Godfather Of Champions

The English Premier League of the 06-07 season has come to an end, and England is disbanded for holiday except for the two teams. This year is a good year for European players, because there is no international competition, they can finally relax their mind and body after a tired season.

Although the players of those two teams did not get the right to rest so early, I believe many people would envy them because they reached the finals of their respective cups.

Liverpool, who just lost their qualification for the Champions League next season, will have to continue to struggle in the UEFA Cup next season. The good news is that they finally reached the final in the UEFA Cup this season. Their opponent is Spain's Sevilla.

The UEFA Cup final will be held on May 17, just four days after the end of the league.

At this stage, the media are covering the UEFA Cup final, and Liverpool has become the team with the highest appearance rate. As Benitez, his first season in Liverpool was amazing, helping the "Red Army" regain the European Champions Cup after years of loss. But after that, whether it was in the league or in the cup, Liverpool seemed to have suddenly fallen into a certain bottleneck, unable to achieve anything.

After being blocked from next season's Champions League gate for two consecutive seasons, he desperately needs to use a heavy champion to prove his ability. The UEFA Cup became his last straw. If this season is still empty-handed, it is hard to say whether Benitez will leave next season.

When everyone was paying attention to Liverpool, Dunn led his team in closed training at the Vilford training base in Nottingham.

Most of the media in England hate Dunn, which is related to his “closed training”. Before him, there were very few head coaches in English football who engaged in such frequent closed training. This may be related to the fact that he was once a Chinese fan, and he was too familiar with “closed training”.

There are advantages and disadvantages to closed training, and now for him, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. At the very least, his team can avoid harassment by the annoying media.

The final day is getting closer and closer, there are still many things he needs to deal with...

※※※

Pepe has fully recovered. Although he did not participate in the competition, his performance in the team competition convinced everyone that Pepe who appeared in Athens must be a healthy and excellent Pepe. The problems that have plagued the forest team's defense line for a long time have been resolved.

Ashley Young also returned to the team from injury, and went to Athens with the team without any problems.

Before such an important competition, the Forest team solved the injury problem. It stands to reason that Dunn should be very happy. But these days, his brows are always frowning, so that the players don't understand what's going on, and he's a little confused.

In fact, even many members of the coaching staff don't know what this is because of, except for Dunn, only the assistant coaches Chris Lak and Tang know the whole story. Oh, and the team doctors.

According to the practice of English football, what is the situation of a player's injury? The first thing the team doctors need to notify is not the injured player himself, but the head coach of the team. The head coach then decides how to tell the players. If there is a team doctor who goes directly over the head coach and tells the injured player the injury, then the team doctor will basically not be able to mix up in football-no club will need a team doctor who has close contact with the head coach and players.

But now Fleming's problem is not that he bypassed Tony Dunn and told the player about the injury, but the player took the initiative to find him.

Generally, a player takes the initiative to find a team doctor and asks about his injury. At this time, the team doctor can’t just say anything, and at most dismiss it with ambiguous words like “you are recovering well.” If he clearly tells the player that he is injured Whatever the situation, he may be swept out by the club.

Today's Nottingham Forest is controlled by the American boss. Such traditions and practices have become less and less, and Dunn is not an authoritative head coach who cares about this. But Fleming is also a veteran team doctor who has worked in this club for decades. That kind of tradition has long been deep in his bones and has become a professional habit.

Two days ago, the person who took the initiative to find the team doctor Fleming was the team's backup goalkeeper Paul Gerrard.

He has recovered from the operation and started restorative training a month ago. At the beginning, it was just a simple physical rehabilitation plan and did not involve specific goalkeeper training.

Twenty-five days later, he began to enter the specific goalkeeper training. The question is coming.

Paul Gerrard found that his reaction speed, anticipation, and vision were affected. He can't correctly locate the distance between the football and himself, and occasionally there will be short-term astigmatism in his eyes. This is a fatal problem for a professional goalkeeper.

Anxious, he found team doctor Fleming, hoping that he would do another comprehensive physical examination for himself, especially his brain. He suspects that these are the sequelae of that head injury. However, he did not tell his true situation, he just said that after recovering from the injury, he hoped to have a comprehensive understanding of his body.

