When league champions Arsenal defeated cup champions Liverpool to lift the Charity Shield, the countdown to the 2018-2019 English Premier League season officially began.

Attention is focused on the four traditional Premier League giants in the new season, with Manchester United and Arsenal still receiving the most attention. There's no talk of England's just World Championship anymore, and there's no one who cares about Tony. What did Don decide to retire about?

Don, who often takes his daughter out shopping, will be surrounded by fans and asked for a photo and autograph after being recognized by the fans, but there is no media to disturb him. Donn doesn't like the media, but he loves to deal with the fans. Especially with the Nottingham fans, because this is his home stadium and every fan here is like a friend.

Of course, it was not without moments of embarrassment for Donn. For example, fans often greet him with the question, "Are you back, Tony?" ”

Don knew what they meant by asking. Now that Nottingham Forest is in shambles, everyone wants a great character to come out and save the team, and the only one who can convince them is Tony. Don is gone.

In the face of such enthusiastic fans, Don is unwilling to let them be sad and disappointed on the one hand, but on the other hand, it is difficult to take back what he said. He could only shake his head and smile helplessly: "I don't know, who can say what will happen in the future?" And so he prevaricated.

Later Donne received a message from John. Mortenson called him: "Tony, are you interested in coming to BBC5?" ”

Like CCTV5, BBC5 is a dedicated sports station. The England national team matches are broadcast on BBC5. At every World Cup and European Championship, Don has briefly signed with BBC5 as a guest commentator. However, since he became England manager, the two sides have not worked together like this.

"To BBC5?" Donn was a little strange, but he understood it right away. Last year, the BBC had the last laugh in the battle with Sky TV, Reading TV and other broadcasters, buying the rights to broadcast some Premier League matches. They're recruiting everywhere, and Donne, the popular guest commentator in the audience, will naturally be recruited through Mortenson's connections with him.

"Well, the Premier League for the new season. Are you interested? ”

"Ah, John...... I haven't rested enough. Don shook his head and refused. I've only been retired for two months, so how can the rest time I've saved over the past ten years be two months? ”

"It's a shame......" Mortenson knew Donn's temper, and if he didn't want to, then you would be wasting your saliva if you said more. He only regretted that the Premier League game of the new season had lost such an interesting commentator.

The day after Mortenson's call, Martin. Taylor also called, the same thing as Mortenson, asking him to join Sky TV's Premier League commentary squad for the new season. Although Taylor has long since retired, he has worked for Sky TV for more than 20 years, and even if he retires, he still thinks about Sky TV. It is also reasonable to come out this time to recruit talents for Sky TV.

But what...... Don still refused. The reason is the same: I haven't rested enough.

In fact, he knows very well that if he wants to continue working after leaving the head coaching position, then going to TV is a good choice. However, for now, he likes this leisurely life on the one hand, and he has to take care of Teresa on the other. His daughter has only been in the UK for more than half a month, how could he leave his daughter and run to work? Shania works outside, and he can be a "housewife" now. Anyway, the family is not short of money for a while, so there is no need to rush out to earn money to support the family.

The new Premier League season kicked off on 17 August, with Manchester United hosting promoted Wolves in the opening game. Manchester United won comfortably 2-0 at home.

The next day, the Premier League was in full swing. Nottingham Forest also host their first opponent of the new season – Everton.

Despite Forest's poor results, ticket sales ahead of the new season are still significant. Season tickets sold 38,000 units, not much different from previous seasons. Nottingham Forest's heyday days, due to the small capacity of the city's stadium, the season ticket sales figures of that time are of little value today. Although 38,000 units is more than 10,000 units less than Manchester United's 55,000 units, it is already remarkable considering the size of the city itself.

From a small point to a big one, there is nothing wrong with the operation of Nottingham Forest, so Evan also has the capital to bargain with those consortia.

The sale of season tickets also shows how die-hard Nottingham Forest's fans are. Despite all the dissatisfaction with the club's hierarchy, they still chose to support the team. However, others explained why they were so keen to buy season tickets: "Just spend £35 per home game to scold the dog Evan . Dogety. ”

This statement is quite popular among Forest fans, who have formed a radical fan group called "Evan the Dog". Abusing Evan in the Robin Hood stands. In Dogety's slogan, this group is the majority.

