Chapter 36: Winter is here

The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Investment Bank has the most direct impact on Nottingham Forest Club because their new stadium construction project is in a dilemma of funding shortage.

Although the new stadium in Nottingham Forest has not yet had an official name, it has become a highly-watched architectural project in the UK. Because it is not just a simple construction stadium.

This is a huge real estate development plan. With the new Nottingham Forest as the center, it radiates outward to form a commercial and residential circle, as well as football theme parks, national fitness parks, green spaces and other facilities. As the reputation of Nottingham Forest is increasing, Allen Adams also plans to open this place to the world as a tourist attraction in the future. Just like the stadiums of famous European clubs such as Real Madrid's Bernabeu, Barcelona's Camp Nou, Milan's two heroes' San Siro and Meacha..., they are not just a stadium. Due to the glorious traditions of the team, they have become holy places that countless tourists and fans yearn for at the same time.

The plan is huge and the prospects are wonderful, but the expenses are much larger than a single-school repair.

Manchester City Club's new stadium, "Marchester City Stadium", only cost 100 million pounds. If only such a stadium is built, the finances of Nottingham Forest Club are not a big problem, and saving money for a year is enough.

But Allen's plan costs at least £600 million, not including the investments made by Nottingham City Government.

If you don’t want to spend so much money, the Forest Club will eventually have ownership of the stadium and cannot use other facilities to make money. In order to maximize the development of the club, Allen and Evan adventure occupy a large part of engineering investment, and the rewards are the ownership development rights of the stadium, football theme park, and a commercial area.

At that time, the financial problems in the United States had become prominent, but who would have thought that the market economy's self-regulation ability was so weak?

In just one year, Lehman Brothers, the fourth largest investment bank in the United States, went bankrupt...

Allen has become much haggard during this period and has been flying around the world all day long. Evan Dogerty's business in the United States has completely ended. Now Allen is busy looking for follow-up funds for the new stadium project. Due to the global financial recession, many banks have refused to lend to Nottingham Forest Club.

In desperation, Evan had to announce the temporary suspension of work of the new stadium and other packages of construction projects. Otherwise, if money is continued to be invested in this project, the entire Nottingham Forest Club will sooner or later be dragged into this bottomless abyss.

This news immediately hit the front page of the British media. Everyone knows that after the rapid expansion of Nottingham Forest Club in the past few years, it finally encountered trouble, and it was still big.

"...I admit that the owner of Nottingham Forest is very ambitious and courageous. But too fast development will inevitably lead to stalls. Nottingham Forest team has become popular in Europe half the sky. But their economic foundation has not kept up with the team's progress, and the club's construction does not match their performance. Look at other wealthy clubs, whether in terms of results or various conditions of the club, they are very consistent with their status. Only Nottingham Forest... Like a deformed child, he has a pair of fast running feet, but does not have a body that can withstand the impact of this speed..." On the TV station, various professionals are analyzing the current dilemma of Nottingham Forest. They believe that this is a typical negative case of how football clubs should survive and develop under the recession of the world economy.

"I think Nottingham Forest Club should reflect on their strategy of expanding everywhere. China, Japan, Southeast Asia; Britain, the United States, the world... Tony Don't's magic made his boss think that his team and club are all omnipotent. To be honest, when I knew that the chairman and marketing manager of Nottingham Forest Club were Americans who never cared about football before, I was not surprised at the current situation at all. They ignored a very important point - football clubs are different from ordinary listed companies, except that they have to abide by economic laws.

, and also abide by the rules of football. Tony Donn's magic has brought a good foundation for development to the team, but they still need to take it slowly and develop step by step. Evan Dogerty once revealed at a cocktail party held in Nottingham that his goal was to build Nottingham Forest into a wealthy club. But I have never heard of any wealthy club that can be built in just five or six years. Chelsea is very rich. The results are not bad, but are they a wealthy family now? I don't think most people agree that they are wealthy clubs."

"Nottingham Forest is one of the longest-standing clubs in the history of modern world football, and it is also the only team that still competes in the top league. But now this club gives everyone the impression of being young. From club owners to their team head coaches to players, they are all very, very young. Young people always make some judgment mistakes and estimate the situation too well..."

"Now they know how bad the situation is."

"There are wailing everywhere." Evan sat in the wide boss chair in the office, resting his chin on his raised hands. "It seems like winter has arrived early."

He seemed to be talking to himself, and also seemed to be saying to Tang En sitting next to him.

Allen was not in the room. He was on his way to China. The investment projects in China also encountered funding problems and needed to solve them himself.

