Godfather Of Champions

Dunn still remembers his encounter with Roy Keane a season and a half ago. He had thought that the incident would have a perfect ending—similar to the ending of the princess and the prince living happily together: Roy Keane announced that he was free to join Nottingham Forest and became a member of Dunn.

Unfortunately, not all stories are like fairy tales. Roy Keane's stubbornness and loyalty surpassed his imagination, and eventually the two met and separated in the vast crowd, without any story happening.

Dunn’s only gain is that he has the friendship of this tough Irish guy. They got along very happily. When Keane resumed training in the Forest team, he asked Dunn some questions about coaching a team. Of course, the haughty Keane just asked questions about some questions, and Dunn answered. In addition, Keane is not overly enthusiastic and curious about the professional performance of the head coach. Keane hadn't decided to retire at the time, and becoming a coach was just a dream.

But Keane did say to Dunn more than once that after retiring, he hopes to become an excellent head coach like Ferguson and Clough, which can influence the new generation of players on the right career path.

He later joined the Celtics and left England. When he left, he published a touching open letter, thanking everyone, including the old man Ferguson who drove him out of the house. The only person he didn't mention was Tony Dunn. He said he wouldn't make someone feel too good, he did what he said.

Now, a year and a half later, he is back again, taking his dream back to the stage once belonged to him.

He is no longer the captain of the "Red Devils" Manchester United, nor is he the down-and-coming player who was kicked out by the Manchester United club with nowhere to go. He is in the late stage of his career. He is wearing a neat suit, shiny shoes and a dark red tie. There is a tie clip with the Sunderland team crest on it.

He is now the head coach of newly promoted Sunderland in the Premier League.

"Do you like to hear me call you Mr. Keane? Or Coach Keane?" At the regular press conference the day before the game, Dunn met his long-lost friend Roy Keane.

"It's okay. Whatever you want."

In front of the reporters' cameras, the two personality coaches held their hands together, with smiles on their faces, but this was not a show in front of the public. Dunn does not have many friends in the coaching world—some people may not be considered Dunn’s enemies, but not friends—luckily, Roy Keane is one of them.

"Then I'd better call you Roy, smoothly. I heard about your achievements in the British Championship, I have to say you did a great job!" Dunn whispered in Keane's ear as the two shook hands and embraced.

"No matter how beautiful it is, it can only be'Tony Dunn's Nottingham Forest Miracle No. 2'." Roy Keane shrugged and said with a curled mouth.

Roy Keane played for the Celtics for half a season before he decided to retire completely, and then he took a break. At the end of December last year, Sunderland called for him, hoping to hire him as the head coach of the "Black Cat". At that time, Sunderland was already ranked first from the bottom in the Champions League. Their remaining goal this season was to relegation, and nothing else was considered.

Before Roy Keane, Sunderland had looked for many other well-known or unknown coaches, but no one was willing to take over this mess. At that time, some people in the coaching association were discussing this issue. Many people felt that going to Sunderland to coach was a disaster, or better to say, "a very risky gamble." Maybe you will let yourself be buried with Sunderland-down to the first division, that is the third division of England, equivalent to the previous second division.

Which coach is willing to do such a thing?

This incident aroused Dun En's interest. Of course, he didn't want to coach. But he has a suitable candidate to recommend to Sunderland.

His advance memory came to an abrupt end in the first half of 2007, and it is completely useless now. Despite this, he still vaguely remembered that Roy Keane did coach Sunderland at the time. As for when he started coaching the team, and whether he will lead the team to relegation or upgrade, he doesn't know. And he didn't know the story behind Sunderland's appointment to Roy to coach.

But now, he has the opportunity to make all this a reality.

Will Roy Keane become an excellent head coach and then threaten Tony Dunn's performance? Will he become a big man who will fight Dunn in the league and European arena in the future?

Dunn didn't know, and didn't want to know. That is the future, and it is also Keane's own business. Now he just feels that Roy has told him more than once about his dream of a coach. Now the opportunity is here. He can use his little reputation in football to help Roy. After all, the two are friends.

Then he found the chairman of the Sunderland club, Danny Quinn, and recommended the former Irish national teammate to him.

Speaking of the young chairman of the Sunderland club, there are still some well-known "great grudges" between Keane.

Quinn was the main center of the Irish national team and a loyal supporter of Irish coach McCarthy. At the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea, when Keane and McCarthy turned their faces, Quinn stood firmly behind the coach. The following season, when Manchester United challenged Sunderland away, Keane also elbowed Irish compatriot McCarty on the field and had an argument with Quinn. The relationship between the two is not good, so Quinn did not choose to leave Keane at home when the club could not find a coach.