This request aroused Fleming's vigilance. After decades of team doctors, how could he fail to guess what the players have in mind?

This kind of request must be approved by the head coach. Fleming told Gerrard that he had to talk to the boss to answer him.

What happened next was that Fleming went to find Dunn. At that time, Dunn, Tang and Chris Luck were present, so they became the only four people who knew about it.

Dunn frowned and listened to Fleming's retelling of the incident. He had a very bad premonition.

As far as he knows, in his world, Cech was hit by a guy from the Reading team with a sunken head and fractured his head. He was in a coma on the spot, threatening his safety. Unexpectedly, in just three months, he returned to the court, wearing a head-protecting "tank helmet" to guard the gate for Chelsea, and he is still the world's top three excellent goalkeepers.

This incident allowed Dunn to maintain a certain optimism about what happened to Paul Gerrard. He believed that since Cech can recover in three months, we should be conservative and let Gerrard recover in eight months. , There will always be no problems, right?

He is not a professional doctor, nor does he know some medical knowledge about the head. He just referred to Cech's actual experience and thought that Gerrard would not be a big deal.

"I am not a cranial expert either." Fleming said to Dunn, "but I don't think a comprehensive physical examination is necessary. What we need to examine is Paul Gerrard's head. And it's not just a fracture. It's the cranial nerve. I suspect..."

Dunn, who had been silent listening to Fleming's speech, waved his hand and interrupted him to continue speaking. He had already made up his mind. "Tomorrow you take Paul to the Royal College of Medicine, University of Nottingham, and I will wait for you there with Professor Constantine."

Constantine is well-known throughout the British medical community, he is an expert in brain and nerve. Fleming also knew this as a doctor. Since it was Professor Constantine, he had nothing to worry about.

He nodded.

※※※

The next day, Paul Gerrard and Fleming came to the hospital together and met the head coach Tony Dunn and Professor Constantine.

After seeing these two people, Gerrard felt a little bad. He felt that things were not easy, otherwise why would the boss appear here? Shouldn't he lead the team training on the training court? As the Champions League final is approaching, he has no reason or time to come specifically for a medical examination of a substitute goalkeeper.

After seeing Gerrard, Dunn smiled and stretched out his hand to him: "Good morning, Paul. You seem to be in good spirits." Then he introduced the old man beside Gerrard.

"This is Professor Constantine, the most famous brain expert in the country."

Constantine smiled at Gerrard and shook hands with him. "Hello, Paul. Tony has told me everything about you, and I need to do some simple checks on you."

After hearing this introduction, Gerrard thought to himself that the bad feeling he had just now finally became a reality.

He hesitantly shook hands with Professor Constantine and smiled reluctantly.

Dunn didn't say a word, but saw everything in his eyes.

Constantine also noticed the unease in Paul Gerrard's heart. He smiled and patted Gerrard's shoulder: "Don't worry, boy, it's just a simple check." He winked at Gerrard, and then Lead the other party to do a brain examination.

Fleming and Dunn did not follow. They were afraid that a group of people would follow along with them, which would cause a greater psychological burden on Gerald.

Fleming, who followed Constantine, was like a helpless child, terrified of the unpredictable future.

He looked back at Dunn and Fleming, Dunn gave him a smile. He didn't put down his smile until he walked away.

"I knew I would not rent Akinfeev back...so that we only depended on Van der Sar for a season." Sitting on a bench in the hospital corridor, Dunn took out a cigarette and a lighter, planning Light yourself a cigarette.

"Who knew before this happened?" Fleming pointed to the no-smoking sign on the wall.

After Dunn raised his eyes to see, he put the cigarette and lighter back.

There was silence in the empty hallway, and no one spoke until Constantine led Paul Gerrard back to them.

"OK." Professor Constantine nodded to Dunn. Then he turned his head and said to Gerrard: "The results of the inspection will not be available until tomorrow. We will notify the club directly at that time."

Gerrard did not disagree, Dunn stood up and patted him on the shoulder: "Go back and have a good rest, Paul, there is no need for training today."

After sending Paul Gerrard and Fleming out of the hospital, Dunn returned.

