772 The New Year

It was the first time Tang Jing had spent a private Christmas with those she would normally only have access to in interviews. She was extremely curious, but she was quite calm on the surface and hid her professional habits as a reporter very well.

She knew that George Wood did not want reporters to be involved in his private life. Shortly after Wood had become famous, a thoughtless British tabloid had revealed, with a somewhat sarcastic tone, that his mother had previously worked as a cheap prostitute in the slums. George Wood and Nottingham Forest had joined forces to block the media company for good, and no news about the Forest team or Wood would be allowed to appear in that press outlet. If that happened, a lawyer's letter would be issued.

This was different from Twain's bickering style of "blocking." This was for real. Sure enough, Nottingham Forest had had no contact with that media outlet since then.

When Twain came in from outside, his entire personality had changed. He no longer had the same depressed look as before. This Christmas was turning out to be a decent one.

During dinner, he even occasionally joked about the mysterious relationship between Tang Jing and Dunn.

Dunn used silence to deal with Twain's jokes, while Tang Jing seemed quite easy-going.

Dunn no longer lived next door to Twain, and Twain and Shania enjoyed their coupledom. Dunn also had his own private space. So, Twain would not be too surprised if something happened between him and Tang Jing...

Twain's only surprise was that with Dunn's outwardly retiring but deep and passionate inside character, he could develop a love affair with Tang Jing who was extraordinarily extroverted, somewhat carefree and a pseudo career woman. It was just incredible!

Twain felt that these two people were simply not compatible. An outsider would not be able to discern Dunn's strengths without spending a good deal of time getting to know him. So, what exactly did Tang Jing like about him?

Twain felt that he really could not understand the men and women of today. But he forgot that outsiders also shook their heads at his and Shania's "match made in heaven" and simply could not understand their relationship!

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The Western version of "Chinese New Year's Eve family dinner" was different from previous years because of the addition of Tang Jing. It was a different affair.

Tang Jing showed some tension in the beginning, but then she gradually relaxed.

Twain would glance at Sophia from time to time. He could not forget that Sophia held his arm at the door and leaned her head against his shoulder.

He still remembered what it had been like to see Sophia for the first time. At that time, the entire Sneinton ghetto was grey—grey skies, cracked grey streets, grey walls, grey roofs, and even faces with grey expressions. Only the mother sitting at home cutting potatoes was in color, alive and full of a tenacious vitality.

Now that he looked again, Sophia's light was gradually fading, because the surroundings had long ago been filled with color. Or was it because Sophia's own life light was weak?

Twain knew that this woman liked him, but he avoided her and tactfully declined her advanced. Now that he thought about it, was he being too cruel to do this to a weak woman? But Twain could not accept the idea that one must love a person just because one sympathized with her. It would be torture for him and for Sophia.

Fortunately, Sophia was a sensible and intelligent woman. She took a back seat when Shania, who was better suited to Twain, appeared. She was satisfied to nestle against him just for a little while today outside the house.

In this world, good people were not always lucky and good people's lives were not necessarily secure.

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They stayed for a little while after dinner and then Twain and his party bid farewell to Wood and his mother, Sophia.

Twain drove and took Dunn and Tang Jing back to Dunn's home in Branford Garden Lane before Twain returned home on his own.

While he dropped Dunn and Tang Jing off at their destination, Twain did not forget to tease the two of them with glib talk. "Hey, Miss Tang Jing, it's dangerous to be alone with a man."

"It's dangerous to be with you," Tang Jing retorted, unwilling to show weakness. Since she was no longer a reporter, she did not have to play nice because it was no longer an interdependent relationship between them. This was a great thing for Tang Jing. Finally, she did not have to act humbly in front of this overbearing man.

"Ha!" Twain laughed. "I'm a married man. Surely I'm better than a lonely old virgin?"

"I can go back with you, but you'll see stories about how you spent the night with your mystery Chinese lover in The Sun tomorrow, Mr. Twain."

Dunn watched somewhat helplessly as the two of them bickered.