At first, Quinn wanted to be the chairman of the club and part-time team coach, but he coached the team without a win in the first five games, which made the Irish high center sober. He can rely on the strength of his hometown consortium to acquire Sunderland, which is in financial crisis, and then sit in the chair, but he may not be able to lead a team to victory. Then he found his mentor McCarthy in the Irish national team.

As a result, one of Keane’s most hated coaches was unsuccessful in Sunderland. Sunderland’s penultimate result was a big part of his credit. Two months later, the unbearable Sunderland board decided Fire McCarthy. Then until Christmas, the head coach of Sunderland was made a temporary cameo by their youth team head coach. The team's morale was low, losing streak in a row, and finally slipped to the 20th place in the British Champions League-the last one.

Isn't this situation a bit familiar? Much like Dunn’s situation when he took over the Forest team, Sunderland’s only better situation than the Forest team is that they have no economic crisis. But if the team loses like this, if it loses to the third level league, there will be an economic crisis, but no one dares to pack the votes.

At this moment, Dunn recommended Roy Keane to Quinn.

The reason for Dunn’s recommendation is simple: "...I think what your team needs is not monetary stimulation or a certain star player, but to let the players get rid of the gloomy psychology brought about by consecutive defeats. In this regard, I believe Roy will be the one The leader who brought the victory back to the locker room and the court."

Later, when attending the new coach’s appointment press conference, he was asked why he chose Roy Keane. Quinn repeated Dunn’s words to the media intact.

After listening to Dunn’s recommendation, Quinn weighed the benefits and thought that under the current circumstances, personal grievances were not worth mentioning compared with the current situation of the club, so he generously took the initiative to find Keen, very sincere hope En became the head coach of Sunderland. At the same time, Dunn also called Keane, suggesting that he should accept this opportunity: "If you are worried that you are inexperienced and lead the team badly...Look at Sunderland now, what else can they lose? Anyway, you are just a rookie coach. No one will have unrealistic expectations for you. I think Sunderland is the best team to start your coaching career."

Roy Keane became the head coach of "Black Cat" Sunderland after Christmas.

The next story is simply a remake of Dunn’s first full season. Keane injected strong mental power into this team. As Dunn said, Sunderland, who had gotten rid of the gloomy mentality, broke out of theirs. Strong combat effectiveness. Supplemented by the financial support of the club’s board of directors, and Keane’s former club Manchester United loaned young players to Sunderland, half a season later, Sunderland, who was the last one, became the positive number one. They not only succeeded in relegation, but also In one fell swoop won the qualification for the Premier League next season.

Head coach Roy Keane's debut was amazing and couldn't be more amazing. It is no wonder that some media associate the miracle created by the same young man with Tony Dunn, thinking that Keane has the potential to become "Tony Dunn second."

But for the arrogant Keane, this is probably not a good word, even if the comparison is his good friend.

Dunn knew that Keane said, "No matter how beautiful, it can only be'Tony Dunn’s Nottingham Forest Miracle No. 2'". There was a bit of unwillingness and dissatisfaction in these words. He smiled and patted Keane on the shoulder. Did not say.

After the two head coaches sat down, they began to answer questions from reporters, mainly around the game to be held tomorrow. Some people would gossipingly ask whether the friendship between the two would affect the result of the game tomorrow.

Dunn fully demonstrated the aura of the host at this time. He glared at the reporter who asked such a stupid question: "Are you suggesting that there may be injustice in the game between our two teams?"

In fact, it cannot be said that this reporter is completely aimless.

Because after Sunderland was promoted, he bought people everywhere to increase his strength. Keane accomplishes this work through two means. One is to rely on the strong financial resources of the club’s board of directors to directly buy the players he likes from the transfer market; the other is to rent players who have a good relationship with him. Talented young players increase the thickness of the team bench. For example, he loaned central defenders Evans and Simpson from Manchester United. Nottingham Forest is naturally the object of his lease. Dunn is also very happy to let some outstanding players in the youth team go out to meet the world, accumulate experience in the game, and improve his level. So at the beginning of the new season, he loaned Adriano Mok from the youth team to Sunderland. He also recommended central defender Aaron Mitchell and several other young players to Keane, but Keane didn't pay attention.

After the two teams have this level of relationship, it is inevitable that they will provoke people's imagination.

