703 Powerless to Stage a Comeback

Ruud van Nistelrooy had already left Nottingham and was undergoing his final preparations before his operation in America.

No one knew if he could return to the pitch after the operation. It was also unclear if Nottingham Forest would still want the 34-year-old at the club when he returned. His current salary was relatively high and his contract was due to expire by the time he recovered and made it back to the team.

The uncertainties surrounding van Nistelrooy's future left everyone feeling uneasy about his trip to America.

Twain was the only one who forced a smile and comforted him.

"Come back alive and kicking, I am waiting for you!"

Van Nistelrooy's injury had further aggravated the team's woes. There was now a complete lack of attacking options on the team.

However, that was only one of the many issues that his injury brought about. A bigger issue was the team's morale, which suffered a heavy blow as a result of his injury and departure.

The usual scenes of laughter and joviality were nowhere to be seen at the Wilford training grounds. Everyone would sigh collectively when the word "injury" was mentioned in the locker room and would say nothing else afterward. Everyone prioritized their safety and chose not to give their full effort during training.

It was safe to say that a fear of injury had spread and manifested itself throughout the entire team.

Twain was clueless about how to deal with everything that was unfolding before him. He could not berate the players and tell them to give their all during training because that would cause them to lose trust in him.

The players' fear of injury was even more evident during a match. Their opponents seemed hone in on their fears as well, and acted aggressively during the game, making use of boorish defense to control the flow of the match. Most of the time, the Nottingham Forest players choose to give up the ball against such crude defending.

George Wood was the only player who remained unchanged and unaffected by any external influences. Sadly, he was not able to carry the entire team on his shoulders alone.

Low team morale, lack of stamina and constant anxiety due to fear of injury all led Forest to two consecutive defeats in the league.

On the 6th of December, Nottingham Forest lost 0:2 to Arsenal in an away game. On the 13th of December, they lost 0:1 to Blackburn at home.

Following their two consecutive defeats, Nottingham Forest slipped from third place to seventh on the table. Aston Villa and Everton were ranked above them, and Hull City was ranked eighth.

On the 16th of December, the Forest team traveled to Japan to participate in the FIFA Club World Cup.

The exhausting flight coupled with Twain's indifference towards a match of this level resulted in a loss against Fluminense Football Club in the finals of the FIFA Club World Cup. Nottingham Forest missed out on bringing the trophy back home.

The only positive for the team came during the last round of the Champions League's group stages. Nottingham Forest clinched a 4:1 victory over Kyiv Dynamo at home amongst cheering from their 30,000 fans and managed to secure the last spot in the knockout stages.

They were able to hold onto both their spot in the Champions League and the money they received for remaining in the competition.

At least we have funds going into the next season.

The team might have made their way into the knockout stages of the Champions League, but the media's criticisms of Twain did not relent. In fact, they increased instead. They realized Tony Twain would most likely be unable to make a comeback in a short time, so they did not need to worry about getting slapped in the face by Twain after he started to win games.

Many people criticized him for focusing only on victories and turning a blind eye to the players' fitness levels, a habit which ultimately led to van Nistelrooy's injury. Others criticized his inability to help bring his team out of the pinch that they were in. Some critics derided him for spending all his time squabbling with the media instead of focusing on building up his team's fitness levels.

It was commonly believed that the reason managers rarely bothered with the media was that it would lead them to become distracted during training and make them unable to guide their team. Managers heavily involved with the news could not necessarily be called incompetent, but most of them had certainly failed as leaders.

"We can criticize a player if he performs badly when he gets overly caught up with affairs that have nothing to do with his job as a footballer," explained one critic. "The manager can drop him to the bench or send him to the stands to let him reflect on his actions. But what about a manager who gets so distracted that he is unable to give his all to his job? Are there any ways for us to punish him? Tony Twain thinks he is the king of Nottingham Forest. I have no intentions to argue over whether he is the king or not, but if a country's king encounters a problem and makes a mistake, where should the country go from there?"

All sorts of criticisms besieged Twain. He would come across at least two columns lambasting him every single morning when he flipped open the newspaper. Eventually he stopped reading the news altogether.

He was not scared in the slightest of how the media admonished him. It was not the first time it had happened to him anyway. The only difference was that the media seemed to be focused on one, consistent attack this time instead of the scattered, individual attacks of the past.

What did make him feel mounting pressure was the intentions of the club's higher-ups. It did not matter how good of a relationship he had with Evan, the fact was that the team was performing badly right now. He could not escape being summoned to the office by a grim-faced Evan to discuss the situation.

