“…… Freddy. Eastwood, once Nottingham Forest's legendary goalscorer, is now acting manager. At the moment, he is proving what the media predicted in advance - the first game of coach Eastwood's team was lost. Nottingham Forest have lost four games in a row. …… Now the team is panicking, and it is said that Balotelli has officially submitted a transfer application to the club to leave. About George. Rumors of Wood's retirement have not been clarified by him himself......"

Kenny. Burns' Forest Bar comes alive in the evening, with nearby Forest fans gathering to talk about what's going on at Forest at the end of the day. If the Forest team does well, it's a time of cheer, everyone raises their eyebrows, holds beer after glass, and is really happy to come and go home. If Forest loses, there will be a lot of mourning in the bar, with everyone sighing, complaining about their bad luck, or blaming a player for not doing well in the game, or making a cameo appearance as a manager and criticising the team's tactics wrong.

But whether you win or lose, the atmosphere here is very hot.

Tonight was different.

It's quiet, and I can even hear what is said on TV.

In the face of the news broadcast on TV, the most common reaction of fans is just sighing.

What else could they do?

Wood is in a bad state because his mother is critically ill, can they still scold Wood? Eastwood is the team's legendary goalscorer, but as a coach he lacks experience and the responsibility should not be left on him alone. It seems that only the president of the club is worthy of scolding, but they have long been tired of scolding over the years, and no matter how fierce they scold here, they can't shake Evan. What is the point of Dogetty's position other than wasting saliva?

Thinking of such a situation, everyone lost their interest in talking, and more than 20 old men could only drink wine one after another in the bar.

"There's no way to save our team!" A young man couldn't stand such an oppressive atmosphere, and suddenly stood up and shouted loudly.

The companion next to him glanced up at him, then continued to drink with his head down, or simply stared at the TV screen.

This question has been asked countless times in the past four years, and the result?

But today the young man seems to have come prepared. He stood up and saw no one responding to him, so he looked at the bar on the other side. Then he picked up his glass, pushed away his companion who was standing beside him, and staggered over.

Donn was drinking juice at the bar, with Kenny. Burns whispered chit-talk. Now that Shania and Teresa are still in the United States, he doesn't want to stay in the huge villa all day, except for the hospital, he spends the rest of his time in this bar.

But he is no longer the head coach of the team, he deliberately keeps a little distance from John, does not get involved in their circle, and only comes to chat with Kenny, if John and Bill want to find him, he will also come alone, and will not pull him to their side.

There is one topic that everyone carefully avoids when talking – the Forest manager.

Today, however, such a drunken young man rushed in front of Don and slammed his glass in front of him. Then he turned his head and glared at Donne: "To...... Tony! ”

Don turned his head to look at the uninvited guest.

"Come back!" The young man shouted. "Come back!"

John hurriedly got up to stop the impulsive young man who had drunk too much. "Joseph, you ......"

"Come back and lead Nottingham Forest!" The excited young man's eyes even oozed tears. "Come back and bring us ......," he had said before he could finish his sentence, when he suddenly leaned and slipped off the barstool—already drunk.

It was only then that Fat John rushed to Donne's side and helped the young man up. "Joseph talks a lot when he gets drunk!" He explained to Donn, and then forcefully pushed Joseph back into his seat.

"He didn't say, 'Joseph is talking nonsense as soon as he gets drunk.'" Kenny. Burns said beside him.

Donn didn't express any displeasure with Burns' move, he looked at the backs of John and the young man, they were back among the fans, and there didn't seem to be many people blaming Joseph's impulsiveness, but there were still people sneaking a glance over his side to see how they reacted.

Don thought they couldn't see anything, because his face was expressionless.

※※※Eastwood didn't expect such a guest to be welcomed in the evening. He asked his wife, Serem, to take the children upstairs to bed, leaving the living room for him and the late-night visitor.

'I've thought about it for a long time, even though I'm retired, I'm still following football, I'm still following Nottingham Forest, and I thought I might be able to help you a little bit, Freddy. Donne, who was sitting across from him, looked at Eastwood and said.

