883 The New Manager of The Three Lions

The noses of the media were very sensitive to news. Even though the English Football Association had not officially announced the news about them reaching an agreement with Tony Twain, the news had already been leaked by The Sun.

However, they phrased it as a question, "New head of the Three Lions?"

The picture next to the headlines was a photo of Tony Twain.

The first thing Twain did when he saw this news was to switch off his phone. If he didn't, he knew that he would be bombarded by countless annoying phone calls that day.

The Football Association would be calling for a press conference the next day anyway, so everyone would be able to ask what they wanted to ask then.

※※※

The next day, at the English Football Association office in London Soho Square, the Football Association and Twain attended a press conference and officially announced that Twain would be taking over the role of England's manager.

Media from all over the world gathered at one place to witness it.

Even though he had been the manager of a football club for 11 years, this was still his first experience as the manager of a national team. He wore a new suit today for the special occasion, and even wore a tie, which was a rare occasion.

When he reached the venue, countless cameras were flashing even before he said anything, which stunned the Football Association's executive, Shaun Harvey.

When the two of them were seated, Harvey officially announced that Tony Twain would be taking up the reins as the England national team's manager.

"We're very happy to be able to get Tony Twain to take up the role of England's manager. Amongst the many candidates, Tony Twain's results were the key to him being chosen. His achievements when he was with Nottingham Forest are very satisfactory for us. We're very confident that the England team will be able to welcome the new dawn under Tony Twain's guidance."

Twain and the Football Association signed a two-year contract. The target was to win the European Championship, and depending on the results of that competition, they would decide if the contract would be extended to the World Cup.

Next, it was time for Twain to give a short speech about him taking up the post.

"Leading the England team is a new challenge to me, and I like challenges."

Once Twain said that, he sat back, which meant the reporters were free to ask questions. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.novelhall.com for visiting.

It was short indeed.

The first reporter to stand and present his question was from The Times. His question was acceptable, "Mr. Twain, the best result that the previous manager, Capello, achieved was fourth place in the World Cup. May I ask if you have a specific target?"

Twain was about to answer when Harvey interrupted from the side, "Our target is the European Championship."

Twain glanced at him, then nodded and said, "Yes, the short-term target is the European Championship."

The questions after that went further and further away from the topic.

The reporters were obviously more interested in the reason Twain resigned from his post as Nottingham Forest's manager. Tony Twain had not given an explanation for that yet, and the Nottingham Forest Football Club had not revealed more information.

The reporter from The Sun stood up and asked, "Mr. Twain, what was your motive behind leaving Nottingham Forest when you were at the most glorious moment in your career?"

Twain looked at Harvey. The Football Association's executive also felt very awkward.

Therefore, Twain opened his arms and said, "I'm sorry, this is the press conference held by the Football Association regarding the new England manager, not a press conference for Nottingham Forest Football Club. You're at the wrong place, Mr. reporter from The Sun."

The moment had finally arrived. The reporters were exceptionally excited. They had not seen Twain for a month, but Twain was still unfriendly to them. When he was at the club, he did not have a good relationship with the media. They should not be under the illusion that things would change and that they would work in harmony now that Twain was with the England national team.

The media used Twain to attract more attention and readers by provoking him, whereas for Twain, going against the media was one of his greatest sources of happiness. Being the manager of a football team came with a lot of pressure. There had to be a way for him to let some of it go. Going against the media was not a bad way of doing so.

The reporters from The Sun wanted to continue their questioning, but Harvey finally interrupted again, "Mr. reporter, please ensure that your questions are relevant to the main topic today, otherwise, we have the right to not answer."

"Alright, Mr. Harvey. I have a question for you," the reporter smiled and nodded, "As the English Football Association, you've undoubtedly chosen Tony Twain as the manager of the national team because of his results. Is the Football Association worried that Mr. Twain's big mouth might bring about some unnecessary trouble for the team and the Football Association?"

"Um…" Harvey secretly cursed under his breath, "We believe that Tony Twain will be mindful of his actions."

