Godfather Of Champions

In the training session the next afternoon, the teammates were very curious to ask some details about Albertini's farewell match. They are all playing football, and are still very interested in those legendary stars.

Albertini also did not refuse to answer everyone's constant questions. For many active players in the Forest team, Baresi, Van Basten, Gullit, Rijkaard, Stoichkov... …And others are considered legendary.

He would be happy to tell everyone the stories of these people.

Of course, on the premise of not affecting training, he always said this during training intervals.

Dunn did not stop them. He felt that the story of the legendary star could inspire the determination of young players to strive upward.

After the training, Albertini approached Dunn, thanked him for joining him yesterday, and then mentioned the text message.

"Thank you, boss, but I think I have had a very good farewell match. To be able to complete the final contract with the Forest team is my biggest wish now." Albertini is such a real and direct person. , He put forward his ideas straightforwardly.

Dunn, who has become accustomed to Albertini’s way of doing things, is not angry. He smiled and looked at Albertini: "Are you satisfied? But I'm not satisfied yet, Demi. My captain, how could there be only this one? What about the irrelevant farewell game? The best players in the world need a special stage to call their curtains, an exhibition game? I don’t think it’s for you.

"but……"

"Yesterday's game was just your bidding farewell to AC Milan. Are you not against me saying that?"

Albertini shook his head, as he thought so.

"Look, we have no differences now. Yesterday you said goodbye to AC Milan, but not that you said goodbye to Nottingham Forest and the football stadium. So it is necessary for the Nottingham Forest Club to prepare another farewell game for you. This is the Forest team's goal. Her captain’s farewell ceremony, don’t refuse.” Dunn pointed to Albertini, who had just opened his mouth closed again. "There has never been this rule. The captain of a team has retired, but the team that he belonged to has not said at all."

Dunn looked at Albertini, who was silent, and continued: "Is it because you can no longer hold other teams in your heart except AC Milan, Demi?"

This time Albertini quickly explained: "No, boss. It's not like that... It's just that I think it's just for me..."

"It's just a matter of hand, Demi. You think we'll find people all over the world to play an exhibition match that doesn't care about the result?"

Albertini acquiesced.

Dunn smiled.

"Didn’t I tell you? That kind of farewell match is not something I want to give to you. Don’t worry, your farewell match will definitely not make all of us feel troublesome or difficult. Don’t think about it. , Just train and play well. The farewell match... When that day comes, everything will be ready. That is the most suitable stage for you..."

Albertini had nothing to say. Looking at Dun En's confident smile, he nodded: "Okay, I will listen to you, boss."

Dunn smiled and patted him on the shoulder: "Go back, Demi. Just let me think about this kind of thing. Just enjoy the last half of the season."

Always left Albertini, Dunn talked about it on the way home with Tang. Tang was also very interested in what kind of farewell Dunn would send Albertini to. He didn't expect Dunn to be surprised when he asked this question.

"You don't know, Don? I thought you knew."

Tang thought for a while and understood. "Now I know. But you are so confident... Now you are giving gifts everywhere, Albertini, Beckham, Kenny Burns, and club chairman... You are not afraid in case you end up playing it. What should I do?"

"I have confidence in my team." Dunn put away the smile on his face and said seriously, "I think it's time to win the championship."

※※※

On January 13, the league after a week of truce reignited. In the 23rd round, Nottingham Forest played Portsmouth at home. The opponent's strength is not strong, the forest team at home also won easily-3:0.

Manchester United is still strong in the league, and because of winning this game, the Forest team even has the chance to return to second place in the league. Now they are only one point away from Chelsea: Chelsea 51 points, Nottingham Forest 50 points .

This is great news. Many people in the club are talking about which round they will catch up with Chelsea and pull this old rival down from Malaysia.

But Dunn calmed down. He feels that this good news is a trap for the team if it is not handled well. If the Forest team really aims to catch up with Chelsea, then it is likely to expend too much energy before the Champions League knockout. He needs to stabilize the team's rhythm.

So after the end of this round of the league, Dunn held a special internal meeting of the coaching staff to reiterate that the team’s goal this season is the Champions League. The league is not in the plan. There is no need to go to the game to surpass Chelsea. Wan What should I do if I have injured a few important players? The team now has only so few first-team players, and one less player is a disaster.

With the current strength of the team, it is impossible to advance at full speed on several fronts at the same time to compete for the championship.

Even the FA Cup, a historic event, he was given to the reserve team and youth team to play.

After unifying opinions within the coaching staff, Dunn emphasized it again among the players.

Due to the good cooperation between the club and the Royal College of Medicine at the University of Nottingham, the team’s injuries are now under great control, and such large-scale injuries rarely occur. Nevertheless, Dunn has been worried about the problem still appeared in the next round of league.

Since being shoveled in the game against Reading, Brazil-now a Portuguese citizen and a member of the Portuguese national team-defender Pepe has suffered minor injuries.

