Ian, a veteran goalkeeper at Wilford's training base; McDonald turned on the radio before the game began, turned up the volume to the fullest, and sat in the janitor's room to listen to the game. At this time, the players who were selected for the team squad were all in the city stadium, and those who were not selected were at home or somewhere. The training base was silent, except for the sound of commentary coming from the guard room.

He remembered Tony; Donn's smile and promise to him in the morning: "You'll hear on the radio about us scoring one goal after another. "It fills him with anticipation.

Shortly after the game began, he heard the news of one goal after another coming out of the radio. But it wasn't Forest's goal, it was the visitors' West Ham goal. With only half an hour to play, his favourite team was conceded three goals by the visiting West Ham side.

He sat in his chair stunned, unable to believe what he was hearing.

"Jermaine; Defoe, Defoe, shot! The ball is in! What a beautiful raid! ”

'Defoe has the ball outside the box...... He started suddenly, too! Will it be 2:0? yes！ Jermeen; Defoe, he scored twice! West Ham lead Nottingham Forest 2-0! ”

“unbelievable！ unbelievable！！ A volley from the edge of the box! from Joe; Cole! It's hard to believe he's only twenty-one! He is the future of English football! It was West Ham's third goal of the game and they were in complete control of the game and Forest had no chance! 3:0, the game ends early! ”

Ending early? What are you talking about, you bastard commentator? It's only been 30 minutes and we have 60 minutes to go! Macdonald has never trusted acting head coach Tony so much; Don, at this moment, he believed that this man could deliver on his promise.

He shook his fist at the radio as if he were standing in the stands at the City Stadium and demonstrating to the visitors with his companions. Since he was the janitor at the training base, he hadn't been to the City Stadium for some years.

※※※

The City Stadium was almost overwhelmed with boos. Don was all too familiar with the boos, which were in his ears when he opened his eyes to see the world three days ago. The boos from the home fans were not directed at the away West Ham team, but at the home team, Nottingham Forest.

In one corner of the pitch, a group of West Ham United players surrounded their captain as they celebrated their third goal of the game.

Des; Walker sat beside Don with his head in chagrin, this game was arranged by him from pre-game preparation to tactics, Don said to believe him, he wanted to repay the manager's trust in him with a victory, but he didn't expect that the first half was not over, but what he got was a slaughter.

The 0:3 score on the electronic scoreboard was red and bloody. And the middle finger raised to the dugout resembles a towering tree in the Sherwood Forest northeast of Nottingham. It was not only the scoreline that made the home fans angry, but also the performance of the players on the pitch.

Donn saw it very clearly off the pitch that if he was a die-hard Forest fan, he would only be able to express his feelings with swear words and middle fingers in the face of such a first half for thirty minutes. He even suspected that the eleven people on the field, like himself, did not sleep well. Did they go out collectively at night? These bastards! He frowned, gritting his teeth in thought.

Unbeknownst to Don, a camera on the sidelines of the opposite side of the field was pointed at him at this time, and his facial expressions were placed on the broadcast screen in close-ups. The person in charge of commentating the game was also John, the famous English BBC football commentator who commented on Forest's last league game; Mortenson, who is known for his sharp, passionate commentary. He had just finished admiring West Ham's young captain Joe with a series of praises; Joe'Cole's goal, which was also West Ham's third goal of the game. He even came to the conclusion that "this game is over!" Despite their glorious history, the Forest are now languishing like pitiful worms at Joe Cole's feet, worried about the next wave of attack that they don't know when it will come! It's heart-wrenching to look at a Forest team like this and look at the red jerseys on them! ”

"Tony; Coach Don also seems to be quite unhappy with the team's performance. So please come up with something to do! Don't always bare your teeth and frown in the dugout, do you have a toothache? In fact, we only saw his assistant coach Des in this game; Walker frequently gets up to direct the game, who is the head coach? But who expects a rookie newcomer who has just stepped down from the player position to command a first-division team to beat a superteam? Pre-game doubts about the lack of quality of the Forest's acting head coach were not unfounded. Tony; Donn still hasn't made the slightest change to the team so far, and he's not even as good as his predecessor Paul; Hart - It is said that Coach Donn came on because of Paul; Hart strongly recommended it to Chairman Dogetty. What I want to say is that Paul, you have always been very accurate in looking at players, but you still need to improve when it comes to looking at coaches! ”

If Don heard that he was being belittled like this, I wonder if he would have quarreled with the famous narrator on the spot...... But now he doesn't have the heart to think about what others say about him. He has to change the momentum on the pitch. He knew West Ham was great, just by looking at the names of these people, he knew how good they were. But that's not a reason why Forest should fail.

There is only one reason for failure, and that is that we are not good enough!

