876 The Storm before the Nigh

It wasn't until noon the next day that Twain met all the Nottingham Forest team members in the restaurant, both players and coaches. There was no one in the hotel restaurant in the morning. Twain knew that everyone had gone through a full frenzied night of partying, so they all must have slept in. Anyway, the season had already ended, so he would not ask anyone to knock on their doors.

After the team lunch, they would take a flight back to England, then an open-top double-decker bus from Birmingham Airport into Nottingham. Following their arrival, they would have an interview with the mayor at the city square, after which they would climb onto the town hall balcony and meet the fans that would gather there. That was their itinerary for the day. There was no arrangement to celebrate during the evening at the City Stadium because it was closed for the final preparations before its demolition.

On the flight from Madrid to Birmingham, Evan Doughty and Allan Adams were in first-class seating and did not go to find Twain, thinking that Twain did not want them to disturb him either. Twain leaned against his seat and texted Shania to ask where she wanted to go this holiday.

Most of the players continued to sleep on the plane. The beautiful stewardesses were elegant and careful, but they were also helpless in front of guys who were continuously snoring.

After the plane landed in Birmingham, it was Twain and Wood who carried the championship trophy and were the first to walk down the plane's ladder.

Reporters who had been waiting for a long time swarmed. In an instant, there were several flashes and some players who were still drowsy almost rolled down the ladder when they looked up.

Twain was interviewed after disembarking and was asked to give an impromptu speech.

"This is a gift to all the Nottingham Forest fans." He held up his trophy, and the silver glinted in the afternoon sun.

Instead of an emotional and passionate speech, he simply waved to the camera, saying, "I love you all."

Then he walked into the crowd and left the scene under police protection.

This left a few stunned reporters facing each other. It was not like Twain to give such a short speech.

Only Evan Doughty and Allan Adams knew why – when Twain had decided to leave the scene, there was not much meaning to any words he might try to force out.

Twain forced a smile in front of everyone, but he was not in a good mood. If he were alone, that smile would disappear, and he would just stare into space.

He stayed like this, zoned out, until he ascended to the second-floor balcony of City Hall to face the tens of thousands of Nottingham Forest fans below. He only came forward when he needed to, choosing to hide behind the other players most of the time, his gaze constantly moving.

Every time he saw the enthusiastic fans below, he had to think about how to deal with them after he announced the news. What would the people who once supported him think? Would they continue to support him, or would they shun him? Would he need to wear sunglasses and dress up differently whenever he walked within the city of Nottingham?

And his players. How would his loyal players feel in their hearts if they knew their coach had betrayed them? Twain did not dare to think about this future. He felt sorry for the team, but he had no choice. He did not want to force himself to stay any longer. Leading the team to the club's unprecedented Triple Crown was the one compensation he could offer these people, which allowed Twain's heart to settle a little.

Twain did not tell Shania when he was making the decision. Perhaps he could have sought Shania's comfort and support, but that would also have made Shania worry for him. Twain did not want that to happen, so he chose to bear the burden alone.

"Coach! Hey, coach!" Bale called a few times from the side before managing to wake the daydreaming Twain.

"Ah?" What's the matter, little monkey? " Twain called Bale's nickname.

"They're all shouting your name." Bale pointed to the crowds below.

Twain knew he needed to go forward and wave again, so he squeezed towards the front.

The fans below stopped shouting when they saw Twain reappeared, then following the moment of silence came a booming cheer.

Twain waved to them with a huge smile on his face.

Wood handed him a microphone. It was not as simple as just waving his hand, he needed to make a speech.

Twain received the microphone and looked at the people below, his mouth opened but he did not know what to say. He zoned out on the spot, microphone still in hand.

As the cheers faded, Twain realized that his awkward moment would be exposed if he didn't say something. He coughed and began, "Thank you all so much for being here."

Then he got stuck again.

"Well... Thank you again for this... One season of support." He almost said, "the support over the past 11 years."

"We won three of the most important championships. " Twain pointed to the three trophies of different shapes and sizes in front of him. They were the English Premier League Champions Trophy, the FA Cup and the freshly released European Champions Cup. "Here are three love letters for all of you. I love you all. "

When he said this, Twain was not being pretentious and fake. He truly loved this group of fans. After all, he had coached this team for eleven years; there were no fake feelings involved.

Someone passionately screamed from below, "I love you, Tony!"

There was no shortage of sexy women within the crowd. The players behind him whistled.

"We wouldn't have achieved those results without your support, " Twain continued after the commotion. "I will always remember you guys. This day belongs to you! Go and have lots of fun!" He handed the microphone off to the people around him and stepped back.

"The head coach is acting a little weird..." Bale muttered to Wood.