Eastwood smiled wryly: "You came back to coach the team, which is the biggest help for me...... Well, I know this request is a bit unrealistic. Actually, I don't think I'm the right manager...... You know what, sir. Before the first game I played, I forgot to tell the players about the starting line-up, and it was Jimmy who reminded me so I didn't make a joke. Now that I think about it, I was so inferior at that time......

His mood was a little depressed. As a manager, he made such a big scandal in front of the players, which has become a psychological shadow for him in recent days.

Donn laughed, "What are you, Freddy? The first time I was in charge of a first-team game, I was knocked unconscious by my own players and left the dugout in full view of everyone and went home. After the game I became the laughing stock of England, going to pubs to relieve my boredom and being laughed at for it. Don't take the little things to heart, the job of a manager is simple, if you can lead the team to victory, even if you never start the line-up, you can be part of your legend. ”

"Here's the problem, sir. I just didn't know how to lead the team to victory. You know when I watch them play from the pitch and I want to be able to go up and help them score goals and win. But as a manager, I don't know what to do...... "Eastwood was very depressed. In this optimistic gypsy, such sentiments are rare.

"You're inexperienced, and you're ......," Donn suddenly thought of a question, "and there's no one around you who can help you well." "He was also a rookie at the beginning, but he had Ian Sr. and Walker, who were experienced players and honed in the grassroots coaching of the Forest team for many years, and then after the training of multiple head coaches, it was Don's turn to sit back and enjoy it. But looking at the current Forest team, the personnel is in chaos, excellent coaches have been lost, poached by other clubs, such a good coach as Chris Rak was fired just because of a slight disappointment, and Evan did not even let him stay in the Forest team.

Eastwood has been a coach for four years, but the difference between manager and coach in England is too far apart.

Eastwood didn't want to let the conversation continue on him, and he suddenly asked, "Coming to me so late means something, chief." ”

"What's the matter?"

"You can't put Nottingham Forest in your heart."

Don glanced at Eastwood: "Of course I can't put it down, I'm a die-hard Forest fan, and I bought the package tickets for every season." ”

"If you can't put it down, it's better to come back." Eastwood said this as he looked into Donn's eyes.

"I'm retired, Freddie ......"

"No one says you can't come back after retirement."

"I still have to accompany my daughter......"

"Now you're not in England and your daughter is in America?"

Don shook his head: "Don't talk about this, if you don't understand anything when coaching, you can ask me." I will tell you my experience without reservation......"

But Eastwood seemed to be specifically against Donn today, throwing up another difficult question to answer: "George is the heart of the team, and if he doesn't recover, the team's results won't be consistent." Is there anything you can do, chief? ”

Donn was speechless. He knew what Wood was out of shape for, but something like this he couldn't solve. As long as Sophia's condition doesn't get better, Wood's condition won't get better.

It's not something that can be solved by technique and tactics, and it's not even something that a manager can do.

When Wood is spoken, Donn remembers what Wood said to him that day in the backyard of the hospital: "If you want me not to retire, come back." ”

Did they agree? Why did someone let me come back when they saw me?

In fact, when Donn was still the head coach of England, not many people said this to him, but when he retired and was at home, he was immediately targeted. He can say that he is retired, but others may not understand it that way.

For example, the next day, he received a call from Tang Jing, and the content of this call made him feel that a thunderbolt was in his mind on a sunny day.

The Chinese Football Association contacted him through Tang Jing and wanted him to coach the Chinese national team!

"I'm just passing the word, Mr. Donne."

"You can just refuse them and say you can't contact me." Tang En didn't want to be associated with the Chinese Football Association, and he had a bad reputation...... "I'm also a Chinese after all, to be honest, I think it must be interesting if you coach the Chinese national team......" Tang Jing on the other end of the phone was obviously laughing.

"That's not going to work, I don't want to lose the holidays." Don refused very simply, and the onlookers found it funny, and he could not be a party at all.

Tang Jing did pass the word, as soon as Tang En refused, she didn't persuade anything, and readily agreed to reply to the Football Association. The reason, naturally, is that Don En hasn't rested enough and doesn't want to go back to coaching.

