Chapter 91: Friends come from afar

When Paul Gerrard was about to retire, Don An ordered a strict blockade of news. Except for him, Don, Chris Lack, team doctor Fleming, and Professor Constantine knew, it was not allowed to disclose it to others. Even the players and other staff in the team were not allowed to say it. Don An also greeted Paul Gerrard, asking him not to announce his retirement, and he would talk about it after the Champions League.

Gerald expressed his understanding of this. Now is the critical moment for the team, and there is no reason to affect the team's preparations for his own affairs.

In three days, the team will set off for Athens. This time, everyone is here, and there are no shortage of twenty-two people in the team.

The other two were loaned to Watford, Chris Commons and goalkeeper Igor Akinfeyev, who was rented to CSKA, who was rented to Moscow, received a red envelope from Nottingham Forest Club, containing a ticket to the European Championship final.

Tang En didn't know if other clubs would give tickets to players who had been loaned out and did not contribute to the team after they reached the finals of the Champions League or similar important matches. He did not refer to other teams before, but he just suddenly thought that those people should also feel the glory of the team. This is conducive to cultivating their team's cohesion and a means to win people's hearts.

Sure enough, Chris Commons was very happy after receiving the ticket. Akinfeyev, who was preparing for a vacation in Russia, also called and said that he would definitely go to see the finals at that time.

It seemed like a habit for Don En to distribute tickets everywhere before the finals.

In addition to asking the club to send tickets to these two players from other places, Tang En himself has a lot of tickets waiting to be given away.

Chris Gronia in the United States called Don Eun and thanked him for sending the final tickets again. She said that she would definitely go to see it even if she was busy, and she would support her friends.

Michael Bernard finished his day's work and had just returned home. Before he could change his shoes, he heard the doorbell ringing.

"Mike." Wife Fiona shouted in the kitchen inside. "Go and open the door."

"I'm at the door." Michael responded, turned around and opened the door.

A young man wearing a hat with the "FedEx" mark stood in front of him. "Mr. Michael Bernard?"

"I'm..." Michael nodded.

"Your express." The young man took out a letter from his bag. "Please sign for it."

Michael took the signing and took out a fountain pen and wrote his name on his place, and handed it back. The young man handed the envelope to Michael and turned around and left.

Michael opened the outside packaging and a red envelope appeared in front of him. It looked familiar because he had received this thing for two consecutive years.

It doesn't mean you're not surprised. When you opened the envelope, Michael was still surprised when he found that what was falling out of the Champions League finals. He thought that time had gone back, today was a year ago.

I leaned over and picked up the ticket from handing over and checked the time. Yes, it was from 2007. So that's it...

Did that kid lead the team to the finals of the Champions League for two consecutive years?

Michael looked up at the ceiling.

What appeared before him was the situation where Forest reached the finals of the Champions League twenty-seven years ago. It has been three years since he was away from England. He didn't know what the situation was now, and he couldn't imagine it.

football……

He has long since stopped caring about these things, and now only his memories of football are left. He does not watch football games. He does not read news reports about football. He does not even know which Nottingham Forest is ranked in the Premier League today. His old friends in Nottingham never talk about anything about football or Nottingham Forest when they occasionally call themselves.

Nowadays, he is no longer a fan of the earth, but a white-collar worker in a suit and tie working in an energy company. He lives a simple life from 9 to 5 every day, a company-family-family-family-family-family-family-family-family-family-family-family-family-family-family-family-family-family-family-family-

He has been used to this for three years and did not feel anything wrong. He lost his son. He now hopes to accompany his wife well and make up for his previous mistakes.

He has no other thoughts. This is life, how to live.

Even though he thought so, he picked up the ticket and looked at it carefully.

The ticket has a very eye-catching five-star logo for the Champions League, which is very familiar. It was like this twenty-seven years ago, and it is still like this twenty-seven years later.

People say that the team that won the championship carved their name on the silver-shining championship trophy, while he carved his youth on it.

Doushi Envelope. Found that there was nothing but this ticket. I never made a call without a word of greeting. The friendship between him and Tony Tang seemed to be only this ticket. If the Forest team did not reach the finals of the Champions League one season, I guess there would be no more of this ticket.

Friends need to be maintained with care. If you don’t contact each other for a long time, no matter how good your friendship is, it will gradually fade. Michael has no doubt that if he didn’t even send the tickets. In a few years, he will completely forget the coach he once met in Nottingham.

Now. The ticket in your hand is a witness and maintenance of all their friendship. It's so fragile...

In fact, Michael doesn't blame Tang En for never calling him, and doesn't say anything except sending tickets, because he betrayed the friendship between the two. But...who made him a father who lost his son?

"Mike, who is it?" Fiona in the kitchen didn't hear the sound for a long time and couldn't help asking.

"Ah, a boring salesman, I finally sent him away." Michael put the ticket back into the red envelope and put it in his briefcase.

A crappy salesman who never tires of selling his ideals to him.

——Do you have ideals, Michael?

——Of course we like to win, we also like the team to return to the Super League after this season. We like to become the damn league champion next season, and we will be the king of Europe next season!

The hand that put the envelope containing the ticket into the briefcase paused.

This day was the last day before going to Athens, Greece. The team only conducted simple training, and the training time was not long. The intensity was not high. During the intense preparation, the players got a rare rest. They were given a half-day vacation by Don En, and went back to relax with their family and women.