Keane also clarified with a straight face: "Private friendship is a personal friendship, and a game is a game. I will drink with Dunn after the game, but before that we are enemies."

Dunn looked at Keane in a tacit understanding, nodded and said: "When you leave, I will start fighting with him immediately. These are the inside stories that you won't know."

His serious expression provokes a burst of laughter from the reporters below, and the question that embarrassed the two coaches was ignored.

Afterwards, everyone asked some very regular questions, such as "Can you have some prospects for the game?" "Mr. Dunn (Mr. Keene), what do you think of the Sunderland (Nottingham Forest) team?" … The two head coaches’ answers were quite satisfactory and did not allow sensitive media to seize any handle.

After the regular press conference was over, Keane went to the stadium to watch the team's training on the field, while Dunn had to go home to prepare for the next day's game. As Keane said at the press conference, the two people need to put aside their personal friendship before the end of the game and concentrate on playing the role of "enemy". So Dunn didn't invite Keane to dinner with him very enthusiastically, and Keane didn't take the initiative to talk to Dunn.

After shaking hands and biding farewell at a press conference, the two separated.

※※※

Back home, Tang, who had been waiting at home for a long time, asked him, "How do you feel?"

"How does it feel?" Dunn was confused.

"Old friends reunite." Tang's words were as simple as ever.

Dunn knew he was asking how he felt after meeting Keane. Regular press conferences are very boring, and I believe reporters will feel that way too, that no story happened at all. However, he remembered the quiet conversation between himself and Keane before, and a small detail re-entered his memory.

"Ah, you said Roy. Fortunately, Keane in a suit and tie is a bit strange to me. I'm still used to seeing him wearing a Manchester United jersey and madly blocking his opponent's knee on the court." Dunn shrugged. "His performance in the English Championship last season is really amazing. To be honest, when I recommended him to Quinn, I didn't expect him to do so well."

Tang smiled slightly: "Then do you feel the threat from him now?"

Tang En, who was pouring tea for himself, looked back at Tang who was sitting on the sofa. He shook his head: "No. No, it's far away."

"Water is about to overflow." Tang pointed to the teapot in Tang En's hand.

Dunn put down the teapot, picked up the teacup and walked over. Pass one cup to Tang and enjoy one cup for yourself.

"For Roy..." After taking a sip of tea, he continued, "That was so amazing at the beginning, and it may not be a good thing. The fate is really wonderful, I occasionally think about..." He looked up I looked at the red sky outside the window. The fire in the evening will burn the clouds, and tomorrow will be a good weather.

"If nothing happened to Gavin at the time, the morale of the team was high, and I was in excellent form. I would lead the team to the Premier League at the end of the first season, and then return to the youth team without being fired. Michael would not be far away from the United States... for four years. From now on, can I still appear in front of the public as a coach who has won the Champions League and Super Bowl?" Dunn muttered while looking out the window, "I don't know... I really don't know."

"Some things seemed abrupt and accidental at the time, but after a long period of time, I have to admit that...they are all related to the present." His mind, his muscles and bones, his body hungry, his body emptied, his behavior was disturbed by his actions, so he was tempted to endure what he could not.” Tang En memorized a section of "Mencius", as long as he has accepted it in China Anyone with nine-year compulsory education will know this passage. "It's the Chinese ancestor again. To be honest, I hate this kind of rhetoric-why do you have to accept failure first? Why do you fail to succeed? But...it's a pity, whether I like it or not. I like it. It really makes sense. If it can be circulated for more than two thousand years, it shows that it is the most logical saying, has a reason to exist and continues. This is a natural law, and people can't resist it. Do you understand, Tang?"

Tang nodded. Although he is not an authentic Chinese, he still understands the meaning of these words.

"I... have experienced many things, both good and bad... That's why I can achieve what I am today. This is causal. And Roy... succeeded too quickly, which is not good for his future coaching career." Having said that, Dunn withdrew his gaze from the sky outside the window, turned around and looked at Tang, he smiled. "If God wants a man to achieve great results, he must first temper him, let him experience failure, setbacks, hardships. But now Roy has not experienced these, he came to the Premier League with the hat of a'genius coach' . It's not right, it's not reasonable, and there's a problem there." He pointed to the sky outside the window.

"So, I decided...I will walk the way for the sky."

If you want to win, just say it straight... Tang muttered in his heart. (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!)

Like the champion godfather, please collect it: (www.NovelMTL.com) The literature of the champion godfather has the fastest update speed.