In fact, the city of Nottingham has always had two professional teams...... If it weren't for this FA Cup, I'm afraid many people would have overlooked this, right?

Many cities pride themselves on having a "high-level local derby" because it shows that they have a strong football atmosphere and a high standard. This is almost never possible in the city of Nottingham. Because Nottingham Forest and Notts County are not on the same level.

Nottingham Forest have won five European Trophies, while Notts County are yet to play in the Premier League.

Due to the disparity in status caused by the huge difference in quality between the two teams, it is rare for Nottingham Forest and Nods County to have a formal derby match.

Thanks to the FA Cup, this opportunity has come.

Norths County fans have the FA Cup to thank most of all because their chance has come. They had been trying to teach their arrogant neighbor a lesson, but they didn't have the chance. Nottingham Forest naturally won't be warming up for an opponent like Notts County in a pre-season warm-up - they are smart enough to be afraid of injuring one or two main players and affecting the whole season...... In fact, Nods County didn't have much confidence to challenge Nottingham Forest, so they could only swear in their mouths, scolding Nottingham Forest as a lackey of foreign capital, and they had long been not an English team.

Today, it's different. The arrival of Don has greatly strengthened Nods County, and they can also stabilize in the middle of the Championship. This also made their minds lively, and they wanted to prove their strength in front of their old enemies. The so-called "full of warmth and silver desire"...... Well, it's pretty much the same. The strength has gone up to a level, and the spiritual realm has naturally gone up to a level, and I dare to think about things that I couldn't think of before.

So when a month ago, as soon as the FA Cup third-round matchup schedule came out, Nottingham City was boiling. At least half of them are gearing up for this match. In addition, ordinary people...... In fact, Nottingham Forest is not too interested in this kind of city derby.

Perhaps the current situation of the two teams can be summed up in this sentence - "Nottingham Forest only sees Nottingham Forest, but Nottingham Forest sees the whole world".

So against a rare 'local derby', Nottingham Forest's training plan is nothing out of the ordinary, as they have faced in any normal FA Cup game before. Most of the players are not talking about their opponents in the FA Cup, but about the league.

Only Chen Jian thought this matter was quite interesting. He experienced a local derby at the Spaniards and then said goodbye to the city. I didn't expect that just after a new team, a new city, I met another derby in the same city.

The end and the beginning fell on the "derby", interesting, indeed interesting.

"Actually, this derby is still a bit interesting...... "It wasn't until the day before the game that someone finally remembered that they were going to play a local derby tomorrow.

"The current head coach of Nods County used to be our assistant coach." Gareth. Bale told a group of new players about the past, and they were fascinated by the conversation. Now in the team, there are indeed few players who have experienced the era of "Chinese assistant coaches".

"Speaking of which, I didn't expect him to be head coach one day, and he is our city rival......" Bale said with a chin pinch. And it has something to do with Chen Jian......" His words drew everyone's attention to Chen Jian.

"Huh?" Chen Jian found that everyone was looking at him, and he didn't know what to say for a while, he had only been in the team for three days, and he hadn't gotten acquainted with it, and suddenly he didn't know how to speak in the face of so many people.

"They are all Chinese, of course there is a relationship." There is humanity among the players, and it is not surprising.

"It is said that there are more than a billion people in China, and you should have a relationship with everyone?" Bale said disdainfully, he pointed at Chen Jian and said, "Chen Jian originally walked out of our forest's youth team, but before that, do you know how he came to the forest team?" ”

Few people would know about this kind of thing. How many people care about the past of a Chinese player? The local media didn't cover it much.

"A business draft." Bale looked at Chen Jian and smiled, "He took the third, and then the assistant coach at the time, Don, gave him a Forest jersey, and that's how he came!" ”

"Oh-" The group suddenly realized, and at the same time satisfied. It sounds really interesting, it's quite legendary.

Chen Jian was a little surprised, he didn't expect that someone in the team knew about his past, he had never talked about it everywhere. Coming to the Forest for a year-long trial was not sensational news. No one in the first team should care about such a small thing. Later, he came back to the youth team to train, which was normal, and although he was a member of the first team under contract, he never showed up in the first team, and he did not play a game for the first team in a Forest shirt, even if it was just an inconsequential business match.

He felt that in Nottingham Forest, apart from Coach Donn, there should be no one who remembered him as a passer-by.

I really didn't expect that now, the No. 2 captain of Nottingham Forest, Gareth. Bell, he even remembered his past!

He suddenly remembered what Donn had said to him.

That was just after he attended the press conference of joining the team, the reporters were gone, and Tang En took Chen Jian to the Crimson Court to step on the turf, which can be regarded as another "welcome ceremony".

"Chen Jian, do you know the legends of Nottingham's past?"

Chen Jian was stunned for a moment, and then reacted: "You mean the legend of Robin Hood?" ”

Tang En nodded, stopped and looked at Chen Jian who was following behind. "Although the name Nottingham Forest has nothing to do with Robin Hood, the team emblem does. The mushroom-looking thing was actually an oak tree. Donn pointed to the Nottingham Forest emblem in the stadium stands. The oak tree is where Robin Hood and his brothers first gathered. Sounds a bit like your Chinese "Water Margin", right? ”

Chen Jian was a little surprised: "You even know "Water Margin", boss?" ”

"Not only do I know, I've seen it many times." Don really wanted to answer him.