After eating the lunch that Don cooked himself, Don looked at Teresa who was sitting on the ground playing with a rag doll and asked, "Teresa, will Dad take you out to play this afternoon?" ”

"Okay." Teresa stopped what she was doing and looked up at Don. She has very few objections and is very well-behaved.

"Daddy will take you to a ball game?" Don magically pulled out two tickets from behind his back and shook them in front of Teresa's eyes.

Teresa tilted her head and thought for a moment, reacting to what Dad was talking about "ball game", and then she nodded, "Okay." ”

Tang En was overjoyed, and hurriedly picked up Teresa and kissed her pink face fiercely.

"Let's go now!" He carried Teresa out of the house and got into the car, heading towards the Crimson Stadium in the southwest of Nottingham.

In fact, Don didn't really want to take his daughter out to watch the game, but he wanted to go to the scene to watch the game, but he couldn't leave his daughter alone at home, which was too dangerous. So I simply brought it out together and let her experience the atmosphere of a football game. Maybe Teresa will still be able to enjoy football in the future? Her mom doesn't like football, so let her like it, and then it's 2:1 at home and he wins.

As a coach who has been at Nottingham Forest for 11 years, even if he wasn't a Forest fan before, he is now the most die-hard Forest fan. Those die-hard fans are invested in Forest, but why not himself? No matter how disappointed he is with the current Forest, whether he is still the coach of the Forest team, even during the four years he was the coach of the national team, he bought the season ticket for the Forest team every season.

In fact, he really never watched a game in the stands of the Forest team as an ordinary fan. When he can watch the game from the stands, it is generally divided into two types: the first is when he was still the head coach of the Forest team, he was sent to the stands for confronting the referee and criticizing the FA; The other is that after he became the head coach of the England team, he came to observe the performance of the England international in the Forest team. In short, they have nothing to do with an "ordinary fan".

Watching the game as an "ordinary fan" means that he does not analyze the tactical use of both sides, does not look for their loopholes, and does not think about how to correct these problems at halftime or in the next game...... Anyway, it's right to free your mind from the head coach mode.

The thought of being able to leave behind those heavy burdens made Don feel so happy that he was humming a little song while driving.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Teresa with a seat belt on, is a bit like a doll. She turned her head to look at her father, probably not understanding why he was so happy. Because it stands to reason that the happiest person should be herself.

After arriving at the court, Don was not in a hurry to go down, he first put on his sunglasses, then buttoned himself a baseball cap, then put the collar up, also put a pair of toad sunglasses on Teresa, covering half of her face, and then put on a women's hat for her, and after taking a closer look, and confirming that it was impossible to be recognized at a glance, he opened the car door, carried Teresa into the crowd, and walked towards the court.

In the midst of the crowd, Donn looked up at the huge crimson façade, and for the first time, he had the leisure to take in the appearance of the new stadium outside. In the past, he had a special channel - the head coach of the national team came here to watch the game, and he would definitely not let him queue up with ordinary fans to enter.

In this way, the stadium, which took six years and led to frequent changes in the team, is really magnificent...... It's no wonder Evan confidently calls him "the best course in the world". Just looking at the exterior wall is magnificent, and you can imagine the feeling of playing inside. It's a pity...... Such an excellent stadium has witnessed the failure of Nottingham Forest season after season.

Donn sighed softly, then turned his head to look around at the fans.

The new season is about to begin, and no matter what the Forest team did last season, they are still full of hope. For them, the club hierarchy and the team are separated. A lot of people are talking about today's game with great interest. For example, George. What kind of play will Wood have, Aron. Will Mitchel score...... The group of people discussed happily, and it didn't take much to turn to the manager.

"McAllister simply can't...... See what coaches the club hires? Nottingham Forest is also a team that has won five European Champions Leagues, how can anyone be the manager? ”

"Yes, that's right. I don't think except for Tony. Donn still has someone to manage the Forest's dressing room......"

"It's a pity that Tony is retired...... Retired before the age of 50......"

"It would be nice if he could come back......"

"Yes, yes!"