Donn muttered under his breath.

Walker tilted his head to him, and he seemed to hear, but not clearly. "What?" He asked.

"Nothing." Donn shook his head.

"Tony, you've got to figure out something, it's not going to work like this." Walker brought his mouth to Donn's ear and whispered to him. "Bowyer has made up his mind to watch the show, and I think he would love to lose this game!"

"You're right, the old man really thinks so. But now I can't do anything. ”

Walker was disappointed with Donn's answer that a manager can't do something like this: when he loses control of something, it's often when he comes to the end.

"Do you think our defenders can keep Joe; Cole, Lee; Bowyer (lee'bowww.xstxt.orgain'defoe)? ”

Walker shook his head, and realistically speaking, his team really couldn't compete with such a superteam. Listen to the names of these people, either veteran stars who have been famous for a long time, or rookies from all over England.

"Also, do you think that with our strikers, our forwards, we can get past Michael Carrick and Ian; Ian'Pearce, Thomas; Tamos 'Repka, David; Did David 'James defend and then score a goal? ”

Walker continued to shake his head, this defense is at the national team level, James is an England international, Thomas; Repka was a member of the Czech national team, and Carrick moved to Manchester United three years later in the summer. Forest's two main strikers had just three shots on goal throughout the first half, and the shots they shot out didn't even give James a chance to warm up.

West Ham easily controlled the tempo of the game with a group of talented players in their squad and took over possession on the pitch, leaving Forest with the football they were playing back and forth, draining their energy and fighting spirit in the senseless runs. Don't look at West Ham's miserable mix in the Premier League, it only took 16 points in 21 rounds in the first half of the season, ranking first from the bottom of the league. But in front of the first-class team, he can still play prestige and vent his frustration of being bullied.

West Ham took the lead in the first 17 minutes of the game, with the blazing-fast young striker Jemaen; Defoe easily broke through Forest's clumsy backline to score the first goal. Five minutes later, Defoe came back and used his pace to break through the defence and score twice. Watching the rookie, who was later selected for the England team, work the field, Donn had a feeling that time and space were staggered. He knew what the young man had accomplished. What makes Donn feel very powerless is that there is no shortage of geniuses and strongmen in this West Ham United team today, and it is really hard for his Forest team to play against such an opponent.

Watching the West Ham players stroll the ball around the pitch, Joe Cole made a back-heel pass in front of a handful of visiting fans. Listening to the occasional laughter from the West Ham fans' stands and the boos from the stands, Donn had the illusion that this was its home stadium?

This situation made him angry. Although he was not personally on the field by Joe Cole and the others over and over again, he still felt insulted. Because he is the head coach of this team, the responsibility for his team being bullied on the field must lie with the manager, which is the same as being bullied himself.

Michael; Dawson is Forest's hardest player so far, but he alone is powerless to stop West Ham's tidal onslaught. He is not responsible for conceding three goals, it is the team as a whole that is too poor. After watching the more than 30 minutes of the game, Donn decided to hand over the captain's armband to the young man when he next played. Since twenty-one-year-old Joe; Kerr can be the captain of the "Hammers" (West Ham United's nickname), why nineteen-year-old Michael; Dawson can't? A talent who has come out of the Forest academy system with a lot of fighting spirit, and who better to lead the current team than him?

※※※

The North Stand near the Trent at the City Stadium is the main stand for Forest fans, and on the top floor there is a row of glass-enclosed promenades, two old but neat seats, and two televisions. Compared to the stadium boxes of those big teams, the home boxes of the Forest team can only be described as cold.

With such a bad game, naturally no one will sit here and watch the game. Now there are only two people in the box, and instead of sitting in chairs, they choose to stand in front of floor-to-ceiling glass windows looking at the court.

They are the president of this team, Mr. Nigel; Dogetty and his son Evan; Dogety.

Evan; Dogetty glanced at the TV in the corner, then turned his gaze to the court. "This is the team you love, the Nottingham Forest team that once had infinite glory?" There was a clear taunt in his tone, completely different from the well-mannered Kenny that Donn had seen that day.

He said this to his father. Old Dogety didn't care about his son's ridicule of him, and he talked to himself, and his head was always tapping when he spoke. 'You go to the dressing room with me at half-time and I need to let you meet with the players.'

Evan knew that his words were ignored by his father, "But I don't think it's necessary, and it's not a good time for everyone to meet." He still persuaded his father to discourage his plan to let him meet with those players and coaches in groups.

Nigel; Dogetty didn't answer his son's words, just watched the game with great interest.

When Evan saw his father's appearance, he shrugged his shoulders and sighed. He had no interest in the boring and one-sided game on the field. He simply sat down, crossed his legs, drank the Coke served in the court, and looked at his place boredly.

