional football.

He found that the tension in his heart had subsided unconsciously, and all that was left was anticipation for the future. After another glance at the pitch and stands, he turned and walked to the team's dressing room.

Professional football, Lao Tzu is here.

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