The most direct impact of the collapse of Lehman Brothers' investment bank on Nottingham Forest was that they were running out of funds for the construction of their new stadium.

Nottingham Forest's new stadium, which doesn't yet have an official name, has become a high-profile construction project in the UK. Because it's not just about building a stadium.

This is a huge real estate development plan. With the new Nottingham Forest Stadium as the center, it radiates outward to form a commercial circle and a residential circle, as well as football theme parks, national fitness parks, green spaces and other facilities. As Nottingham Forest's fame grew. Allan. Adams also plans to open it to the world as a tourist attraction in the future. Like Real Madrid's Bernabeu, Barcelona's Camp Nou, Milan's San Siro and Meazza ...... Like the stadiums of famous European clubs, they are more than just one stadium, and because of the proud traditions of the teams, they have become a mecca for tourists and fans alike.

The plan is big and the prospects are wonderful, but the cost is correspondingly much greater than building a single course.

Manchester City FC's new stadium, the Manchester City Stadium, cost only £110 million. If only such a stadium is built, Nottingham Forest's finances are not a big problem, and it will be enough to save money for a year.

But Allen's plan will cost at least £600 million, not including Nottingham's municipal investment.

If they don't want to spend that much money, then the Forest Club will end up with ownership of the stadium and no other facilities to make money. In order to maximize the club's development, Allen and Evan ventured to take the lion's share of the project's investment, which was rewarded with ownership of a stadium, a soccer theme park, and a commercial precinct.

At that time, the financial problems of the United States were already prominent, but who would have thought that the self-regulating capacity of the market economy would be so weak?

In just one year, Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States, went bankrupt...... Alan was much haggard during this time, and he flew around the world all day long. Evan. Dogetty's business in the U.S. has come to an end, and now Allen is busy looking for follow-up funding for the construction of the new stadium. Due to the global financial downturn, many banks have refused to lend to Nottingham Forest.

In desperation, Evan had to announce a temporary halt to the new stadium and other construction packages. Otherwise, if you continue to invest money in this project, the entire Nottingham Forest Club will be dragged into this bottomless abyss sooner or later.

The news made headlines in the British media for the first time. Everyone knows that Nottingham Forest Club is finally in trouble after a few years of rapid expansion, and it's still big.

“…… I'll admit that the owners of Nottingham Forest are ambitious and ambitious. But too fast development will inevitably lead to stalling. Nottingham Forest's side are very popular in Europe, but their financial foundation has not kept pace with the team's progress, and the club's construction has not matched their results. Looking at other big clubs, both the results and the various conditions of the club, are very much in line with their status. Only Nottingham Forest...... Like a deformed child, he has a pair of fast feet, but no body that can withstand the impact of such speed......" On the TV station, various professionals are analysing Nottingham Forest's current predicament. They believe that this is simply a typical negative case of how football clubs should survive and develop in the world economic downturn.

"I think Nottingham Forest should do a good job of rethinking their strategy of expanding everywhere. China, Benz, Southeast Asia; The United Kingdom, the United States, the world...... Tony. Donn's magic made his boss think his team and club could do anything. To be honest, I wasn't at all surprised when I knew that the president and marketing manager of Nottingham Forest were Americans who had never cared about football before. They ignore a very important point - football clubs are different from ordinary listed companies, in addition to abiding by the laws of the economy, they must also abide by the laws of football. Tony. Donn's magic has given the team a good foundation for development, but they still need to take it slow and develop step by step. Evan. Dorgerty once revealed at a reception in Nottingham that his goal was to turn Nottingham Forest into a big club. But I've never heard of a big club that can be built in just five or six years. Chelsea are rich and have good results, but are they big clubs now? I don't think the vast majority of people would agree that they are a big club. ”

"Nottingham Forest is one of the longest-established clubs in the history of modern world football and the only one to still play in the top flight. But now the club gives everyone the impression that it is young. From the owners of the clubs, to the managers of their teams, to the players, they are very, very young. Young people will always make some mistakes in judgment and overestimate the situation......"

"Now they know how bad the situation really is."

※※※ "There was a wail everywhere. Evan sat in the office's large executive chair and rested his chin on his hands up. It's as if winter has come early. ”

He seemed to be talking to himself, as if he were saying to Donn, who was sitting next to him.

Alan wasn't in the room. He was on his way to China. Those investment projects in China also encountered financial problems, which he needed to solve personally.

Don looked down at the sweater inside his suit.

"Winter is indeed not far off......"