Twain took over from him, "Don't worry about this matter, I'll definitely not bring any trouble to the Football Association or the England squad. I'll only retaliate if someone else takes the initiative to provoke me. I also hope that we'll be able to coexist peacefully in the days to come," when he finished, he glanced at the reporter from The Sun with a look that suggested there was a hidden meaning within his words.

When it was known that Twain was attending the press conference, Pierce Brosnan was sent to London by the chief editor in the hope that his personal relationship with Twain would bring him some exclusive news. Unfortunately, Twain had switched off his phone, and Brosnan could only attend the press conference in the same way as the other reporters.

He was picked by the host and stood up to ask his question. Like the reporter from The Sun, he wanted to ask Twain why he left Forest, but he knew that he would not get any answers by asking that. All that would've done was destroy the relationship between him and Twain.

"Mr. Twain, can you reveal some of the principles that you plan to build your team around?

"All the English players have a chance to be chosen for the national team. I do not care about their fame, or even what their names are. I'll only look at their form and their attitudes. Lazy players have no place on my team," Twain replied, indicating an "iron hand", but that was within everybody's expectations. That was the kind of manager that he was. He was like this when he was with Nottingham Forest—he would not take no for an answer, and nobody could oppose what he said.

Brosnan did not continue to ask questions and sat down. Another person stood up, "Mr. Twain, when you were at Nottingham Forest, you thought that Forest was the best team in England. Do you plan to build the team around the English players on the Forest team then?"

Of course, Twain knew that this person was asking if he would be biased towards the English players in Nottingham Forest in a roundabout way. He did not bother to explain, "No, I won't do that. I'll be impartial in choosing my players." This did not agree with his character and style.

He nodded and said, "If they perform well, why not?"

Appointing people based on favoritism was bad, but there was also a saying that states one should appoint people based on their merits. Compared to the players of the other teams, he was more familiar with the Nottingham Forest players, therefore the Forest players would naturally look to him for some help. Twain did not avoid this topic, in fact, he was prepared for it.

If the media were to criticize him, the reason for that would not be because he picked too many Forest players, but because he lost the match. Therefore, the national team was no different from the club, as long as his team won, there would not be any problem.

After he understood the fundamentals of the problem, things became much simpler.

Twain handled the rounds of questions by the media perfectly, showing no weakness. After resting for more than a month, the time did not look like it affected him at all. When the press conference ended, Harvey was very satisfied with Twain's performance—he had not caused any problems at the press conference.

Harvey just hoped that this was not a rare, lucky occasion.

※※※

After the press conference, news of Tony Twain taking up the role of England's manager was on all major prints, television, radio broadcasts, and the internet. Twain became the hottest news topic.

His pictures were all over the newspapers.

BBC was planning to send him an invitation for an exclusive interview.

Kerslake was having breakfast while reading the latest newspaper. He flipped to the sports section first.

He saw a front-page picture of Twain. He was wearing a bespoke suit with a tie and a stern expression on his face.

Kerslake was reminded of the way he left Forest when he saw Twain's picture. There was no doubt that Twain had lied to him, promising him that he would be the first to know. In the end, the news spread like wildfire amongst the media before he received a postcard with a tropical bikini lady from Brazil that Twain sent to tell him that he had resigned.

This was sudden news, but Kerslake was prepared for it. As an assistant manager, he knew very well that Twain and Allan had a rocky relationship. But he did not expect Twain to abandon the team that he had painstakingly managed for 11 years just because of this reason. He was truly an enigma; one could not predict what he would do through normal logic.

In Kerslake's opinion, leaving at the highest point of his career was a very difficult decision. However, he did not know that Twain had been considering this problem for a whole year and was still hesitant in the end. If Evan's actions had not disappointed him so much, he might have still stayed in Wilford. Initially, he had the intention of leaving because of the row with Allan, but he eventually realized that Evan, with his smiling face, was also against him; that meant that he did not have to struggle anymore because it would be much easier for him to just leave.

Kerslake sighed at the way fate worked while holding the newspaper before putting it down and continuing with his breakfast. Then, his phone rang.

Looking at the phone number, it was Tony Twain!