"I knew you had something to tell me." Constantine was not surprised by Dunn's return carbine.

"I want to know the results of the inspection." Tang En asked straightaway.

"When the results come out, I will call you tomorrow..."

"Come on, professor, don't use the set that Gerrard used against me." Dunn walked over and sat down, "If you don't tell me the truth today, I won't leave."

Constantine smiled bitterly and shook his head. He really couldn't deal with such a rogue.

"In fact, the check result did not come out." Constantine got up from his seat, walked to Dunn, and handed him a glass of water. "But I can talk about my personal feelings. Here he..." He pointed to his head and said, "...not very optimistic."

"Is the eight-month recovery period not enough?" Tang En muttered.

"No, it has nothing to do with the length of time, Tony." Constantine corrected. "I don't think even if you give him two years of recovery time."

Dunn raised his head and looked at Constantine standing in front of him, somewhat surprised: "You mean..."

"I don't think he is suitable for being a professional goalkeeper anymore."

These words seemed to hit Dun En's head with a thunderbolt, and he was taken aback. Tilted his head, "What are you talking about, professor?"

"He suffered a severe head injury. Although he has recovered after surgery,...I think there is no problem in living an ordinary life, but fighting against fierce professional football is no longer suitable for him." Constantine said this time. Be more detailed.

"Not everyone can resume their careers after experiencing such a serious injury..." Constantine said with a "I'm sorry" expression.

Dunn stood up abruptly from his seat, startled him.

He looked at Constantine, his eyes made the professor feel uncomfortable. But soon, he lowered his head and raised his head again. There was no such uncomfortable thing in his eyes. He said to Constantine, "But the test result has not come out after all, is it, professor? "

For a moment, Constantine nodded: "Yes, the result didn't come out. What I just said was just a judgment based on my personal experience, maybe the situation is not so bad?" He shrugged and smiled pretentiously.

Dunn grinned at him too. This person is a well-known figure in the national medical community. He has been engaged in clinical research for so many years, and his experience is a kind of wealth in itself. He said that judgments made based on personal experience are in fact inexorable...

"Then, I will wait for your call tomorrow, professor." Dunn waved and left Constantine's office.

In the car back to the training base, Dunn sat in the back row and didn't speak, and Randy, who was dead in the front row, couldn't ask. He knew that Tony must have encountered some problem, this person is always not afraid of fear, in fact, there are a lot of troubles in his heart. Others didn't know that he, who was almost Dun En's "personal driver", knew very well.

Dunn was thinking about a football fantasy novel he had read before he crossed. It was a novel that was quite famous on the Internet. After experiencing an injury that was enough to destroy his entire career, the protagonist in it was miraculously healed by an unknown Chinese medicine doctor, and his ability has improved to a higher level, as if it was not an injury, but a tonic Similar. This is an internet pornographic novel, and all the plots are normal, and Dunn doesn't think it is too bad. But in his opinion, it is the protagonist who is also at a loss. If you are someone else, you may let the author arrange to be a tragic character-think of the poor high school classmate of the protagonist.

At that time, he took everything that happened to the protagonist as the sexual plot of the lewd novel. The cruel reality now appeared in front of him bloody.

Paul Gerrard can no longer continue his professional career. What a blow is this for a professional football player?

That's right, Dunn admitted that Paul is not capable enough to be the main goalkeeper. He has an ordinary personality and is not very noticeable. The media does not pay attention. He seems to be a natural supporting role. But in the eyes of Dunn, this is also one of his players. In his world, there is no supporting role and protagonist. Everyone is the same, playing for him and receiving his training.

You are not the protagonist, Paul Gerrard... If you are the protagonist, destiny will show you the light of miracles and make you stand up again from the dark abyss of hell. No matter how ridiculous or incredible this destiny looks, as long as you are the protagonist.

He sighed softly.

When Eastwood was injured and wanted to give up, he ran to the hospital and told him that fate is a net. Different paths are entangled and intertwined. It depends on your choice. The optimistic gypsy at Eastwood chose to move on. And this time, he couldn't even tell Paul Gerrard to listen to this, because fate didn't even give this supporting role a chance to choose. Perhaps for Paul Gerrard, fate is a small path that goes straight up and down, without fork in the road. He never gave him a glorious moment. After finally following the right coach, he would hope to touch the championship trophy, but because of this **** serious injury, he had to face the issue of retirement or one day death on the court.