Evan did not reproach him. He only talked about how the team was in a difficult position right now, and how he hoped that Twain would divert the attention away from the club's financial issues and change the image that people had of Nottingham Forest by winning matches.

As long as they won matches, all the problems would stop being problems. As long as they won matches, the fickle media would start to cheer for Forest again.

These words were what made Twain nervous.

Evan was an owner who only sat in the office the whole day. He never cared about the club. He had no idea how hard it was for the team to win matches in the situation that they were currently in, but Twain was different. As the manager of the team, he understood their predicament best.

Nonetheless, Evan was still his boss, and what he said was right as well. Nobody would wish to see their team lose matches. Losing matches was not the way for him to reduce the stress placed on him either.

What to do? Brace yourself, grit your teeth and face it head-on, of course.

Twain agreed to do as Evan said.

They would win their next match. They had to win. The situation would turn for the better. The issues that they had on their hands were only temporary.

Who was their opponent for the next match?

On the 20th of December, Nottingham Forest was up against Manchester United in an away game.

※※※

Ferguson might've been Twain's drinking and horse racing buddy, but it would be a pipe dream to expect him to let Twain off the hook because of the friendship that they shared.

How could Ferguson pass on the chance to obliterate the arrogant Nottingham Forest, who had tyrannized the Premier League for two seasons?

Even if he was willing to go easy on Forest, Manchester United's players and fans would never go along with it.

Afterall, who was it that snatched the Premier League trophy from Manchester United during the final game of the previous season?

Nottingham Forest was currently in a sorry state. Twain could not even gather eleven players for his starting team.

Manchester United was not a charity organization. They had no obligation to help the Forest team get over their hurdles.

Rumors circulated before the match that if Twain were to lose again, he would likely get the boot.

A banner with the words "See Tony Twain off with a victory. Die, Nottingham Forest!" appeared at the Old Trafford stands during the match as a response to the rumors.

The Old Trafford stands were teeming with animosity towards Twain. Many of the fans were desperate to rush down and dismember him. Endless insults thrown Twain's way from behind his manager's seat.

The British were certainly creative. They came up with all kinds of ways to scold him so that he would not feel lonely for 90 minutes.

Van Nistelrooy had left the team indefinitely due to an injury. Van der Vaart was out with an injury for a month and so was Pepe. Beckham was out for a week, Eastwood was out for two weeks, Petrov was out for ten days, Tiago was out for a week and Sun Jihai was out for a month…who else did they have? How could they hope to win against Manchester United with such a team?

If Ferguson had known about the promise that Twain made to Evan before the match, he would've flown into a rage and said that Twain was looking down on him and his team.

All Twain could do was force a smile. He knew how hard it was to win against Manchester United as the away team. However, there was no way back for him now. The team's morale would take a hit if he were to show his weak side at a time like this.

Twain stood by the side of the pitch and flailed his hands about agitatedly as the match progressed.

"Tony Twain probably longs to get on the pitch himself and help the team win the match personally," joked the Sky TV commentator.

The team was in a slump. The players who had performed well in the past were unable to re-enact their past successes.

Şahin, the Turkish gifted youth player who was substituting for van der Vaart, quickly became invisible after he was closed down in Manchester United's midfield.

Rafinha was close to becoming disoriented after dealing with Cristiano Ronaldo's repeated breakthroughs.

Kompany could not stop the interchanging attacks from Rooney and Tevez all by himself.

George Wood kept on running, but he was unable to defend both sides at the same time.

Žigić was isolated at the front of the pitch and was unable to produce anything without support from the midfield.

Lennon tried to find a way to break through, but his attacks were too predictable and were easily stopped by his opponents.

Twain raised his head to the skies. There was nothing else he could do. Everything had gone well for him during the past few seasons. There were a few occasional injuries, but those injuries did not affect the team as a whole.

Maybe lady luck was smiling at me back then?

This season, every unlucky thing had come at him at the same time. The way that they'd happened, one after another in such a short period, made Twain feel as though they were all pre-arranged.

God, are you trying to drive me to my grave? He felt a sudden pang in his heart.

Twain gave up directing the match by the pitch. He turned around, languidly walked away, and sat down in the manager's seat. His face was one of utter stupefaction.

The score for the match at that moment was 3:1 in favor of Manchester United.

※※※

Nottingham Forest suffered their third consecutive defeat and they continued to slip down the ranking table. This time they fell to 11th place!

