Chapter 35: Cold

After the game against Manchester City, the media lost interest in continuing to hype Ben Turner's grudges with Forests. Ben Turner lost the bet and paid for all his teammates to drink. He seemed to have forgotten the game he experienced at the city court, and a smile reappeared on his face. Although he lost the game and lost the bet in this game, his relationship with his new teammates became more harmonious. It can be considered as gains and losses.

No one of the Nottingham Forest fans is talking about the player who no longer belongs to the Forest, but if Bentner returns to the City Stadium with Manchester City again, what he hears is still huge booing. His performance in this game has long been deeply engraved in the hearts of Forest fans.

Nottingham Forest players will no longer talk about past games, although that game has created many topics that people are talking about.

George Wood's goal was rated as the best in the round and was repeatedly broadcasted in the highlights produced by the TV station. Zakic is also popular among the media because he has just transferred to the Premier League for a month and has scored a goal for the Forest in his second appearance, and this goal is the final winning goal.

As soon as the league ended, Don En took the team to Kiev, Ukraine to participate in the second game of the Champions League group stage.

It's just October, and the temperature in Kiev is cool and suitable, which is very suitable for outdoor sports.

Although he was playing in the Champions League, considering Dynamo Kiev's strength and the team's own situation, Don N still decided to rotate. He replaced all the main lineups of the match against Manchester City. Relying on the second lineup, Forest defeated Dynamo Kiev 1:2 away, and won consecutive victories in two games, setting a good start for qualifying for the group.

The problem of continuous competitions that allowed the team's physical fitness to qualify again - in fact, it was not good. Since the national team's game, the forest team's physical fitness reserves have always been below the safety line.

The Forest team, who returned to the UK, was tied 0:0 by Middlesbrough at home.

After seven rounds, Forests ranked fourth in the league with 14 points, and even ranked behind the newly promoted Hull City. Since Hull City lost to Nottingham Forest in the second round of the league for five goals, it has won three consecutive victories and one draw in the last five rounds of the league. It has beaten Nottingham Forest with the same score in the league standings and ranked third. It has become the largest dark horse since the start of the new season.

Even Tang En sometimes lamented the impermanence of the world. Hull City, which was beaten by them in the second round of the league, can now rank above them. rank in the top three.

But he was not worried that Hull City could really threaten his team.   These newly promoted teams rely on their momentum and everyone’s lack of understanding of them, it is normal for them to rank high in the early stages of the season.                                                                                                 

To put it bluntly, the top football league is a game for rich people, without a certain economic foundation. It can only be a brief glory. In the end, it will be ruthlessly eliminated. Even if the team has the strength, it will not escape being divided by strong teams without money and become a "player supermarket".

Think of Palma de Italy, think of Leeds in England...

Although I know that Hull City cannot pose any threat to me, I also know that the league is a long battle, not the start, but the mid-range and the final sprint. But Tang En is still very dissatisfied with the team's current situation.

Due to this and that kind of things in summer, the signing plan is too chaotic, and there are not many goals to be achieved in the end. The team is now struggling to arrange personnel. The league has only started two months ago, and there is a more cruel winter that has not arrived. What adverse situations will happen to the team at that time? Don En doesn't know. He must prepare for the future.

He decided to go to Evan to discuss the funds needed to introduce players during the winter transfer period.

When he talked about Evan, he remembered that he rarely saw Evan's shadow in the past month. He used to be based in Nottingham. He rarely saw him in Wilford in the past month. Like him, he rarely saw the land people, including Alan Adams.

What are you busy with? Fortunately, they are all in Nottingham these days. Don Evan decided to choose a day rather than a day, so he went to find Evan immediately.

In Evan's office, Tang En met Alan again. Tang En was no longer surprised by this business partner who always had sex with Evan. He greeted Alan and put forward his own ideas straight to the point.

"Evan, you also see the current situation of the team. The injury and lack of physical fitness reserves have led to many games where I can arrange a complete lineup. I think we should introduce at least three players during the winter break, especially the midfield and frontcourt..."