It's a humble box, a humble pitch, a low-level competition, and an unattractive team...... I couldn't understand why my father would like such a team and would be willing to invest tens of millions of pounds in her - he had never invested so much money in his own son.

He was a fan of the Chicago Bulls first in the NBA, then the Los Angeles Lakers, and more recently a San Antonio Spurs fan, despite his home and company in Houston. The only reason for the frequent change of favorite teams is that the previous team lacked enough stars and champions with enough appeal. In his opinion, it is incomprehensible and unbelievable to like teams that are not famous, have no stars, and even fight in the fifth division. What pleasure and benefit can they get from the obsession with this kind of team? Can't enjoy the great performances brought by the stars, there is no championship trophy after trophy as a happy memory for the whole summer, there is no brilliant record to make them talk about after dinner......

He looked at the dense crowd of human heads at his feet and in the stands opposite, as well as countless pairs of outstretched and waving arms, and the game was so bad that it was all full. He shook his head slightly.

What are these thousands of people like my father in their minds? Every weekend afternoon, I spend my time sitting in the humble stadium stands, and then I grow old a little bit. It's sad.

※※※

What puzzled Mortenson was that Donn didn't say anything at all after he finished talking to Walker. Even Walker, who was very active before, seemed to stick his butt to the seat, and the two just watched the court quietly, saying nothing and doing nothing.

It's strange, aren't they anxious to see their team lose like this? Aren't they angry? They always have to show some emotion, right? But no. The close-up camera swept over Donn and Walker's faces, and the two men looked at the court intently, without even frowning.

Mortenson, who felt faceless, had to mutter, "Did they run away from Madame Tussauds?" ”

West Ham United manager Glenn; Rhodes is happy with his team's performance, and the disgrace of the first half of the season seems to have been left behind by this group of lads. him and Tony; Donn has the same coaching experience, and they were both brought in from the youth team because of their predecessors' poor records. In the contest between the two coaches, he had the upper hand. It was his first game in charge, so it started well and he believes that as long as the team plays at the level they did in the first half of the second half of the season, relegation will not be a problem.

He stood on the sidelines, full of ambition and began to think about the next Premier League game.

Tang En glanced at Rhodes, who was standing on the sidelines directing the game, with a white and pure face, a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, and he looked personable. This man he knew, he knew before he came. He went on to become Newcastle head coach, but was the head of the Magpies' youth army before becoming Newcastle head coach and was replaced by Souness after he was sacked due to poor results. He sat in "the most attractive position in the world", but the results were not great, and he was a little luckier than his predecessor in that when he was not doing well, he also had the excuse that the team was facing a large number of injuries, and the team supported him internally. But in the end, he resigned, because the results were so poor that his side set a record for Newcastle since 1951 - 500 consecutive home games without scoring.

Because Donn knew about Rod's experience, he knew that there was nothing to fear about Rod, and West Ham was playing well now and had nothing to do with that gentleman-like coach. It's just because they have a bunch of talented players.

Regardless of the players on the pitch, we only have to look at the people on the West Ham bench to see the quality of this team: England 2002 World Cup international TrevorSinclair; The Mali international, who later became a famous scorer in La Liga, helped Sevilla win the UEFA Cup twice, and became the hero of the La Liga double in the 06-07 season. Look at the names, and then look at the team's standings at the end of the season: third from bottom, they're relegated.

After the team was slaughtered 5-0 by Everton and 1-7 by Blackburn, the head coach claimed that the team's poor results were not his fault, but because his predecessor Redknapp Sr. bought too poorly. But his inferior level is not a "fallacy" drawn by one or two people wearing colored glasses, and the criticism and questioning of him by the entire English media has not stopped. Judging from the first half that Donn observed, he also firmly believed in this.

Donn shrugged, he had found a way to deal with this team. But now is not the time to adjust, there are only five minutes before the break, and when he gets to the dressing room, he has to bang on the players who haven't woken up.

Suddenly, he heard a very harsh and clear boo from behind him, followed by a series of curses. He thought it was very strange, it was very quiet behind him before, why did it suddenly become lively?

He looked back at the source of the sound, only to see Michael and the others grimacing at him in the stands behind him. The gauze on the man's head was too conspicuous......

"Go back to your youth team! This is the adult team, not a place for children like you, go back to Mommy and be coquettish! Wha!! ”

"Oh-oh-oh-" The people around him coaxed. Most of these people were laughing at him in the bar that day, and others were strangers, but they were certainly in the same league as Michael.