Beat and stop, beat and stop.

Coincidentally, in the 24th round of the league, Nottingham Forest's opponent happened to be the Reading team.

But this time the Forest team played away.

For this game, the Football Association of England attaches great importance to it and sent a number of game supervisors to the scene to closely monitor several "dangerous people"-such as George Wood and Hunter.

Because of the heavy penalties ahead, the players on both sides of the game were much more honest. But the FA can control the players but not the fans. The Forest team was on the away game and was almost overwhelmed by the booing and cursing of the Redding team. No matter who it is, as long as the players of the Forest team get the ball, they will be greeted by overwhelming boos. Even head coach Tony Dunn is not immune. Every time he walks out of the coach's bench and stands on the sidelines, he will boo and curse in the stands behind the visiting team's coach's bench.

Dunn was unmoved, standing proudly amidst the stormy boos, it was so cool and cool. Even the game commentary repeatedly mentioned Dunn's psychological quality.

But only the people on the forest team's coaching bench will know what's going on-Dunn carries the Apple IPOD with him, then wears earplugs, listens to the "German Chariot" music, and turns the volume to the maximum. He couldn't hear what he was scolding outside...Of course, he couldn't hear what he said himself. He could only shout loudly, but in this environment, if you didn't shout loudly, others couldn't hear him. Say what.

The result of this is that every time he sees Dunn posing on the sidelines with a serious face and listening to the insults coming from behind the coaching bench, Chris Lak wants to laugh.

Dunn was able to put headphones in his ears and listen to the loudest music. The players on the field did not have this condition. Under the huge away pressure, the players of the Forest team did not play very well.

In the second half, when Pepe was one-on-one with the opposing forward, he sprained his knee too quickly and had to be replaced early.

At that time, Dunn didn't take it seriously. After all, as mentioned earlier, Pepe has been suffering from minor injuries. He replaced Pepe with Kompany and continued to stand on the sidelines as a target for the Reading fans, dispersing the pressure on the players.

During the intermission, Dunn roared at the team, telling them that if they couldn’t take Reading away, they would be sorry for Paul Gerrard, who is still recuperating at home, and that everyone in Nottingham Forest would be killed by Reading. People laughed. So no matter how much pressure they face now, they must win this game.

Supported by this spirit, Nottingham Forest eventually won Reading 2:1 in an away game and ended the away trip in a long booing.

But on the way back to Nottingham, Dunn finally received bad news.

Team doctor Fleming told Dun En clearly that Pepe needs to rest for at least three months. If you don’t want it to become a stubborn illness, which recurs in the future, you must have surgery immediately.

Dunn's face, who was grinning because he won the ball, suddenly became cloudy.

Pepe is now a defensive general, he and Pikwe are very skilled, especially Pepe has matured and experienced beyond the actual age. His one-on-one ability has caused many Premier League forwards to suffer. Excellent explosive power and accurate judgment of the landing point allow him to take the lead in the fight for the head ball. Coupled with good speed, as a middle The guard, there is hardly anything wrong. Dunn said in front of the media more than once that Pepe has all the qualifications to become a world-class central defender. What he needs now is the accumulation of game experience and one or two champions with sufficient weight.

Unexpectedly, after the battle with the Reading team, Pepe became a "quasi-glass man". This time it was a complete break.

As the head coach, how can Dunn not get angry?

"Damn Redding..." He cursed in a low voice, "Is there no other way besides surgery?" After cursing Redding, Dunn asked Fleming again.

"Without surgery, it may take longer to recover slowly, and it will often relapse in the future... He may not be able to play ten games in a season."

"Well, surgery is surgery... I need him to come back before May."

"If everything goes well-the operation and postoperative recovery are all going well, I think there is no problem."

After finishing the conversation with Fleming, Dunn began to sit in the seat alone and think about how to use the winter transfer period to supplement the team's guards.

There are not many central defenders who can be bought at this time, and the strength is not weak... Dunn carefully searched in his mind for a while, and finally decided on a candidate.

Argentine veteran Roberto Ayala (Roberto_Ayala) who has been very unhappy in Valencia.

Although he is almost thirty-four years old, as an experienced central defender, his strength is beyond doubt. In the most recent season, he has been banished due to a conflict with the Valencia team leader Caboni. Ayala wanted to leave Valencia for a long time, and change the environment.

At this time, whether it is a transfer or a loan, it is easy to say.

Dunn decided to return to Nottingham and asked the club to contact the Valencia club, and if the price was right, he would buy it directly. If the price cannot be negotiated, rent it out for half a season. Anyway, Ayala is basically unable to play in Valencia.

With the current influence of the Forest team, Ayala will not refuse this opportunity.

The only regret is that Ayala cannot represent the Forest team in the UEFA Champions League, because he has already played for Valencia in the Champions League this season.

It seems that the Champions League can only be watched by young people holding up...

Speaking of the Champions League, Dunn is about to participate in the draw ceremony. He is very much looking forward to this draw...