He just finished speaking, Evan and Allen looked at each other, then smiled bitterly and spread their hands: "Tony. I'm afraid I can't meet your requirements this time..."

Don Eun was very surprised: "Why?"

Evan continued to smile bitterly: "We have no money."

"No money? I don't understand. Isn't the club's financial situation still good?"

Allen stood up from the sofa: "Simply put, the expenses necessary to run a club can be taken out, but the extra money is used to buy new players... it's a bit difficult. Are you reading the news, Tony?"

"I only look at sports..."

Allen sighed: "The financial crisis has arrived."

Tang En was a little confused. He couldn't tell the difference between "financial crisis" and "economic crisis", and it seemed to him the same. He only had two chances to understand these crises. Once he was in middle school, he learned about the world economic crisis in the 1930s from history textbooks and the financial crisis that broke out in Southeast Asia in 1998. But as an ordinary person living in mainland China, even if it was the closest 1997, the impact on his life was minimal, and he was even less likely to have an intuitive impression of this crisis. What exactly is a financial crisis? What kind of impact can it have on our life?

Now he has the opportunity to see him in person.

"There was a sub-credit crisis in the United States, and it was only a matter of time before this crisis affected the world. Evan's business in the United States was hit hard. The sub-credit crisis was caused by the bubble in the United States' real estate market, and Evan's company is engaged in real estate investment in the United States..."

Evan took over Allen's words: "Simply put, Tony. My company in the United States went bankrupt."

"But hasn't your business in the United States been separated from the club's business?" asked Don. He still doesn't understand what the bankruptcy of Evan's American company has to do with the club.

"It's separate. But in fact, my business in the United States can support the club. This summer we invested heavily in China, and the store was too big and the funds couldn't keep up. Now that the business in the United States collapsed, our capital chain was broken..." Evan sat on the chair and said in a little frustrated.

Tang En felt that he had already figured out the situation. Although businesses in various places are separate, they have always been in contact. American businesses can supplement club operations, and club profits can also be divided into investment projects in mainland China.

From the United States to the United Kingdom. Then to China, this stall is really too big for a team that is not yet a wealthy family and lacks a financial foundation... Now, as long as there is a problem in one place's business, it will affect other places. Of course, if there is a problem in China's investment, it will have the least impact on the other two places...

"If the business is to grow, you can't let the money stay in one place. So all the funds are constantly turning around... Now there is a problem in the United States. The chain is broken..." Allen's words confirmed Tang En's speculation. "We have been dealing with matters over the United States this month."

Tang En asked carefully: "How bad is the situation?"

Evan smiled, but he smiled bitterly: "It's not too bad now. But as this crisis spreads to the world, I think it might be bad... Global integration makes a country-local problem easily become a common problem for many countries. In fact, the sub-credit crisis appeared in the United States last year, but at that time I was quite optimistic that the economy could not collapse. The self-regulation function of the market can resolve this crisis. And there are many people who are as optimistic as me at that time. But in fact, we all underestimated the energy of that crisis. Last year was just a crisis, and this year it had snowballed in the financial markets of Europe and Japan, and it turned into a storm..."

"Will the club go bankrupt?" Tang En couldn't understand the proper nouns that Allen wanted to say, he only cared about a little.

"I can't be sure." Allen shook his head and said.

"That's really bad..." Tang En murmured.

Seeing the atmosphere, Evan clapped his hands and smiled, "Okay, the situation is not that bad, right? I have ended all my business in the United States, and now this club is my only real estate. I will not let this club go bankrupt anyway."

Donn looked at Evan Dogette, who was always confident and at this moment, and "What can I do?"

Evan smiled and said, "It's okay to lead the team, Tony. You don't have to worry about business matters, but you can't worry about it either. Didn't I say that? No matter how bad the situation is, I will keep this club. Because this is my last position."

What else can Tang En say? He originally wanted to ask for money. Now he naturally can't continue to make such requests. He said goodbye to two people and returned to the team alone.