After a 0-0 draw at the hands of Middlesbrough, the team was disbanded again and the national team competition resumed. The players flew around the world to compete in World Cup qualifiers on all continents, some doing well and some playing badly. Most of the players who returned to the Forest squad after two international games were not in satisfactory form and physical condition. In this situation, Nottingham Forest lost away to Liverpool and quickly slipped to seventh in the league table. For the first time in two years, Nottingham Forest have finished seventh in the league, having last been seventh on 14 October 2006, after a three-game winless run of seventh place after losing away to Manchester City in the eighth round of the league.

2：3。 They work hard, but if they lose, they lose. Speaking at his post-match press conference, Done expressed concern about the fatigue of Premier League players and suggested that the FA should seriously consider setting up a winter break to give the players a breather. But his voice sank into the sea, and he didn't get any reply from the FA at all. The winter break has been arguing for years, but it's just wishful thinking on the part of the coaches and players, and neither the FA nor the league committee can agree to it, because it is directly related to their income...... Now, he is about to lead the team to Italy against a strong opponent - Juventus.

Before he went to Italy, Evan found him.

Don knew what Evan was looking for him. Is there anything else that could be done other than the team's recent poor results?

But there is nothing he can do about the current situation, the players have been depleted a lot of energy in club and national team competitions, and they have not had time to rest and adjust to their condition after two games in a week. Against Liverpool, it took the final five minutes for Rafa Benitez to take the lead, and the Forest lads did a fantastic job. But this kind of game also consumes a lot of physical energy, and the whole team is exhausted after this game. He didn't even know how to face Juventus.

He can't afford to buy people in the winter transfer window, and he has to rely on them to survive a season. But he hasn't given up yet, and he's still instilling in his players the goal of winning at least one title this season. Whatever the odds are against them, the team can't afford to lose confidence on their own.

"I know what you're going to say, Evan. Against Juventus, the team will win. He stood up and wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

Evan smiled at him and didn't hold back.

※※※ Two days later at the Alpi Stadium in Turin.

Nottingham Forest lost 0-2 away to Juventus, who returned to the Champions League.

Don sat in Alpi's away dugout without any angry expression on his face, he didn't throw his suit or kick the bottle, he just sat there with a helpless look on his face. In fact, just before the final whistle blew, he was furious like he saw the red bull, and he was furious about the team's performance on the sidelines.

He fielded the best squad he could put in right now. But his tactics didn't work for Juventus at all. After all, there are many similarities between his set and the one that Juventus does best, and Ranieri knows how to deal with him.

In terms of defense, Juventus is no worse than Nottingham Forest, and the Italians have long been soaked in the instinct of defense. No matter how the Forest team goes back and forth, and no matter how fast and sudden the Forest team's counterattack is, Juventus' backline is not chaotic. They also used sneak attacks to score a goal each at the start of the second half to beat Nottingham Forest.

Donn's tactics were taken from Juventus in the Capello era. Juventus football is not good-looking, but it is stable and capable of winning and winning titles. Now facing Juventus, who are more stable than himself and full of hunger for victory, he can't take advantage of it at all. On the other hand, the players of the Forest team may have hollowed out their bodies from continuous battles, and they have been unable to enter the game state on the field for a long time, as if they have eaten too much and have not woken up. With almost forty minutes left after Juventus' second goal, there was little more to see a win** – they were too tired. Players are also people, not machines. You will be tired, and of course you will slack off after fatigue, and you will have some negative thoughts...... There was nothing Don could do about it. No matter how hard he pushes in the dressing room, if the players don't have the strength, they don't have the energy, and it can't be because they hear him shout "You have to win!" "Just create infinite power out of thin air, and then poer_max bombard the opponent. Nor can he think of coming to Turin before he was to Evan. Dogetty promised to win this game, and this game was really going to win.

After the win, the Juventus players hugged each other very excitedly, and Chrislak, who couldn't stand this scene, hummed disdainfully: "Didn't you win the Champions Cup, it's just a victory in the group stage, as for being so excited?" ”

"After all, when they returned to the Champions Cup, they beat the defending champions......" Don explained. That's why he thinks Juventus players are so excited. Many of these people have experienced the tragedy of falling from Serie A to Serie B, the years of fighting for Serie A in Serie B, and the joy of returning to Champions League qualification one season after successful promotion.

The ups and downs of life, the ups and downs, many of them have tasted it all, right?

He looked at Juventus captain Del. Piero thought to himself.