Amidst the state of chaos for the team, Real Madrid made a move once again to throw things into further disarray. They openly announced their interest in Forest's Ribéry, saying they hoped to buy him during the winter transfer window.

This was not a joke published by the Spanish media outlets. It was also not insanity on the part of the higher-ups in Real Madrid. The reason they wanted to spend big money to buy a player who'd participated in the Champions League was simple.

Real Madrid and Nottingham Forest were both facing the same issues: injuries to players and a dreadfully incomplete team.

Madrid had lost Robinho in the summer, which had weakened their already sub-par offense down the flanks. To make matters worse, Robben picked up a serious injury during the last match and was expected to be out for two to three months. This left Real Madrid in a situation where they had no wingers on the team that they could employ during games. Drenthe was too inexperienced and could not be played either. Therefore, Real Madrid needed to buy a winger in the winter transfer window.

Cristiano Ronaldo was still intent on leaving Manchester United, but he would not agree to a transfer during the winter transfer window. The earliest he would agree to go would be during the summer of next year.

After searching around, the only risk-free player Real Madrid could buy with a proven track record, who would be able to play straight away, was Franck Ribéry.

Because Nottingham Forest was currently going through a financial crisis, Real Madrid believed that the club would not play hardball and refuse an offer this time around. After all, they were in desperate need of cash to turn their financial situation around, and Ribéry's salary was a heavy burden to the club as well.

Real Madrid put in a bid of 50 million euros for Ribéry after taking everything into account. The reporters swarmed up to Twain, all wanting to obtain the latest information regarding the potential transfer.

Twain only shook his head and repeated his statement that he had not heard any details regarding the offer and that Ribéry was happy at the club and would like to stay.

In contrast to Twain's words, however, Allan later admitted during a press interview that the club had indeed received an offer from Real Madrid, but did not comment when asked about how the club intended to deal with the matter.

The media believed that Nottingham Forest would find Real Madrid's offer to be irresistible given the current economic downturn.

Twain was aware of how tempting Real Madrid's offer was. What he'd said to the media was all lies. Bruno Heiderscheid, Ribéry's manager, had called Twain and asked that he let Ribéry leave.

"It will help ease the club's financial troubles and lower the wage structure. At the same time, Franck will be able to get what he wants. It's the best of both worlds. I don't think it is a bad offer," Bruno told Tony.

Everything he said made perfect sense, but Twain's face was cold as ice and he refused to nod his head.

※※※

Stress over the team's results, stress from the players' morale, stress from the media, stress from the higher-ups and stress over finances…

Twain felt like a black cloud was hanging over his head, even if the weather for the day was sunny and bright. It had been an exceptionally difficult winter for him.

The most frustrating thing for Twain was not the stress that continued to loom over him, but the fact that he had no idea how to get rid of it. He was completely clueless.

He had no money to buy players and no time to make adjustments to the team and let the players rest. As long as the team continued to be depleted, there would be no chance of turning the results around unless a miracle happened. The stress would only continue to accumulate until the day it became so massive that he couldn't endure it any longer and collapsed.

When that happened, it would not matter how much he had struggled, he would simply be crushed, unable to see the light. It did not matter how tortuous the road was. As long as there was light before him, he could still encourage the team to grit their teeth and get through it by giving their all. Sadly, the road that stretched out before him now was without even a glimmer of light.

If things were to go on as they had been, the team would likely face swift elimination despite qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League.

The multi-faceted problem that they had on their hands was not only shown in the club's financial situation, but also in the various competitions that the team competed in.

Twain had to give up a goal or two and invest his all into ensuring that he could at least score once.

The problem was, should they fight for a top-four finish in the league, or should they fight to leave their name in history as the three-time champions of the Champions League?

If the team is unable to finish in the top four in the Premier League, then they will miss out on the Champions League next season and can only watch as others celebrate. However, the idea of being crowned as the three-time champions of the Champions League is certainly enticing…

Twain contemplated for a long time and eventually decided to prioritize getting a top-four finish in the Premier League.

He felt that regardless of how tough the situation was, there would come a day when his luck would turn for the better. Things weren't going his way right now, but who was to say that luck would not be on his side after the winter passed? Perhaps misfortune was a blessing in disguise.

Twain did not think that it was impossible to secure a top-four finish with the current Nottingham Forest team.

Now that he'd set his goal, all he needed was results to help him make that goal a reality.

Christmas was around the corner, and Nottingham Forest was ranked 11th in the league table. This result was a far cry from where he wanted the team to be.

He needed to win games…

Twain wanted to pull his hair out at that thought.

When has winning a game ever been easy?