Is this a choice?

That's **** it!

※※※

The next day, Professor Constantine made a direct call to Dunn’s cell phone. He was leading the team training at the time, and Paul Gerrard was also on the training ground, doing solo training accompanied by the goalkeeper coach.

"Bad news." Constantine did not say "bad news" directly, probably because of Dunn's feelings. He knows that this person cares about his players, takes care of them very, very much, and treats them like himself.

Dunn was in a better mood than Constantine had imagined, perhaps because he figured out something on the way back to the training base yesterday. Hearing Konstantin's words, he didn't show "heart sinking", he just waited silently for the professor to finish his words.

"As a doctor, I suggest that he should retire."

The eyes wearing sunglasses were looking at Paul Gerrard, the owner of the eyes still did not speak.

Everyone was silent for a while on both ends of the phone.

"There is no other way?" Dunn asked.

"I'm not joking about human lives, Tony." Constantine's tone was extremely serious. Only then can Dunn connect him with the identity of the research doctor. "That time he was injured and he was not dead. It's really good luck. I'm definitely not an alarmist. In 1931, the 22-year-old Celtics goalkeeper John Thompson saved Rangers forward Inge in the famous Glass Gordby. Leish also suffered a skull fracture when he hit the ball. He was killed in the hospital five hours later. Fortunately, Paul survived, but now if he returns to the court again, his brain injury may be life-threatening. He He will face the danger of what is medically called the'Second Impact Syndrome'. Once the injury is hit again, his brain will be damaged. This is fatal enough, even though the collision may not be violent. And..."

After a pause, he continued: "I asked him some questions yesterday. In addition to the blurred vision, headache, and slow response, whether there are any other problems. He told me that there will be intermittent memory loss recently. So I To correct what I said to you yesterday, his daily life will not be affected, but he has been affected. It is just that the symptoms are mild now, if you maintain treatment, these symptoms can be controlled. But once he participates in a fierce professional competition ...God knows what will happen. You know, English football is the most intense league."

Of course, Dunn knows that injuries are too common for people who play in the English League. But bumping your head is definitely not as normal as eating.

"So...there is only one way to retire?" Dunn asked.

"Yes, Tony."

Constantine answered very simply, without hesitation, so he sentenced a professional athlete to death.

"Thank you, Professor, I owe you another favor."

"Don't say that, Tony. I am also a forest fan, and I don't want any of the forest players to leave. But at the same time I am also a doctor, and I must be responsible for my patients."

"I know, I understand. Goodbye, Professor. Now I have a headache. Why did I tell Paul..."

After hanging up the phone, Dunn watched the training for a while on the sidelines. He found that Paul Gerrard quickly finished training and walked out of the field.

The goalkeeper coach noticed that Dunn was looking here. He pointed to his temple behind Paul Gerrard, then shrugged and spread his hands.

Paul had to terminate today's training early because of a headache. It seems that the situation is getting worse.

Some players noticed that Gerrard left the training ground early, and they whispered and discussed. When Paul just announced his return to the team, everyone was very happy, because the boss said that when going to Athens, he didn't want anyone to be left behind, he wanted everyone to be a lot. Seeing that the most injured Paul can return to the team, everyone feels that they are ready for the finals, and the champion must be theirs.

Now it seems that the problem is not as simple as they thought.

Chris Lak gave a loud whistle to remind you that they are still training now, not the time to drink and chat.

Dunn stood on the sidelines for a while, waiting for Paul's figure to completely disappear. It is estimated that he was taking a shower and changing clothes in the locker room at this time before he quietly turned and left the training ground.

He wanted to talk to Paul in the locker room and spread the cards. Although it was cruel, it was better than risking Paul's life.

After all, football is just football, it is impossible and should not be higher than life and death.

He ran into Paul Gerrard outside the locker room, who had just taken a shower and got dressed and went out.

"Are you going back, Paul?" Dunn asked, startling the other party.