※※※

Back in Nottingham, Dunn checked the information and found that things were different from what he had imagined, but the problem was not big.

Ayala's contract with Valencia will expire at the end of this season. Ayala made a request to the club a year ago to renew his contract with Valencia and end his career in this club. But after the World Cup, the news he waited for was that Valencia did not plan to renew his contract with the 33-year-old. This disappointed him and caused a conflict with Caboni.

There are not many teams that are currently interested in Ayala, after all, his age lies there. His agent had contacted Biellarreal. It happened in June last year. At that time, Valencia rejected the deal. They did not want Ayala to stay in Spain. Go abroad to develop. All Spanish clubs who want to pursue Ayala will make Valencia very dissatisfied.

This is not good news for Ayala, but great news for Tony Dunn.

Foreign club? Nottingham Forest is!

Now after the New Year, Valencia is finally unable to continue to obstruct, Ayala's agent is contacting Real Zaragoza, hoping to make Ayala only transfer to join this team. If there are no accidents, I believe Ayala belongs to this club.

But now, the accident has come.

After getting the mobile phone number of Ayala's agent Mascari, Dunn couldn't wait to dial the phone. First of all, he needs to know what the players think about the transfer to an English team. If there is no objection, he will talk to Valencia right away-of course, not about the transfer, but on loan. Dunn doesn't want to spend millions of transfer fees for a player destined to be free.

This conversation with Mascati is confidential and cannot be known to the Valencia Club, otherwise it will be difficult to handle.

During the phone call, he fully expressed Nottingham Forest’s need for Ayala and his personal appreciation of the former Argentine national team captain. He hoped that Muscati could convey this transfer invitation to Ayala. .

There is no suspense. Valencia does not want Ayala to stay in Spain, and several major domestic teams have no interest in Ayala, who is aging and frail. The few clubs that Mascati have no choice but to choose are not strong enough, if not forced to do so. There is no choice. Who wants to go to Zaragoza's downstream team that can't even play in the UEFA Cup?

Under this circumstance, there is a team that is not only foreign, but also not weak, expressing their appreciation for Ayala, what else can he hesitate?

Muscati flew to Nottingham the next day and started discussing Ayala's personal contract with the Nottingham Forest Club.

Ayala hopes to end his career in the last club, so Mascati gave the Forest team a condition that they must sign a three-year contract, for which the annual salary requirement can be appropriately lowered.

In three years, Ayala will be thirty-seven years old, which is the age for retirement. Even though Alan Adams did not agree to pay another year's salary for a 36-year-old man, Dunn agreed. Dunn is the general manager of the athletics department, and Allen can do nothing but dissatisfaction.

The term of the contract is the biggest problem. Once this is done, everything else is simple.

After the personal contract was negotiated, the Forest team began to ask Valencia to rent Ayala.

As long as it is not a domestic club to ask for Ayala, Valencia is very happy. The forest team's loan request quickly received a positive response. Valencia agreed to loan Ayala to the forest team, but they needed to pay 50% of their salary.

This will definitely not work. Allen negotiated with Valencia and finally succeeded in persuading them to change from 50% to 20%.

Dunn also knows well that the forest team's defense is too young at present, and problems will surely occur in the long run. After Hierro, he needs an experienced old man to play in the future, and at the same time impart his valuable experience to the young defenders. Ayala fits his requirements very well: he is old, experienced, and the level is still there. At the same time, because of his age, his physical strength has declined and he cannot play a full Premier League season-the Premier League is known for its intensive competition-can give young people more More playing opportunities, and then after a few years of retirement, the young people he once taught also grew up. A perfect transition.

Whether it's Hierro, Albertini, Van Nistelrooy, Beckham, or Ayala. Dun En bought them all taking these into full consideration. When he took over, the Forest team had nothing. What should we do to young players without a veteran who is qualified, competent, and influential? You can only rely on your own advance memory to take advantage of these veterans to buy these veterans, one by one to help the young people in the team, just like a relay race.

Hierro retired and Albertini was followed by Van Nistelrooy, Beckham, and now there is another Ayala.

To fully "squeeze" their surplus value, this is the little tail hidden behind Dunn's ass.

Three days later, the Nottingham Forest official website announced that the Forest team will loan Ayala for half a season. The press release did not say a word about their intention to buy the Argentine defender.

After finishing Ayala’s loan + free transfer, Dunn took Tang to Nyon, Switzerland, preparing to participate in the UEFA Champions League eighth-final draw held there. (Note 1)

Which rival is waiting in the picturesque Switzerland?

※※※

Note: Regarding the date of the Champions Cup draw, it should be mid-December, but for the sake of plot priority, I changed the tradition set by UEFA to January of the following year without authorization. Hope you guys understand, and don't care about this date or anything...just read the story. (To be continued, if you want to know what's going on, please visit www.qidian.com, there are more chapters, authors are supported, and genuine reading is supported!)

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