721 The Young Guard

The transfer fee of 16 million pounds had used up almost half of Nottingham Forest's budget for the season. Twain had to come to a decision over whether he should spend the remaining money on a top-class player or on several cheaper, average players who could each play at different positions on the team.

However, it was not a hard decision for Twain to make.

In his heart, he knew that Nottingham Forest was a team that would rise from the ashes and emerge as a force to be reckoned with once again. Therefore, there was no need to spend money acquiring average players. He decided that he should assemble the best 'army' possible, and bring in everything he needed to rebuild the team in one fell swoop.

He had his eyes set on Valencia CF's David Silva.

Unfortunately, he faced a huge obstacle in his pursuit of David Silva's signature, because Nottingham Forest was not the only club who had their eyes on Silva. Big clubs such as Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool and AC Milan were also looking at him. Nottingham Forest was not a club that stood out when compared with these other clubs.

Twain decided to use 30 million pounds of his transfer budget to purchase Silva, but he was only going to pay in installments. However, this payment method was not accepted by Valencia CF.

Valencia CF had performed well for the first half of the previous season. However, the team had gradually slipped down the table as the season progressed. The club's financial problems had not been solved, and were only made worse with the arrival of the economic crisis, which forced them to consider selling David Villa and David Silva for money—despite being adamant initially that neither player was up for sale.

When news that both Villa and Silva were available broke out, the big clubs pounced on the opportunity like a pack of wolves who had rushed in at the scent of blood.

Real Madrid led the race for David Villa's signature, whereas competition was fierce for David Silva.

In the end, Nottingham Forest proved to be no match against the other big, wealthy, and successful football clubs.

After his plan to acquire Silva ended in failure, Twain came to realize that he needed to change his mindset. Rather than pin his hopes on being able to buy established and famous players like Silva, he should look at getting younger players onto the team instead.

Hence, he decided to shift his attention onto acquiring Britain's gifted young players.

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Just as Twain was wondering how he should build up his team, his friend, 'Crazy' Stuart Pearce, gave him a call and recommended a player to him.

"I'm not recommending him to you because I have anything to gain from this transfer, Tony," Pearce said. "I just don't want his future to become bleak. His contract with his club expires in the summer, but he doesn't want to stay in League One. He is looking for a bigger stage to perform on. I also think that he would not be able to improve as a player if he were to keep playing in League One. There are a few clubs after him right now, but I believe in you, Tony, which is why I recommended you to him when he approached me for suggestions."

Twain had been listening to Pearce go on and on without mentioning the player's name. Therefore, he had to ask, "Who is he and who does he play for?"

"Joe Mattock. Leicester City's left back."

Twain realized after hearing the name that it was one that he had heard numerous times before. The British media had hailed him as one of the top 10 youth players in Britain. He was only 18 years of age, and he had already been given a place on Britain's national U21 team by Pearce. He had amassed a great deal of experience as a first team player in League One. He was physically strong, and good at both defending and going forward to attack.

There were several clubs who were interested in getting his signature. Twain could not believe that Pearce had actually recommended him to a player of this caliber.

"No problem, no problem at all, Stuart. I promise you I will help you groom him into a much better player than he is now." Twain naturally agreed to put the player on his team. How could he possibly say no to such a good deal?

They might have Leighton Baines and Gareth Bale on the team right now, but since Bale had to play as the left midfielder from time to time, it was a good idea to get another left back to fill in the gap on those occasions.

Additionally, Joe Mattock was very young, and would be a good investment for the future.

All in all, it was a good deal for the club.

Pearce had not lied to Twain. Just two days after he gave Twain a phone call, Mattock's agent turned up at the club to negotiate a deal.

What both parties had to do next was simple. They agreed on personal terms for Mattock, and put pen to paper straight away. Nottingham Forest acquired one of Britain's most promising left backs without spending a single penny.

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The Forest team made progress in trying to bolster their strength on other positions as well.

Even though Nottingham Forest was a team that did not appeal to foreign football stars, and was also a team that did not have the finances to compete with bigger clubs like Real Madrid, Chelsea, and Manchester City for those players, in the eyes of the local British youth players, they were a team known for their abilities to groom young players. They also had a charismatic and unique manager in charge. Nottingham Forest was an appealing team for those youth players to consider joining.