"How could I not know about China's four great masterpieces?" Instead of continuing on the subject, Donn said, "The oak tree represents the camaraderie between Robin Hood and his brothers, and it represents strength and perseverance." Forest's legendary captain Stuart. Pierce is known as having the 'heart of an oak tree'. ”

Chen Jian didn't understand what Don was going to talk to him, the topic was getting farther and farther, one moment it was Robin Hood, one moment it was the team emblem, one moment it was the oak tree, and the other time it was about the current England manager...... "What I want to tell you is that Nottingham Forest is like a green forest thief gathered under an oak tree, the people here are very pure, good is good, bad is bad." If you want to integrate into the team as soon as possible and get their recognition and acceptance, superficial efforts will not work, speak with strength. If you can show the strength to make them nod your head, then you are a member of the Green Forest Bandit Group. After that, you can drink with them in big bowls and eat meat in large chunks, ha! ”

Don laughed.

Hearing such a strange team culture, Chen Jian was a little stunned. He stood in the middle of the huge crimson court, surrounded by empty stands, and the afternoon sun could only shine on the east stands, and the green field was already shrouded in the shadows of the stands and roofs.

The Nottingham Forest crest was on the roof of the grandstand directly in front of him, and the sun shone right on it, the metallic edges glowing golden.

“…… Nottingham Forest are a team like a bandit, you know what I'm talking about? They will do whatever it takes to win, and stealing and robbing is what they do. It is a tragedy of modern football that such a team can win the European Cup for the fifth time......"

These are the words of a well-known Chinese football commentator on his blog after Don led the team to the Treble. Chen Jian saw it by chance when he was surfing the Internet.

Now that I think about it, that guy obviously hated Forest, he was supposed to be a Real Madrid fan, but he was right.

Nottingham Forest is a black nest where a group of robbers gather...... When Chen Jian came back to his senses, Bale and his teammates were talking about Notts County again, in fact, they basically didn't know much about this opponent, although Don showed them several videos of Notts County games in the tactical class in the past few days, but who cares about a weak opponent?

So everyone's conversation focused on "Oh, I heard that their number 10 is not bad", "What about being selected for England's under-21 team", "That number 18 also seems to be okay, it's just...... "It's a little thinner", "It's just the level of the middle of the Championship", "They seem to be able to use ...... wings", "What does the head mean?" ”

When it came to head coach Donn, everyone was silent.

After a while, Bale, the oldest in the group, frowned and said, "I always feel that the boss doesn't pay attention to the appearance of this game......"

Chen Jian listened to it next to him and wanted to laugh. I don't think you pay attention to it.

'To be honest, I think if we want to play in Europe next season, it's the best way to play in the Europa League by winning the FA Cup. Bell continued to analyze. "But I always think the boss will give up the FA Cup and focus on the league. But it's too hard to finish in the top six......"

Chen Jian has studied the situation of the forest team, after all, he is also a member of the forest team...... I have to admit that what the second vice-captain said is very reasonable. Although the cup is said to be a big surname by chance, a team like Nottingham Forest is suitable for the big cup competition, and there may be a way to survive if they specialize in the FA Cup. The league is too long, who knows if it will go wrong in the future?

"What are you guys grinding about?"

At a time when a group of people were feeling confused about the future of the team, No. 1 captain George Brown. Wood pushed open the locker room door and walked in: "If you don't go out again, you'll be all late and run laps!" ”

Boom, suddenly the locker room was like a galloping horse, and a group of people ran away from Chen Jian in the blink of an eye.

"This ......" Chen Jian really didn't expect his teammates to be so athletic and fast.

Wood turned to leave, and found that there was still one person in the locker room, and when he found out that it was Chen Jian, he stopped to look at the other party.

Chen Jian realized that he had lost his temper, and hurriedly lowered his head and trotted out of the locker room from Wood's side.

This captain is so majestic, just looking at it makes him dare not look up...... When he ran out, Chen Jian still thought so.

Fortunately, he couldn't see the news of the domestic dog-said website...... ※※※ Bell guessed right, Don is indeed going to give up the FA Cup. But he will never give up in the first round.

Premier League teams don't start their FA Cup campaign until after the New Year, and for them it's the first round, but it's actually the third round of the FA Cup.

Not only did Don not give up, on the contrary, he also took the game very seriously, otherwise he would not have shown the players the footage of the game in Notts County continuously. It's a pity...... He values it, but his players don't necessarily value this weak opponent as much as he does.

The players naturally have their reasons for not taking this game seriously. Because this opponent is too weak, according to the thinking of the Forest players, they can also defeat with only 50% of their strength. What about the Derby? They haven't beaten Norts County in derby. Of course, that was a long, long time ago, and Wood was the only one left in the team who played in that game, and even Bale was still working on the youth team and the reserve team at that time.

However, this history can be found out, and the local media in Nottingham have been covering this local derby after 14 years. Fourteen years ago, the derby was the closest it is today, how could it not be mentioned repeatedly by the media?

With such a "historical record" ahead, the Nottingham Forest players certainly take winning for granted, and it will be a no-brainer to beat their opponents.

If he were an ordinary manager, he would probably have the same idea as his players. But Donn's reason for attaching importance to this game is very special, and he can't tell anyone else.

He had always wanted to be a rival with Don and see how far Tang had grown over the years. In addition, he believes that Don must have known that the game was his own fans at Nottingham Forest and Evan Brown. One of the best opportunities for Dogetty to show his strength, he will not let it go.

Nods County will definitely give it their all, and this game is not comparable to the one from 14 years ago.

If you're not careful, you may ...... This time it shouldn't be "capsizing in the gutter". Nottingham Forest is definitely not a big ship sailing today, and Notts County is certainly not a stinking ditch today......

(To be continued)