He lamented that things are impermanent. Alan Adams and Evan Dogerty were still full of confidence when they returned from Asia in the summer and painted him the exciting and wonderful prospects of the future Nottingham Forest on the plane. Unexpectedly, things changed drastically in just two months. The company in the United States went bankrupt, the capital turnover was no longer effective, and the plan became a plan. At present, there was no possibility of becoming a reality.

And what can he do? How can he make a profit as a club? Of course, it is the share of TV broadcasts and sponsors, as well as tickets and peripheral merchandise sales revenue... and all these profit points will definitely be implemented to one point - results.

If the team's performance is not good, the share of TV broadcasts will drop sharply. Sponsors no longer favor them, and the revenue of tickets and peripheral products will decrease. The winning prizes for the game will also fly.

Tang En felt the burden on his shoulders getting heavier, and his heart was heavy. He couldn't get more relaxed.

In fact, even if Nottingham Forest goes bankrupt, he can still change jobs. With the achievements he has already led the team, he can get a high-paid head coach position in any club in the world. Even now, there are several teams waving checks to hope that he will join. He never has to worry about starving to death one day. In the early stages of the journey, he thought that if he didn't work hard and fail, he would lose his job. He died in the streets with hunger and coldness. Such a tragic situation would never happen to him again.

He doesn't have to bear any psychological pressure and guilt for the bankruptcy and sinking again in Nottingham Forest. But he just can't let go of this team he brought out with himself. He can't let go of those fans who trust and admire him. As a traditional Chinese, he values ​​love and righteousness.

Evan and Allen are nice to him, and he can't do anything to betray them. He wants to help them as much as possible.

Evan said Nottingham Forest was his last position now, and Don was willing to use the team as his last position.

I don’t know how to run a club, nor am I a business genius. I may make mistakes when I go to the supermarket to buy things and settle accounts. I will feel a headache when I see a large number of complex numbers.

I can only lead the team to play games, and there will be bonuses to win games. There will be bonuses to rank high, and there will be bonuses to win championships... I can only make money for the club in the way I am good at and overcome difficulties.

Tony Donn, a person like Tony Donn, who cares about nothing but football, only now knows that there is a financial crisis. In fact, the financial panic around the world has lasted for almost a year.

The real estate market suffered a heavy blow, stock futures in various countries plummeted, credit companies went bankrupt, currency depreciation... It appeared like a storm, and began to appear in 2007, developed, and finally swept the world. Then it reached its climax in the second half of 2008.

In the first half of 2008, the global market was still filled with the optimistic range of "the worst period of the subprime mortgage crisis has passed". But in the second half of the year, the situation took a sharp turn for the worse.

In August, Germany announced a profit warning. It was estimated that a loss of 8.2 billion euros was followed by a "Rhineland Fund" with a size of 12.7 billion euros, which was involved in the subprime credit investment business in the United States.

The tenth largest mortgage lender in the United States, the United States Housing Mortgage Investment Company, officially filed for bankruptcy protection in the court on August 6, becoming another large mortgage lender in the United States to file for bankruptcy after New Century Financial Company.

On August 8, Bear Stearns, the fifth largest investment bank in the United States, announced the collapse of two of its funds, because of the subprime mortgage storm.

On August 9, France's largest bank, BNP Paribas, announced the freeze of three of its funds, also suffered huge losses due to investing in US subprime mortgage bonds. This move caused a heavy blow to European stock markets.

On August 13, the parent company of the second largest bank in Japan, Ruisui Bank, announced that it would be 600 million yen related to the US subprime mortgage.

In the past, people were thinking that the United States and other economic powers would not be so miserable. But now the cruel reality is in front of everyone. The financial crisis is not an alarmist prophecy, but has become a reality.

In fact, these things are still far from Tony Tangen's life. But after October, there was something that changed his original life and work to a certain extent.

Lehman Brothers Investment Bank, which provides loans to invest in the new stadium of Nottingham Forest Club, announced a filing for bankruptcy protection.
Chapter completed!