At the end of June, Charlton officially announced that their up-and-coming youth player, Jonjo Shelvey, had been sold to Nottingham Forest for two million pounds.

The fee paid by Forest was quite high, given that Shelvey was still a player who had yet to reach 18 years of age. However, Shelvey was worth 6 million pounds the previous summer. If it was not for the ongoing economic crisis that had forced many other clubs to become even more careful with their expenditures, it would have been impossible for Twain to obtain the captain for Britain's national U16 team for only twp million pounds.

Shelvey might be only 17 years of age, but he was already quite famous in Britain. He had made his debut for Charlton when he was only 16 years old. He came on as a substitute for Zheng Zhi, the captain of the Chinese national team.

However, Shelvey had already attracted the attention of numerous football clubs prior to that as well. In 2007, he had captained Britain's U16 national team, who were crowned champions in the Victory Shield. He had played as a midfielder in that game, and scored three goals. He had already been a goal-scoring machine when he was playing games for Charlton's youth and reserve team.

However, Twain did not expect Shelvey to be able to make an instant impact on the team, and score lots of goals for them. The reason he bought Shelvey was because he saw potential in him to become a great player in the future. This was in line with everything that Twain had been doing so far that summer, which was to lay the foundation needed for the future of the club.

Other teams, such as Sunderland and West Ham United, were also in the race to sign Shelvey, but what allowed Twain to triumph over them in the end was that he was Tony Twain.

Twain had made a name for himself the past few years, and there were as many people who liked as there were people who disliked him. He was called the 'Arsene Wenger of Britain' because of his preference for playing youth players on his team, and this made Nottingham Forest an attractive destination in the eyes of numerous youth players.

This advantage that he had over other rival teams was not just apparent in his acquisitions of Joe Mattock and Jonjo Shelvey. Victor Moses was another player who became a part of Nottingham Forest that summer. He was an 18-year-old forward who played for Crystal Palace. He was born in Nigeria, but his family had emigrated to Britain when he was five. He signed a four-year contract with Crystal Palace when he turned 16.

Just like any other football player from Africa, he was physically strong and possessed an exceptional pace. His football techniques were remarkable, as well. His only flaw was that his heading ability was average at best, despite his being 185 cm tall and having a strong body.

Twain wished to use Moses primarily during squad rotations. Moses would play for the first team, reserve team, or youth team when needed.

Besides those three players, Twain also had his eyes on Sunderland's all-rounded midfielder, Jordan Henderson. Henderson could play numerous positions, such as right midfielder, central defensive midfielder, and striker. He had once led the Sunderland youth team into the finals of the FA Youth Cup.

Twain wanted to buy Henderson and groom him further, but Roy Keane did not budge, even though they were friends. He was adamant that Henderson was not for sale.

Despite his failure to purchase Henderson, Twain was content with his summer signings. He had focused more on getting British players this season, due to the upcoming implementation of the 6+5 rule in 2012.

Twain believed that the youth players would all become great players in the future, as long as he could groom them properly, and the players put in effort on their side. Of course, their injuries would need to be relatively infrequent, as well.

The potential that those youth players had was right there, waiting to be properly utilized.

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Contrary to their aggressive style of buying large numbers of players in past years, Nottingham Forest announced at the start of July that the club would not be buying any other players for the rest of the transfer window, and that the player list for next season had been confirmed.

This piece of news shocked the British media.

Who exactly had Forest brought in during the summer?

They had promoted John Bostock, Nicolás Millán, Adriano Moke and Chris Cohen from the youth team to the first team, but that didn't not count as bringing new players onto the team. All they had done was look inwards for new players.

They had gotten ex-Leicester City left back Joe Mattock on a free transfer, paid two million pounds to get the current captain of Britain's U16 national team, Jonjo Shelvey, from Charlton, and paid three million pounds to bring in Crystal Palace's gifted forward Victor Moses.

At 16 million pounds, Gabriel Agbonlahor was Nottingham Forest's biggest expenditure for the summer. He was also the only established player that Nottingham Forest had bought this summer that the media thought would perform well in the Premier League.

Agbonlahor had already proven himself after his stint at Aston Villa, so there was nothing else that he needed to prove at Nottingham Forest. He was a player who could be used in games right away.