Tang En looked down at the sweater inside his suit.

“Winter is indeed not far away…”

After being tied by Middlesbrough 0:0, the team disbanded again and the national team's game started again. The players flew to all parts of the world to compete in the World Cup qualifiers on various continents, some performed well, and some performed poorly. Most of the players who returned to the Forest after two national team games were not satisfied with their condition and physical strength. In this case, Nottingham Forest lost to Liverpool away, and the league ranking quickly fell to seventh. This was the first time in two years, Nottingham Forest ranked seventh in the league. The last time they ranked seventh in the league was on October 14, 2006. After losing to Manchester City in the eighth round of the league away, the team ranked seventh in three rounds.

2:3. They worked very hard. But if they lost, they lost. Don En expressed concern about the fatigue of Premier League players at the post-match press conference. He suggested that the FA carefully consider setting the winter break period to give the players a breath. But his voice fell into the sea and he did not receive any reply from the FA. The setting of the winter break period has been quarreling for so many years. But it was just the wishful thinking of the coaches and the players. The FA and the League Committee could not agree, because it was directly related to their income...

Now, he is about to lead the team to Italy.   Faced with a strong opponent, Juventus.

Evan found him before he went to Italy.

Don Evan knows what it is to look for him. Apart from the team's poor performance recently, is there anything else?

But he can't do anything about the current situation. The players' physical strength was consumed in the club and national team games. They played for a week for two games, leaving them with no time to rest and adjust their state. The game against Liverpool was able to play until the last five minutes before Benitez could overtake the score. The boys of the Forest team have done a very good job. However, this game also consumed a lot of physical strength, and the whole team was exhausted after playing this game. He didn't even know how to face Juventus.

He can't have money to buy people during the winter transfer period. He has to rely on these people to survive a season. But he has not given up yet, and he is still instilling in the players the goal of winning at least one championship this season. No matter how unfavorable the situation is to them, the team cannot lose confidence on their own.

"I know what you are going to say, Evan. The team will win the game against Juventus." He stood up and wanted to leave here as soon as possible.

Evan smiled at him and did not try to keep him.

Two days later, Alpi Stadium in Turin.

Nottingham Forest lost 0:2 away to Juventus, who returned to the Champions League.

Don Eun sat in the coaching seat of Alpidian's visiting team, with no angry expression on his face. He neither threw a suit nor kicked a water bottle. He just sat there with a helpless look on his face. In fact, just before the final whistle sounded, he saw the Red Bulls as angry as he saw the team's performance on the sidelines.

He sent the strongest lineup he could now. But his tactics have no effect on Juventus at all. After all, his set has many similarities with the set Juventus is best at, and Ranieri knows how to deal with him.

In terms of defense, Juventus is no worse than Nottingham Forest. The Italians' blood has long been soaked in defensive instinct. No matter how the Forest team dispatches back and forth, no matter how fast or sudden the Forest team counterattacks, Juventus' defense line is not messy. And they also used sneak attacks to score one goal at the beginning of the first and second half. They defeated Nottingham Forest.

Don't have the tactics of Juventus in Capello's era. Juventus' football is not good-looking, but stable, and can win and win. Now he can't take any advantage against Juventus, who is more stable than himself and full of hunger for victory. On the other hand, the players of Forest Team may have hollowed out their bodies and cannot get into the game on the court for a long time, as if they were too full and did not wake up. After Juventus scored the second goal, although there are nearly forty minutes left, there is basically no desire to win - they are too tired. Players are also humans, not machines. They will be tired. Of course, they will slack off after being tired, and they will have some negative thoughts...

Don Eun can do nothing about it. No matter how encouraged he encouraged in the locker room, the players did not have the strength, and it was impossible to generate infinite power out of thin air just by hearing his yelling "You must win!" and then power_max killed the opponent. You can't think that before coming to Turin, he promised Evan Dogette that he must win this game, and that he would really win this game.

After winning the game, the Juventus players hugged each other with great excitement. Chris Lack, who couldn't stand this scene, snorted disdain: "It's not that I won the Champions League, it's just a group match. Are you so excited?"

"After all, after they returned to the Champions League, they defeated the defending champion..." Tang explained. He thought that this is why the Juventus players were so excited. Many of these people have experienced the tragedy of falling from Serie A to Serie B, and have also experienced the years of struggling for Serie A for Serie A, and have also experienced the joy of returning to the Champions League qualification in a season after successfully upgrading.

Many of them have tasted the ups and downs of life, have they tasted the ups and downs?

He looked at Juventus' captain Del Piero and thought to himself.