Wood looked at Twain and did not respond.

"Maybe he's tired." Others were also taking notice of Twain's strange behavior. Normally, the head coach would make sure to deliver a speech here that would excite his supporters and incite fear in his opponents to bring the atmosphere to its climax. But the head coach of today was like a poet. He was a little… sentimental…

His statement garnered the approval of others. These days, the head coach was extremely tired. Everyone saw this and could tell that his words were genuine. Players would be physically tired at most, but being the coach involved being emotionally and intellectually fatigued. If he was mentally tired, he would naturally not have enough strength to make an emotional and passionate speech at this moment.

The revelry with the fans continued into the evening. Nottingham Forest's players and the three trophies finally disappeared from the second-floor balcony. Their whole team went to the mayor's dinner, and the fans left to continue to celebrate the great season at the bars.

※※※

On the same day, the media also started buzzing.

The Spanish media were not happy with Nottingham Forest winning the Champions League. They did not think Nottingham Forest had any reason to win the championship and that they stole the trophy. Whether it was the team line-up, athleticism or the audience's opinions, Real Madrid was considered more qualified to win the trophy than Nottingham Forest.

In addition to criticizing Tony Twain for his lack of proper championship demeanor in his post-match press conference, they also talked about Pepe's red card. The majority most likely wanted to force Pepe to retire, if only they could stop arguing about it.

Real Madrid had not spoken yet, but Angel Torres, who had a Real Madrid membership card and was the younger brother of the president of Real Madrid, spoke up and publicly criticized Pepe, claiming, "Nottingham Forest should expel such violent players from the team."

Despite Pepe's public apology in the English media the next day and his tears of remorse, the Spanish people did not waver. There was still some clamoring in Spanish media for Pepe to be banned from matches forever. The reason being: "In the final match of the European Champions Cup, in such an important, high-profile game, such violent actions are a disgrace to football, and such a person simply does not deserve to play football!"

Marca was concerned about UEFA's reaction towards the incident. The UEFA's response was swift — in fact, everything regarding Nottingham Forest and Tony Twain, like penalty decisions, was decided quickly. On the second day after the match, they had already made a penalty decision: a 15-game ban and a fine of 50,000 euros for Pepe's European matches. That meant that even if Nottingham Forest reached the Champions League final next season, Pepe would miss all 13 games. On top of that, Pepe would be suspended for the European Super Cup at the end of August as well as another match during the next season – if, of course, Nottingham Forest could still qualify for European competitions, whether it was the Confederations Cup, the Champions League, or for the European Super Cup.

This was a rather severe penalty.

Nottingham Forest did not appeal against this decision. Instead, the club quietly accepted the penalty, so the Spanish media had speculated whether the Nottingham Forest club would also impose penalties on Pepe. Unfortunately, they did not receive any news on this, and Nottingham Forest Club did not announce any form of punishment for Pepe — he would not even receive a reduced winning bonus.

Pepe was in a very bad mood at first because, after calming down, he also felt that he had created an incredible mess of things. He even thought about retiring. If it were not for the coach, he might have gone ahead and retired.

It was the head coach who found Pepe at lunchtime the next day and pulled him into the corner for more than half an hour to explain the club's stance as well as his viewpoint. Outside of this penalty, there would be no further complications, so it would be best to simply let bygones be bygones. Twain understood what Pepe did at that time and would not impose any further punishment.

Twain's tolerance and understanding made Pepe grateful and strengthened his determination to remain loyal to the Nottingham team. Now, Twain was still dealing with all kinds of issues, and when he was free, he would argue against the Spanish media on his own forums. The Spanish people would have the opportunity to suffer Twain's scolding.

Most of the English media were speculating about another event that had nothing to do with winning the title, but rather whether the affinity between Tony Twain and Nottingham Forest had come to an end. Ever since the news was exposed, it was like a tropical rainstorm, sweeping through the English media. As for Tony Twain leading the team to achieve the treble, the news became more common and uninteresting in comparison.

The mayor also asked about this matter during the celebratory dinner at the mayor's official residence. The Nottingham team's trio laughed harmoniously at the mayor's concern as if there were no conflicts at all. Twain continuously promised to "settle down for a few days first, then consider a contract extension", and Evan Doughty reassured the mayor, swearing that the club would offer their meritorious coach a contract that would match what he had achieved so far.

But the mayor would never know what the three people were actually thinking.

Some players heard similar news from other sources, and they ran to the head coach during the party to ask if he was really leaving. This was what Twain found the hardest to deal with: he did not want to lie in front of his players, but then again, this was not the time to reveal everything. He only entertained them by saying, "You guys will know soon." He wanted to pretend to be mysterious so nobody would not blindly speculate.