"You finally called, Tony. Is it to apologize?"

"I'm very sorry, David. I did not know that the club would call a press conference so quickly. I sent the postcard as soon as I reached Brazil." Twain knew what Kerslake was referring to by "apologize", and he did owe his partner an apology. He also had a favor to ask of him.

"Forget it, let bygones be bygones. Do you need me for something?" Kerslake did not want to dwell on that matter as it was pointless.

"It's like this, David. You should know by now that I'm England's new manager, right?"

"I'm reading the papers. You look too stern in the photo."

"Ha!" Twain laughed, "I'm now a general with no army, there's no one to help me. I intend to invite you to join England's coaching team. We work well together. There won't be any problems!"

Kerslake stopped eating and fell silent for a while.

Twain did not rush him, he knew that this was sudden news and he had to give him some time to think, "You don't have to give me an answer now, David. You can take a few days to consider and call me after that…"

"No, I reject your offer, Tony."

"Really, you can take a few days to consider it, David."

"I've already considered it just now," Kerslake was firm in his answer, there was no room for discussion.

"Okay then… Can you tell me why?" Twain knew he could not persuade Kerslake because he did not like to force people to do things that they did not want to.

"I love Forest, Tony. After you left, Forest was a mess. The new manager, Martin O'Neill doesn't understand this team at all. I have to stay and help him get acclimated to the team as soon as possible. Now that you're gone, if I leave too, I don't know what will become of this team…"

Twain felt his face flush a little when he heard what Kerslake said. He had been forcing himself to ignore news about Forest because he was afraid that he would feel heartache—the team of champions that he built with his own hands had already sold two of its players, and the word was they were going to keep selling. When the new season began, how many of the original members would be left of the treble-winning Nottingham Forest team?

"If Tang was still here, I might have said yes. Oh yes, why don't you ask Tang?"

Twain thought to himself that it would be pointless to ask him, the answer would be the same as Kerslake's. He wanted to be a manager, and he was doing well in Notts County. Why would he leave the team that he had been leading to be an assistant manager for Twain on the England national team?

"Sorry that I can't help you, Tony. I wish you all the best."

After he hung up the call from Twain, Kerslake picked up the newspaper again. He was in a daze for quite a while as he looked at Twain's picture in the paper.

"Who was calling so early in the morning?" his wife asked, wiping her hands as she came out from the bathroom. She had been giving their son a bath.

"An old friend," Kerslake replied as he put down the newspaper again, finishing up his breakfast.

※※※

Twain was troubled by the fact that he had no suitable coaching team now—even though his coaching team had been very good at Nottingham Forests, they were not willing to join the England team. When Capello became manager, he brought an all-Italian coaching staff. From the assistant manager to the goalkeeping coach and the fitness coach, they were all Italians. When Capello left his post, these Italians left England with him, leaving nothing for Twain. He had to first build his coaching team before he built the team.

He gave Roy Keane a call next, hoping to invite him to be England's assistant manager. As expected, Keane rejected him.

"I'm Irish, Tony," Keane gave a strange laugh, perhaps due to the strange nature of Twain's invitation, "How could I possibly be an assistant manager for the England team? Have you ever seen an Argentine being an assistant manager for the Brazil national team?"

Twain realized that he was not a very popular person. Other than a few friends, he was unable to find any more potential partners. Those friends of his were all managers of their own teams. For them to drop what they were doing and be his assistant manager? They would have to be crazy to do so.

Even though the Football Association recommended a few candidates for him, Twain still hoped to look for one himself. In this way, the coach that he found would be the one that he truly needed, and they would be able to work together and achieve more with the same effort.

He needed an assistant manager, a goalkeeping coach, a fitness coach, and a psychologist. The most important one amongst them was an assistant manager. Twain's managing style meant that he needed an able assistant manager to support him so that he did not have to worry much about the training, and he could focus more on the tactics and analysis of their opponents.

This assistant manager did not need to be very famous, just capable and willing to listen to what Twain said. Twain was able to control the locker room himself, an assistant manager who had a mediocre character might even have a better effect.

Where would he find an assistant manager like that?