Walker was also distracted by the scolding from behind. He stood up and shouted at the men, "Michael, what are you doing?!" ”

Michael ignored Walker and tilted his head: "Des, you'd better not interfere, it's a personal feud between us and Mr. Manager." ”

"A personal vendetta? A personal vendetta between a group of you and a person? Walker snorted.

"Alright, ignore them." Donn took Walker down.

"Tony, what's going on? I remember that you never had a conflict or quarrel with anyone. And Michael is also a loyal Forest fan, why would they hate you so much? ”

"Nothing, I threw the lead man in the face at Burns' bar, and got into a fight with him - it was over in a short time, I punched him to the ground, and then called the fat man on the left 'Fat Pig.'" Donn was saying it lightly, and Walker listened with his mouth wide open to swallow a ball. He had the impression that Don hated drinking and smoking, and that he would never get angry with others, let alone hit them directly. What's going on?

Don knew that Walker was surprised, and anyone who knew him well would be surprised to hear those words. "I'll explain it to you later, now let's watch the game first, and I'll find a way to deal with them."

Walker glanced back at Michael and the others who were still making noise in the back stands, and then watched the game with peace of mind.

One of the characteristics of England stadiums is that the dugout is rarely located in the empty space between the pitch and the stands, unlike most stadiums we are familiar with, their dugouts are located in the stands, surrounded by seats for ordinary fans, and the two sides of the players' tunnel are separated for coaching and benching. Unless directing the game, the coaches sit in the stands. This wasn't the case at Forest's home stadium before, with their dugouts under the stands, on the sidelines, even lower than the pitch level – the dugout was like a pit dug in the sidelines, covered with a concrete canopy to keep out the sun and rain. Later, because of the European Championship in England in '96, it was converted into most English stadiums, and the coach's bench and the fan stand were very close. This shortens the distance between the fans, and there are pros and cons. Don is now enduring the "bad" side. Michael and others, who were sitting behind the coach's seat, kept humiliating him with boos and all kinds of scolding, challenging his endurance.

Even the team's substitutes couldn't help but stand up and stare back at them several times, and Don still didn't look back at the game.

"You coward, coward in the middle of a word! Did you see it, I'm scolding you, scolding your whole family! If you have the ability, you can come over and punch me again! Where did you get the courage to beat me up in the first place? Rubbish! You bastard! Bastard! Fuck bastards! Michael scolded loudly, even attracting the televised footage.

So he danced and cursed above the stands, and the image of Don sitting with his chest crossed less than three meters below him made it into the television of countless people. Burns, who was helping out in his own bar, also saw this scene, and there was a burst of cheering for Michael in the bar, and Burns could only shake his head gently as he looked at the room of people.

※※※

Maybe it's really like Michael and they scolded, Don is an "out-and-out coward" and "coward", and he doesn't even dare to fight back. His performance disappointed a number of players. To be honest, Michael's scolding is so ugly that even the players who know this fan leader can't listen to it. But Coach Donn still sat in his seat, not moving, as if he couldn't hear the scolding of those people at all.

When Mortenson saw this scene on the sidelines, he became excited again. "I found an interesting phenomenon, as long as Tony; Coach Donn came out, and the best moment was certainly not on the field, but within a ten-yard radius of his dugout. Now there's a bit of a stirring behind his dugout, it seems like there's a fan saying something to him, and looking at the way they get emotional, it's not going to be a good word anyway. I think tomorrow night's match'of'the' day show we can bring in lip experts to explain what they're saying. If West Ham win 3-0 away at their opponents in this game, there is nothing to report on as they deserve to win. However, this side incident deserves all of our attention. ”

As the minutes ticked by, the form on the pitch continued to favour Nottingham Forest, but West Ham slowed down their attacking pace after taking a three-goal lead, preferring to play leisurely on the pitch rather than kick the ball forward. Maybe the players, like the manager, are starting to think about the next Premier League game.

The scolding behind the home team's dugout has not stopped, and many players have even had to ask to warm up on the sidelines and escape from the embarrassing bench. Donn didn't say anything about their request, and Walker could only sigh and let all the substitutes warm up. Suddenly, the bench was half empty, and only members of the coaching staff remained.

Des; Walker looked at Don with some concern, he felt that something had been wrong with Donn. The face seemed to be very unsightly, gloomy like the weather of the previous two days.

As he looked down, he saw Donn's hands clenched into fists, and his knuckles were even white because he was pushing too hard......

The referee's whistle was a relief to everyone, and it was the end of the uncomfortable first half.

Donn was the first to get up and walk down the dugout, leaving behind the fans who were still insulting him, and leading the way into the aisle. Walker glared at Michael, then stood on the sidelines to comfort the players who came off the field, patted this, patted that, shook his head, and sighed. It's normal to tell them to lose three goals against a super team.

We're a first-division team anyway......

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