"All right, you win!" Since he had his wife, Twain had to pay attention to the image of his private life. Shania was not around for long periods of time, but Twain could no longer hire a call girl for his physical needs.

"Goodnight! I wish you both a fantastic night together!" Twain did not forget to retaliate against Tang Jing before he left. Then he quickly drove away.

"That old hooligan!" Tang Jing could only spat at the back of the swiftly departing car.

She and Dunn did indeed establish a dating relationship, but their relationship had not progressed to the point of going to bed and having sex together.

Dunn smiled silently. If Twain was "old", should he not be buried and at rest?

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Twain drove and did not head straight back to his home in the northeast part of the city. Instead, he went to the city center.

It was after eight o'clock in the evening and it was still lively here with young couples, close friends and relatives all gathered in the municipal square. They were waiting to enjoy the fireworks display, which would start in a while.

Twain was idle so he simply parked his car in the parking lot and sat in the car to watch the fireworks. Anyway, there was no need to go home so early. Who was he going to spend Christmas with? He'd merely be facing hundreds of square meters of the dark and deserted house.

When the first fireworks bloomed in the night sky, a cheer came from the crowd.

More and more fireworks burst into the sky and burst open. The noise of the commotion grew louder with the scope becoming wider.

Twain was not as happy as those young people. He just looked at the fireworks in the sky, lost in his thoughts. When would he have someone by his side, exclaiming in excitement, as he watched the fireworks here?

In a few days, it would be the New Year and the calendar would turn to 2011. If he were to make a wish, what kind of wish would he make?

The sound of fireworks and explosions, as well as noises from the crowd of people, rang in his ears. Twain closed his eyes and made a wish in his heart. He did not know when it would be fulfilled.

I hope to spend Christmas and New Year with Shania.

Dammit! I'm a married man. Why am I still like a lonely person in university on a day which should be spent together happily with my family?

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After experiencing a Christmas of both joy and sorrow, Twain did not have much time to be depressed. The next day, his team would face Birmingham City at home. Work was still the most important thing.

Back at the training base to start the day of work ahead, Twain did not forget to privately tease Dunn and asked him if he had a good time last night.

Dunn ignored Twain, smiling lasciviously. He got busy with his things and let Twain invite a snub.

After Christmas, everything was as usual except for some players who were not very professional and who looked tired. But Twain had secretly made a note of who had partied too much and had over-indulged, and they would not be on the squad list for the match against Birmingham City.

Nottingham Forest's home game against Birmingham City was their eighteenth fixture in the Premier League this season. It was the first time Tang Jing had sat in a VIP box, rather than watching the game in the media gallery below.

The game ended with Nottingham Forest thrashing Birmingham City 2:0. The left-back, Donovan Slijngard, who was on loan to Birmingham City from Ajax, gave the Forest team a big gift three minutes into the game. He helped Nottingham Forest open the scoring with a wonderful own goal. Shortly after the start of the second half, Eastwood broke the ball into the net after bypassing two players in a row, showing his killer style and helping the team fix the score at 2:0.

The game was perfect in terms of both the results and the play. The Nottingham Forest fans had rarely had such an enjoyable time. Their team pressed their opponent from start to finish throughout the ninety minutes while Birmingham City had only one shot that was not even on target. Apart from the fouls, their players were completely unable to stop the Forest team's attacks. City were merely the game's supporting players. They caused so little trouble for Akinfeev that the television commentators were worried that Akinfeev would feel too cold!

On the other hand, Nottingham Forest had twenty two shots on goal. They had the upper hand in the ball possession rate, pass success rate, cross success rate, tackle success rate and header success rate. Each player on the field played very well, resulting in a wonderful game.

Every Forest fan who left the City Ground stadium was in a good mood, with Tony Twain and his players giving them the best Christmas gift.

Playing attacking football against both Manchester United and Liverpool meant that it was only natural to turn this game into a half of offensive play and another of defensive play against Birmingham City.

Some experts had analyzed whether this was a sign that Nottingham Forest and Tony Twain were about to transform.