When the two were talking, Tang En stood up from his seat without saying a word and walked slowly towards the corridor. He didn't want to see the Juventus player being so excited that he was a bit crazy, because he felt that this was the winner's show of the loser to the loser and the humiliation of the loser. He didn't want to sit here and be treated like this.

At the post-match press conference, Ranieri seemed very excited, while Tang En was taciturn and did not answer if he could. Even if he had to answer the question, he tried to be concise and concise.

"What do you think about losing this crucial game?"

"No opinion."

"The injured Van Nystruei performed very badly in the starting point of this game. Do you think buying him is a mistake?"

"No. "

"Will the team's final group qualify?"

“No impact.”

"What are your comments on Juventus' performance?"

"It has nothing to do with me."

When the reporters saw that he was so uncooperable, they pointed directly at him, not at the team or the game.

"Did you feel bad if you lose the game?"

"you guess. "

"Then why does it seem that he is reluctant to answer the questions?"

"I don't want to talk."

"Why don't you want to talk?"

"Toothache." Tang En answered with a stern face.

"...Okay. Is the team's recent results related to the financial difficulties the club has encountered?"

"I can guarantee that the global financial crisis has nothing to do with our team's performance." This is the longest sentence Tang En said at this press conference.

The press conference ended in such a cold atmosphere.

Don Eun was in a bad mood, and he didn't even criticize the players' poor performance in Turin. After returning to Nottingham, the Forests defeated Aston Villa who was ranked above them 1-0 at home. With this hard-won victory, the ranking rose from seventh to fifth.

But in the Champions League, the Forests encountered big trouble.

After returning to home court, Nottingham Forest, which was vowed to take revenge, was held in the city stadium and was unable to take the opportunity to attack Juventus used their most habitual method to force it to be 1:1. The score of one draw and one loss with Juventus has made the Forest team no longer sure of qualifying in the group. After the situation of group grouping in the Champions League came out, experts unanimously optimistic about Nottingham Forest, believing that even the first qualifying in the group is normal for them.

Now, Tony Don, who likes to go against the media, has done the right thing with them again. But this time it was not what he wanted. If possible, he would rather cater to the media's predictions this time.

Juventus ranked first with three wins and one draw; Nottingham Forest ranked second with two wins and one draw and one loss; Dynamo Kiev, the third one, followed by two wins and two losses, with six points; Bolisov lost all four games without a single point, and he had basically announced the group out in advance.

If nothing unexpected happens, Juventus qualifies in the group. Now it is a problem not to be a problem with Nottingham Forest and Dynamo Kiev. The points gap between the two teams is very small, and no one knows which team can qualify until the last moment.

The schedule for the last two rounds of the Champions League group stage is as follows: Real Madrid challenged Belarusian team Bolisov away on November 26, and hosted Dynamo Kiev at home on December 11.

Among them, the away game challenge to Bolisov will be crucial. If you miss it in this game, then Nottingham Forest may say goodbye to this season's Champions League in advance. As for why this game is very important, it is not because Bolisov has strong strength, but because he went to Belarus at that time, and the harsh natural climate will have a great impact on the forest team.

By the end of November, Belarus has entered a cold winter. The worst plan is that Nottingham Forest will have to play the same home advantage in the ice and snow, adapting to the decisive battle of the opponent in this ice and snow weather, in order to gain the lead in the qualifying competition with Dynamo Kiev.

In that game, they not only had to compete with Bolisov, but also had to fight against the cold weather in Belarus. And that period of time was often when the players were most tired and most susceptible to injury.

To win, no one can be injured, and the players' physical fitness must be guaranteed.

When Tang En thought of this condition, he felt a huge rock pressing against his chest, making him breathless.

In the morning of Nottingham in early November, the mist from the Sherwood Forest was still shrouded in the city. The road was wet and it was still raining. The sun had already risen, but was blocked by thick dark clouds. The sun could not leak out at all. The men who went to work shrank their bodies in their coats of black hands and walked in a hurry. The lights at the front of the car were still on, and they drove past the road, splashing a cold splash.

Tangen stood outside Wilford Lane and looked up at the training base in front of the woods and white mist. He pulled the collar of his turtleneck sweater outwards, and the cold air took the opportunity to get in, making him shudder without any warning. Fortunately, the feeling of breathing was finally relieved.

Just as he opened his mouth and took a deep breath, a white air spurted out from his mouth, torn apart by cold before his eyes, dispersed into wisps of white smoke, gradually fading until it finally disappeared, blending with the white mist in the morning of early winter.
Chapter completed!