"Why are you here, boss?" Paul felt a little embarrassed after seeing the person who came.

"Why can't I come?" Dunn said with a smile, trying not to let the other party guess his intention from his face. "Are you going home, Paul?" he asked again.

Paul Gerrard did not immediately answer "yes" or "no". He was silent for a while before he hesitated and said: "No, I want to find you, boss."

"Look for me?" The surprise on Dun En's face was not a pretense.

"Yeah." Gerrard nodded, "I thought about it for a long time and asked my wife's opinion... She doesn't approve of me continuing to play football."

Gerrard said this very relaxedly, or he deliberately made his tone sound relaxed, but Dunn was not relaxed at all. What he always wanted to say to Gerrard, but now he let the other party say it first...

Should he breathe a sigh of relief, or should he feel more congested?

"Then... what's your opinion?"

"I think I should listen to my wife." Gerrard smiled at Dunn, "I am also afraid of death, I am afraid I will die on the court without knowing when. Although I have always been a substitute goalkeeper, there are not many opportunities to play. , But there are also times to play."

Looking at his smile, Dunn felt a little bit sour. He wanted to comfort each other with a smile, but couldn't laugh.

"So... I decided to retire after this season."

Dunn didn't say anything about it, he could only look at Paul Gerrard.

After saying this, Gerrard let out a sigh of relief, clapped his hands and said, "Look, boss. Many people say that making a retirement decision is difficult, but haven't I said it now? Actually it's nothing. , My body does not allow me to continue playing football, so I retire. It's that simple."

Dunn grinned: "Yes, it's simple." After saying this, he didn't know what to say.

After speaking out, Gerrard obviously relaxed a lot. He smiled and asked Dunn: "Boss, do you think there is any work in the club that I can do? You can build turf."

Speaking of this, Dunn's brain became active again, and he blinked at Gerrard: "Seriously, I hope you stay in the team as a goalkeeper coach."

Gerrard was stunned, but he didn't expect that Dunn was not joking with himself.

"I need someone to help me, you are a good fit, Paul. How is it?"

"I...I have to go back and ask my wife." Gerald said hesitantly.

Dunn laughed loudly: "You man who is afraid of his wife!"

He feels better.

Retirement is nothing but the end of one journey and the beginning of another journey. You can't be a player, you can also be a coach. If you really love football, it doesn't matter what you do. Retired? That's just a convention.

※※※

After bidding farewell to Gerrard, Dunn returned to the training ground and found that the players were resting and the coaches also drank water and chatted together.

Seeing him back, Tang quietly walked up.

"nailed it?"

Dunn nodded.

"What do you say?"

"I didn't say anything, it was all he was talking about... He himself offered me the hope of retirement. He seems to have decided." Dunn's eyes were erratic. He was looking around, and not many people noticed that he and Don's talk. Before the Champions League final, he did not want to poke the news out. "I didn't persuade him, and I don’t know how to persuade him. But I propose that he can serve as the goalkeeper coach of the team after retirement, whether it is a youth team or an adult team. What do you think?"

Tang nodded: "It's a good idea."

"Poor person..." Dunn sighed. "To Andy (Andy Beasley, head of the forest team goalkeeper coaching staff), let him do simple training these days, I am worried about what will happen in training..."

"Are you planning to take him to Athens?" Tang asked.

Dunn turned his head and glanced at him: "Otherwise? He is Van der Sar's substitute goalkeeper, our second goalkeeper. He was injured before, but now he is back from injury, why don't we take him to Athens?"

"No, I didn't mean that." Tang shook his head.

Dunn turned to look at Tang, and said to him word by word: "Tang, I know he is just a substitute goalkeeper, even if he retires, it has no effect on our strength. He is not the protagonist, not the core player, not that kind. A great man who won’t turn without the earth. But he is a player from Nottingham Forest and my player. I don’t lose to anyone who sincerely follows me. He has no glorious moments in his career, so I hope that before he retires , Give him the last glory... At the very least, I want him to wear the game jersey to win the championship trophy, instead of sitting in the stands in a suit and leather shoes." (To be continued, if you want to know what happened, please visit www.qidian .com, more chapters, support authors, support genuine reading!)

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