Twain did not give any explanation. Two days later on December 28th, he led the team to an away game to the Riverside Stadium and beat Middlesbrough by 1:0.

Although they only scored one goal, they completely controlled the game and had the upper hand in all the statistics.

This had left many experts who had found the Forest team objectionable taken aback. They began to exclaim that Nottingham Forest could win and play well. They had a bit of Arsenal's style.

However, these pundits were all talking nonsense. Twain would not admit that the Forest team was learning from Arsenal. Conscientious people would find that while Nottingham Forest's statistics on ball possession and other statistics had risen, some of their traditional skills had not been lost. For example, their emphasis in the first instance was now on counter-press, and if the counter tackle was not successful, then they would rapidly retreat to defend. They must never give the opponent space and time in their own half to find the chance to breach the goal. It was something Arsenal's Wenger rarely or even never used.

Twain could pursue beauty and momentum during attacking play, but when it came to defense, he suddenly turned into a German, rigorous and meticulous to the point of being slightly harsh.

In attack, he allowed the players to make mistakes or even waste chances. But whoever made a mistake in defense would be certain to be scolded by Twain.

The outside world remained perplexed despite much thought being given to the changes in the Forest team, but the Forest coaching team was not surprised at all. It was the end result of Twain's and their efforts over the last few seasons.

As early as the 06-07 season, Twain developed the idea of controlling the game. But things cropped up intermittently during this period and their vision was only enacted now. Nottingham Forest had the confidence and ability to win against any opponent in a way that ensured both efficiency and that the crowd was pleased.

Once again, the reporter, Pierce Brosnan, served as the mouthpiece for Nottingham Forest and Tony Twain. He wrote an article to praise the way the Forest team was playing now, saying that the Nottingham Forest fans could enjoy victory while savoring it and showing off: "Our team can play the type of football everyone cheers about!"

They certainly did not have a problem with Tony Twain. In fact, with Twain's success at Forest over the years, and his credentials as part of the Forest team since 1996, no fan would be unhappy with him. It was just that when they were arguing with the Arsenal fans or Barcelona fans, they only had the championship title to use as ammunition while the fans of the other two teams could deride Twain's football as "football that makes the most troublesome monkeys sleep."

The feeling of watching the team in the stands firmly in control of the game from start to finish, casually playing and managing the opponent, always feeling assured and not worried about the opponent pressing on them to suddenly score, was too good. Therefore, would Nottingham Forest stick to their new style and keep playing like this?

Twain gave his answer with practical action.

In the last month of 2010, Nottingham Forest had a remarkable record of five wins and one draw in all six games. They did not lose against the traditionally strong teams of Liverpool and Manchester United. They equalized against Manchester United in the away game in the final minute and then won against Liverpool at home, which was not easy.

So, Nottingham Forest won the best team of the month, while Twain won the award for the best manager of the month for the fifteenth time since he took charge.

Having just received the award on New Year's Day, January 1st, 2011, Twain led the team with a tough away win of 1:0 over Blackburn Rovers.

The players were suddenly in a bad shape after crossing into the new year. At the start of the game, Twain was intending to win with the ball possession routine. It turned out that the players were in no form at all, so he changed his mind at the last minute and went back to their old routine: playing the defensive counterattack tactic that the Forest team was most familiar with. It also had the advantage that they did not need to train specially for it.

In the end, with Agbonlahor's goal during a counterattack that was between offside and onside, they had a hard-won victory over Blackburn Rovers and got three points.

The Forest team did not play this game beautifully and it was ugly to watch. The two teams made many mistakes, and it was so dull that people wanted to doze off. It was a world of difference from the previous games. But they eventually won the match. Twain had the confidence in front of the reporters to say, "No! I've never said my team has to stick to that style. I don't care if the team plays well or ugly, as long as we win! It's a fool who plays well and loses a game."

The Times' report lamented the result: "Blackburn Rovers' excellent performance almost caused the curse of the best manager of the month going on to lose the next match to resurface but Tony Twain used his way to minimize that possibility. He's still him. Everything changes in the new year. Only Tony Twain hasn't changed..."