The resolutely anti-Twain Carl Spicer sarcastically mocked Tony Twain for his joke of a transfer window in his column:

"When he got married to his supermodel girlfriend, he was all gung-ho and went to great lengths to make sure the whole world could witness him kissing Shania. But when it comes to bringing in new players for the Forest team, he acts as though he has his hands and feet bound, and has done little but save money for the club. Look at the players he bought…The only player that I approve of is Agbonlahor. As for the rest of them…If Mr. Tony Twain's main intention in buying those players was to sell them for a higher price in the future, then I must applaud Mr. Tony Twain for having an excellent business sense. Everyone knows that Nottingham Forest Football Club is going through hard times. Their new stadium got discarded in Clifton right after the workers finished laying the foundation needed for its construction, as though it was mocking its American owners for being overly ambitious. The club is currently in dire need of money, and what should they do to solve this issue? The only thing they can do is sell players, obviously. So they find numerous young players from all over the country who have the potential to go on to become football stars, and they groom them for a few seasons before selling them for a high price…That is a good business strategy.

"However, if Mr. Twain intends to rely on these players to bring Nottingham Forest back to the top, or if he thinks buying them is all he needs to do to have decent results in the league, then I'm sorry, but I have to laugh. Is Nottingham Forest really in such dire straits that they are choosing to rely on a bunch of kids who are probably still feeding on their mother's milk? Or is it that all Mr. Tony Twain is aiming for is to avoid relegation next season, and then get the team to make occasional appearances in the Europa League? Oh, that reminds me, he has yet to clinch a Europa League trophy! This lends credence to my earlier speculation. But allow me to be blunt, Mr. Twain. With your current squad, it would be a challenge to even get into the Europa League…"

The article was full of sarcasm, mockery, and distrust towards Twain, and some of the words used were of a derogatory nature. The article led to a buzz after it was published in The Daily Telegraph.

Everyone knew that Carl Spicer has a long-standing bias against Twain. However, if you took away the strong words that he used in the article, everything he said was actually accurate.

The current Nottingham Forest team, without Piqué, Bendtner, Ribéry, van der Vaart and Arshavin, consisted mainly of young, inexperienced players, and lacked competitiveness.

George Wood was definitely still a player that everyone could trust, and other players, such as Gareth Bale and Pepe, had proven themselves as well.

As for Tiago, it remained to be seen if he was truly suitable for Nottingham Forest.

Twain's insistence on giving Žigić a chance to prove himself the following season was also worrying. After all, it was not as though Twain had not misjudged players in the past.

Eastwood's ankle and knee were both quite fragile. No one knew he would have to lie on the operating table next.

Şahin? That kid had yet to prove whether he was able to regain the form that he showed before he got injured. His performance so far had been largely inconsistent. Of course, from a neutral standpoint, his inconsistent performance had been influenced by the team's poor performance as a whole.

Petrov? He was getting on in age, and had lost a lot of his pace. His attacks were also a little too one-dimensional.

Kris Commons? Frankly, the public had nearly forgotten about him.

Tony Twain might be called 'Britain's Arsene Wenger', but he was still immensely different from Wenger, and Nottingham Forest was not Arsenal, either.

Even Arsenal did not manage to attain any notable results with their exceedingly talented youth team. They failed to become champions in the Premier League, did not win the Champions League, were eliminated in the quarter finals of the EFL Cup, and did not progress beyond the semifinals for the FA Cup…

This demonstrated that it was not beneficial to have a team made up of very young players if the team wanted to become champions of a particular competition. It was impossible, even for a team like Arsenal, with 23 young players overflowing with talent.

It didn't take talent or an exceptional, exciting gift for a team to become champions. Rather, it took an abundance of experience and the ability to perform consistently. Of course, it was also necessary for the team to have luck on its side.

If Tony Twain truly intended to rely on a bunch of kids to stage a comeback, he was certainly building castles in the air!

The public would not mind mocking him when he failed. After all, he had a nuclear-powered heart now. Even if his heart suddenly stopped, he would be revived on the spot. He would not die. Tony Twain was considered a scourge, and scourges typically have long lives…

Of course, they would be more than happy to watch him make a fool of himself if he used his heart problem as an excuse for his failures.