It's just that some Chinese media learned from Tang Jing that the Chinese Football Association actually went to Tang En and wanted him to coach. At that time, the media unceremoniously ridiculed the Football Association for not being self-sufficient, except that it did not directly say "what kind of virtue is it to pee on yourself", in fact, the meaning is similar to this. In China, the only political axe institution that can be scolded to the fullest and does not have to take responsibility is probably the Chinese Football Association, although FIFA stipulates that the football association of each country and region must be a non-governmental organization, but China's national conditions are special, and the Football Association is a political axe unit.

The Chinese Football Association looking for Tang En to coach is over here, but I didn't expect it to set off a lot of turmoil in China, around whether the Chinese Football Association should find Tang En to coach, whether Tang En should come to China to coach and a series of issues, in the media, the Internet are hotly discussed. Some people think that a high-level football coach like Tang En should be invited, otherwise Chinese football will never be able to improve; Some people think that with the virtue of the Chinese Football Association, it is useless to invite a good coach to come, and if Tang En really comes, it will ruin his reputation; There are also people who claim that the heads of the Chinese Football Association are in their brains again, and they don't want to think about inviting Tony. Don, can they handle it? Don't say that they want to delegate power, it is absolutely impossible, unless the Chinese men's football team wins the World Cup...... But it's an endless loop, and it's a pointless thing to do.

In fact, it was Tang Jing who deliberately leaked the news, she just wanted the Football Association to make another scandal. Chinese football has not made progress for so many years, and the leaders of the Football Association and the General Administration of Sports have changed one after another, but each leader only considers his own black yarn hat, and no one has ever considered football as a sport, and Chinese football can only stand still, or even regress slightly. She has long since quit the media circle and concentrated on being a wife and a husband and a child in the UK, but when it comes to Chinese football, she is also angry, and she is soft-spoken, so she can only vent her dissatisfaction in this way.

※※※ Don doesn't care about the turmoil in China after he refused the invitation of the Football Association, his mind is still on the Forest team.

Eastwood says the biggest help is that Donn is back in charge of the Forest, and he's still the coach himself. However, this is obviously not possible, and Don has another way to help Eastwood. Together with Eastwood, he researched the current problems facing the Forest team and found solutions.

Donn told Eastwood that if Wood and Balotelli are unreliable, then the two of them will be decisively removed from the starting lineup and replaced with second-tier players from the youth team and the reserve team, they are obviously more combative than the current first team, and now the Forest team is not a technical and tactical problem, at least the biggest problem is not this, but fighting spirit and psychology.

He was so committed to helping Eastwood that he didn't notice the way Eastwood looked at him, and he didn't think about whether it was appropriate for him to interfere with other people's jobs as a retired person, he just wanted the Forest team to perform better and not worry so many fans like him.

Eastwood listened to Donne's words and replaced half of the first-team line-up, and the second game really stopped the downward trend, relying on stubborn defence and overall combat to draw 0-0 with the mighty Manchester United. Although the scene was ugly and there was no attack to speak of, they did not continue to lose after all, and they faced a strong Manchester United, which was even more commendable, so after this result came out, many media were very surprised - they predicted that Forest would be humiliated by Manchester United at Old Trafford, just like Liverpool.

Neither Wood nor Balotelli were in the starting line-up for that game, with Wood not being substituted until the final ten minutes. This also gave a lot of media the opportunity to turn over old accounts, they turned out the contradiction between Wood and Eastwood to hype, and analyzed that after Eastwood came to power, Wood would be suppressed, and there were rumors that Wood was going to retire, so it seems that the rumors will soon become a reality...... Of course, these are all nonsense, Eastwood is not the kind of person who declares a personal vendetta, and besides, he and Wood have long been nothing, not to mention that it is still Done's idea not to let Wood start, Don doesn't even want to give Wood a minute, he wants him to be completely calm and calm, it is Eastwood who feels that if he wants Wood to keep his form, it is better to let him go up and kick.

But this time the media really crow's mouth...... Just as the team had just stopped a four-game losing streak and returned to Nottingham from Manchester with confidence, Wood received a call from the hospital.

His mother was critically ill.

(To be continued)