In the end, he simply hid outside alone to enjoy the cold breeze.

This was the corner of the garden of the official residence. It was very dark, and usually, no one would come to this place. Twain hid here, thinking that he could get through the night in solitude, but he did not expect to meet an uninvited guest.

"If I said, 'Hey, what a coincidence!' You wouldn't buy it, would you?" The visitor was carrying a wine glass and it looked like he was coming out to enjoy the cold breeze as well.

Twain looked at him and did not say anything.

The man continued, "You don't have to be like this, right, Twain? Since you have decided to leave, then the feud between us should be over, shouldn't it? "

Twain's voice seemed to come out of his nose, "Good evening, Mr. Allan Adams."

Twain was finally willing to talk to him. Allan smiled, "I don't have many opinions about you, Tony. Everything I do is based on the financial considerations for the club. It's like how everything you think is based on team results. The two of us... well maybe if we weren't handling such matters, could be friends."

"Maybe," Twain said coldly. If it were not for the man in front of him, his affinity with the Nottingham Forest might not have been broken so quickly.

"Can I ask you what you're going to do after you leave here? No, I'm not asking where you are going with your wife; it's about football..." Allan waved.

Twain thought, then shook his head, "I don't know, no plans. Maybe I'll take a break from football." Then, he smiled coldly. "Are you still worried that I'm going to Manchester United to become Nottingham Forest's enemy?"

Allan did not say anything. It was as if he was acknowledging it silently.

"I'm not interested," Twain shrugged. "I can't be too sure about the far future, but I won't be coaching any Premier League team in the years to come. "

He did not say why, but the reason was obvious. After leading Nottingham Forest for eleven years, this team had become intricately ingrained with him — both entities were one and the same. He was simply unable to imagine himself as the manager of another Premier League team and directing them against Nottingham Forest. When he was at Nottingham Forest, he managed to make the rest of the Premier League enemies of Nottingham Forest, so how could he now turn around and become the very enemy he created?

Allan seemed relieved. When they had first signed the contract with Twain, they had never thought of this moment, otherwise, he would have written in the contract, "Once the two sides decide not to renew the contract, five years upon the expiry of the contract, Party B would not be allowed to coach any team within the same league." At least now, he felt a little more at ease.

Was he afraid of Tony? To tell the truth, he was indeed afraid. He was afraid to become an enemy of Tony Twain. When this guy went crazy, he would throw everything out of the window and become a completely different person.

After confirming this matter, Allan had no more reason to talk about the past with Tony Twain. He excused himself, leaving Tony Twain alone. Twain looked at the brightly lit doorway as the noise came out vaguely.

He suddenly felt a little lonely, but he liked this type of loneliness. If it was possible, he wanted to stay that way until the end of the dinner party, and then he could go home and hug his dear wife.

After spending a moment alone in the dark, Twain returned to the lively hall. Chris Kerslake approached him, "Where have you been, Tony? I was looking for you but could not find you. "

"Went outside for a breather. Why were you looking for me?"

"Well... I heard a little rumor." Chris Kerslake looked at Twain.

"And you want me to confirm it?"

Chris Kerslake nodded.

Twain hesitated for a while.

"You'll know soon, David. " He used the same excuse as he had been all night to avoid the question.

"When? If you want to renew your contract with the club, wouldn't it be in these next few days?"

"You'll find out in a few days, David." Twain patted his old partner on the shoulder.

He did not lie on purpose, but he hadn't thought about how to say goodbye to the people closest to him. After today, the team would be immediately disbanded, and everyone could go and settle their respective matters. Some would go on vacation and they would not see each other until the next gathering. Because of the World Cup, the first to return to the team would be players who were not selected for their respective national teams. Twain needed to commentate on the World Cup, so the team would be led by his assistants for the time being. By the time the World Cup would be over, his contract with the club would have been long expired.

He also knew that Evan and Allan would not wait until June 30 to find possible replacements for him, and the news would not be able to stay hidden for very long. Still, he wanted this to drag on, so at least he would be able to think of ways to bid farewell to everyone.

"If there are any developments, I'll turn to you first to let you know, David," Twain laughed.

"Okay..." Chris Kerslake sighed helplessly. "My handphone will be on twenty-four seven. "

"Thank you, David."

"What are you thanking me for? Ugh, also… I don't know why, but my heart feels a little uneasy. Maybe I drank a little too much?" Chris Kerslake muttered and turned away.

Twain's troubles weighed heavier and heavier.

"I'm sorry, comrades. I'm not going to continue to lead you to future victory and championship. I have decided to resign automatically when my contract expires because of conflict between me and the club. I wish you all the best."

There were so many people, how could he say that to all of them?