Tang En believed in traditional Chinese wisdom and could also play a huge role in coaching a European professional football team.

One is the way of civil and military affairs.

What's more, if he doesn't have a long vacation, he can't handle his own affairs.

Another year has passed, and he has met some new friends. He no longer has to worry about where he has so many tickets in his hands like a year ago. Shania, Fashal, and Mr. Armani... These people have received tickets from Don En to the final of the Champions League in the past few days.

After sending Michael Bernard's tickets, he only had one left. Think about it a year ago, when his Forest team first entered the Champions League qualifiers, he had six tickets in his hand and had nowhere to give them away, so he had to take them to Gavin's tomb and burn them together.

This time, he wanted to give Gavin a few more tickets as a souvenir, which was impossible.

He took the last ticket. He got on the tram to the suburbs. This afternoon before he was about to go to Athens, he came to deliver the last ticket.

I bought a bouquet of flowers outside the church and wrote "To my dear Gavin". Don Eun came to the small cemetery behind the church with the flowers.

It was always quiet here, he had come a few times. No one except himself. But this time, he saw someone.

The man stood in front of a tombstone with his back to him.

Tang En just glanced at it at first. He thought maybe it was a stranger who came to mourn his relatives, but he didn't take it seriously. But as he got closer, he found that this person was standing in front of the tombstone of Gavin Bernard.

This is strange. Gavin rests here. There are few people who come to visit him. Even if someone comes, Tang En knows him at first sight. Today, he stands here with his back to him. He tilts his head and looks at him for a long time, unable to meet anyone in his heart. John is a fat man, Bill is much thinner than this man, and George Wood. What is that kid's figure like. Tang En is too familiar with him and will never admit his mistake. So who is this man?

Tang En deliberately made his footsteps sound a little, and the man turned his head when he heard the sound.

At the moment when the two people's eyes intersected, Tang En was stunned.

He seemed to be hit by a thunderbolt. He stood there and couldn't react for a long time.

Who did he see? Although there were some changes. But it was indeed that person.

He thought he had vision.

The man standing opposite him was also a little embarrassed and surprised.

It would be a bit embarrassing to meet two old friends who have not seen each other in three years.

"I... read it right, Michael?" Tang En asked first after coming back to his senses.

Michael Bernard turned and walked over: "It's so surprised to see you here, Tony."

"I should say this. I come every year, but you...I see you for the first time." Tang En's tone was not good, and he was still worried about Michael leaving them and running away.

How could Michael not hear what Tang En meant? He smiled bitterly and did not explain.

Tang En looked at the old friend in front of him, his face was whiter than before. His original unshaven chin was shaved with a razor and shining. His hair was meticulously combed with hair on the scalp. He might have applied some hair spray and other things, and he was meticulous. He had a pair of black framed eyes on the bridge of his nose and was wearing a straight black suit. He looked much more gentle.

Tang En laughed from his nose: "I almost didn't dare to admit it. Is this the fan leader Michael Bernard who was drinking in the bar all day long and full of swearing words? Congratulations, it seems that your new life in the United States is pretty good."

"Your habit of speaking sarcastic and mean, Tony." Michael smiled bitterly again. When he saw his old friend, he seemed to have no other expressions except for a bitter smile.

This made Tang En stunned. Actually, he didn't want to talk to Michael like this, but when he saw him like this, he didn't know why, but he was just mean to open his mouth. He couldn't stop it, as if he was really planning to do so deep in his heart. Some emotions were gushing, and he would feel uncomfortable if he didn't vent.

"I'm not going to punch you in person, Michael." After Don said that, he walked around Michael Bernard and placed the bouquet in his hand in front of Gavin's tombstone.

Bernard turned around and saw him pulling out another piece of paper from his pocket - that was the ticket.

Tang En took out the lighter with his other hand and lit the ticket in front of the tombstone.

Both of them were silent in the flames.   It was not until the flames were about to lick Tang Endi's finger that he threw down the ticket. Before it landed, the ticket was burned to ashes in the flames.   Then a gust of wind in the forest blew, blowing the pile of ashes into the air.

"Every time you receive a ticket, I will come here to send Gavin. Burn it - this is how I give it to him." Don said to Michael with his back. "How many times have you received it?"

“Three times.”

"I burned three times. The first time I was six, the second time I was two, the third time... It was this one. Look. You have a brand new life, and I have made many new friends who can send tickets out, and we have all changed." He spread his hands, "But I will definitely leave this one of Gavin's. "

"Thanks. "

The atmosphere between the two gradually eased.

Donn turned around and looked at Michael: "Why are you back this time? Just to see your son?"

"Business trip." Michael replied.

Don Eun whistled. “What a busy man. Come to Nottingham, England for business trip?”

"No." Michael shook his head, "Go to Athens on a business trip."

Don Eun was stunned for a moment and watched Michael reach out to take out a red envelope from his suit. He was very familiar with the envelope because it was sent to Michael himself. The club envelope with the tickets.

Michael pulled out a ticket from the envelope.

"I resigned just to watch the court."

"You're crazy!" Tang En shouted. "Where is your wife? Will she agree?"

"Of course Fiona won't agree, but she will agree to me on a business trip."

"You lied to her?" Tang En hugged his head, "You are finished, your new life is finished."
To be continued...