…… Teresa, who was being held in Donn's arms, suddenly leaned into Donn's ear and said to him, "Daddy, are they calling you?" ”

Don suddenly felt embarrassed. It's been two months, and he hasn't introduced Teresa to her previous career. On the one hand, he thinks that Teresa is still too young to understand what a "football manager" does; On the other hand, I have retired, so there is no need to mention what I used to do.

And she always took Teresa to Kenny's bar some time ago, and Fat John's group always called "Tony" and "Tony", and Teresa completely remembered the word, she was still young, and she didn't know that there were thousands of people called "Tony" in the world, and she thought that only her father was called "Tony".

"Uh...... No, they're talking about another 'Tony'. Don was reluctant to explain too much here, for fear of being recognized by the people next to him. Because of his weak heart, he also pulled the brim of his hat down again. "Let's go in, Teresa."

※※※ After holding his daughter up the steps step by step, and finally entering the interior of this behemoth, Don was not in a hurry to find his own doing, he stood at the entrance, and the situation in front of him and below was unobstructed. On the opposite side is a full stand, and the players of both sides are warming up in the green field below, and the fans of the two teams are gathering in their own squares one after another, and they are singing and competing with each other.

This kind of scene is no stranger to Don, but from a different angle, when he stands here and watches it, it still makes him a little excited - this is football!

Teresa, who was being held in Donn's arms, suddenly stretched out her hands to cover her ears, for her, it was too noisy in the court...... Remember that Schalke 04's home fans once set a record when the decibels of their shouts exceeded the noise of jet planes taking off at one point. The Crimson Court is not far behind.

Fortunately, Don was prepared, took out a fluffy headphone and put it on Teresa, and the noise suddenly subsided a lot.

"Let's go, baby." Don patted Teresa lightly on the cheek and walked down with her in his arms.

Fans around the area responded to the call of the home broadcast, stood up and sang loudly, saying "welcome" to the Everton fans who came from afar. Don just buried his head in his seat, but Teresa was lying on his shoulder, very curious about them, and no longer as scared as when he first came in, but looked around, like a curious baby.

After finding a seat, Donn sat down in a very low-key manner, and did not stand up and shout slogans like "Everton die" like the people around him.

In fact, the stadium is not a good place to play with children, because it is full of all kinds of swear words, which can easily be bad for children. Don remembers that when he was a Chinese fan, there was a picture that was widely circulated on the Internet, that is, a photo of a child fan wearing an England jersey in the stands, raising his middle finger at this shot, and looking at the child's mouth, it was clear that he was scolding "**".

But Teresa still doesn't understand the incomprehensible Nottingham vernacular slang anyway.

When the players entered, every Nottingham Forest starter was warmly cheered on by the home fans. Even Donne, after a moment of low profile, shouted along with the people around him—partly out of the mood of the time, and partly because everyone stood up and shouted "St. George!" "Instead, you sit firmly in the chair, and that's the biggest "not low-key".

Seeing Wood's back in the stands, Don was quite relieved and proud. This kid is already the leader of the team, and he is faintly domineering.

Unexpectedly, Teresa recognized Wood, because Don had taken her to visit Sophia and the Wood family after returning to England. She pointed to Wood's back on the court, and exclaimed excitedly, "Brother! Brother! ”

Fortunately, everyone was a hundred times more excited than her at this time, and no one noticed the strange appearance of this little girl, which surprised Don - just seeing Wood, now you can recognize it just by looking at the back, Teresa's surname is really good!

Turning their gaze back to the pitch, the players from both sides were already playing. They are standing in line on either side of the referee for the media to take pictures. Don looked over and saw that most of the Nottingham Forest were strangers to him.

It's not that he doesn't know what those people are called and what positions they play.

Rather, he only knows about these people by knowing what their names are and what positions they play.

Thinking about it ten years ago, those people, even if it was a substitute, he felt as if he knew and knew them as well as family. They stood together, and it was a whole, a piece of red, with "Nottingham Forest" written on it.

And now?

There they stood, but they were just eleven unrelated individuals. George. Wood, Mario. Balotelli, Gareth. Bale, Nkuru, Joe. Mattok, Chris. Cohen...... They stood there one by one, but they couldn't form a team.

The fans around him were still chanting: "Forest Forest! Nottingham Forest!! ”

I just don't know how much of this cry reached the ears of those people......

(To be continued)