When the two of them were talking, Tang En got up from his seat without saying a word and slowly walked to the corridor. He didn't want to see the Juventus players go crazy with excitement, because he felt that it was a show off from the winner to the loser, a humiliation for the loser. He didn't want to sit here and be treated like this.

In the post-match press conference, Claudio Ranieri looked excited, while Donn was reticent, not answering if he could, and trying to be as concise as possible when he had to answer questions.

"What do you think about losing this crucial game?"

"I don't think so."

"Kic, who started the game in place of the injured Ruud van Nistelrooy, was very bad. Do you think it was a mistake to buy him? ”

"Nope."

"Will a loss to Juventus affect the team's final group qualification?"

"No impact."

"Do you have any assessment for Juventus' performance?"

"It's not about me."

When the reporters saw that he was so uncooperative, the questions were directed at him, not at the team or the game.

"Does losing the game make you feel bad?"

"Guess."

"Then why do you seem reluctant to answer questions?"

"I don't want to talk."

"Why don't you want to talk?"

"Toothache." Don replied with a straight face.

“…… All right. Is the team's recent results related to the club's financial difficulties? ”

"I can assure you that the worldwide financial crisis has nothing to do with our team's results." This was the longest sentence Donn said at this press conference.

The press conference broke up in such an indifferent atmosphere.

Donne, who broke his promise, was in a bad mood and didn't even criticize the players' poor performances in Turin. Back at Nottingham, Forest won a hard-fought 1-0 win at home to Aston Villa at the top of their table. With this hard-earned victory, the ranking moved up from seventh to fifth.

But in the Champions League, Forest are in big trouble.

After returning to the home stadium, Nottingham Forest, who vowed to take revenge, was forced to draw 1-1 at the city stadium by Juventus, who were stubborn and waiting for an opportunity to sneak attack, in the method they are most accustomed to. With a draw and a defeat against Juventus, Forest is now no longer even certain about qualifying from the group. After the Champions Cup group situation came out, experts were unanimously optimistic about Nottingham Forest, believing that even if they finished first in the group, it would be a normal thing for them.

Well, now Tony, who likes to go against the media. Once again, Don got them right. But this time it wasn't what he wanted. If possible, he would have liked to cater to the media's predictions this time.

Juventus is at the top of the table with three wins and one draw; Nottingham Forest is second with two wins, one draw and one loss, with seven points; Third-place Dynamo Kyiv with two wins and two losses and six points followed; Bolisov has lost all four games without scoring a point, and has basically announced his exit from the group ahead of schedule.

If there are no surprises, Juventus will not have a problem qualifying from the group. Now the problems are Nottingham Forest and Dynamo Kyiv. The gap between the two teams is very small, and no one knows which team will qualify until the last moment.

The final two rounds of the Champions League group stage are scheduled as follows: Real Madrid travel to Belarusian side Dynamo Bolisov on November 26 and host Dynamo Kyiv on December 11.

The away game against Bolisov will be crucial. If they miss in this game, then Nottingham Forest may be able to say goodbye to this season's Champions League early. As for why this game is very important, it is not because of Bolisov's strong strength, but because he went to Belarus at that time, and the impact of the harsh natural climate on the Forest team will be too great to ignore.

At the end of November, Belarus has entered a cold winter. The worst-case scenario is that Nottingham Forest will have to take advantage of the home ground in the snow and ice in order to get ahead of the competition against Dynamo Kyiv.

In that game, they had to fight not only the Borisov team, but also the cold weather of Belarus. And that time period is often the time when the players are most physically tired and most prone to injury.

To win, no one can get injured yet, and the fitness of the players must be guaranteed.

As soon as Don remembered this condition, he felt a boulder press against his chest, making him breathless.

Early November, morning in Nottingham. The fog from Sherwood Forest still hangs over the city, the roads are wet and it's still raining. The sun had already risen, but it was blocked out by thick dark clouds, and the sun could not leak in the slightest. The men who went to work curled up in their black coats and hurried. The front of the car was still lit up, and there was a splash of cold water as it drove down the road.

Don stood outside Wilford Lane, looking up at the training base ahead of him in the woods and white mist. He pulled the collar of his turtleneck outward, and the cold air took the opportunity to sneak in, making him shiver at the defenseless. But fortunately, the feeling of poor breathing just now has finally been alleviated a little.

As soon as he opened his mouth to take a deep breath, a stream of white gas erupted from his mouth, which was torn apart by the cold in front of his eyes, dispersed into wisps of white smoke, gradually faded until it finally disappeared, and merged with the white mist of this early winter morning.

Winter has come.

(To be continued)