Chapter 38: Strong and persistent

The continued deterioration of global financial situation and the new stadium project were forced to shut down due to funding gaps, the players' physical strength problems, injuries were signs of increasing injuries, and the team's performance fluctuated. These things combined together made Tang En feel tremendous pressure, and also made him realize that not only during the winter break, the club cannot be expected to spend money on people, but in the future, he must learn to use more local resources to expand the team's strength.

The youth team is a place that must be paid attention to. And this kind of attention is not the kind of person I used to sit in the office and read the data and reports, but to go to the youth team in person. This is an act of showing his attitude. Even if he is wearing sunglasses and standing on the sidelines, he can be distracted. Anyway, letting the youth team players see hope and be inspired, and it is also a signal to Evan Dogette - I understand that the club has no money to buy people, but the youth team is the basis for the team's survival, and no matter what, the investment here cannot be reduced.

He almost painted the slogan "No matter how poor you are, you can't be poor" on the wall of the youth team training base.

So he decided to go to North Wilford with Don and Chris Lack after the first team training, and see how the young geniuses brought back from all over the world have grown to the point.

After winter begins, Britain almost enters the rainy season. London is known as the "Mist City" because the industrial waste gas and smoke that spread throughout the city of London during the Industrial Revolution, and now it has turned into rainy fog. Nottingham is no exception.

The continuous cold and light rain fell for four days, and there was still no sign of the weather turning sunny or stopping in the weather forecast.

Even if you were born in Sichuan, where there was a lot of cold rain in winter, Tang En still didn't like this kind of weather. The continuous rain made people feel as if they were moldy from clothes to their bodies. The bachelor's body was filled with an unpleasant smell of mold. The clothes were always wet, and it was so uncomfortable to stick to their bodies.

"I hate this kind of weather." On the way to North Vilford with Don and Chris Lack, Don was holding a black umbrella and muttering. "This kind of sky makes people feel so depressed." He moved a little bit of the umbrella and looked up at the sky. As a result, dense raindrops hit his face, mouth, eyes, and neck slid into his collar.

Chris Lack frowned. The team's performance has been very unstable recently. Such weather does give people a feeling of "increasing chaos". In addition, he believes that this winter break can be used to find suitable players in the youth team, and various talented young men from Piaotian and Literature Luo join. But there is still some time before they become successful...at least it will not work in January next year.

Tang Ze was thinking about another person. When Tang En suddenly said yesterday that he was going to go to the youth team to check out today, he did not think of the children who worked hard in the youth team, but thought of Chen Jian first. Every time he learned from the youth team, he made him a little worried about him. Can he still hold on? Can he still realize his dream?

The three of them came to North Vilford with their own worries.

Although the weather is not good and it is raining, the team's training is still placed outdoors. In order to facilitate the coaches from the first team to examine the true level of these young players, the training is arranged as a small training match.

The training ground of the youth team is hidden in the woods, and it usually looks better than the training ground of the first team. However, under today's weather conditions, what they can see is destined to be a piece of rotten vegetable field.

The gloomy sky seemed to have entered the evening early, and the woods north of the training ground showed a black hazy form in the rain and fog. The training ground was darker.

The youth team players were changing clothes in the locker room, and then ran out with their necks shrank and amid the coach's urging.

Chen Jian was also among them. He just learned a minute ago that he was actually on the Huang team side of this team game.

The training match is divided into two teams, wearing red or yellow training vests.  The yellow vests from the first team usually symbolize the main players, and the vests in the youth team have no meaning in the color.   It is just for everyone to distinguish teammates and opponents.

I have been to Nottingham Forest for more than seven months and have never participated in a youth team competition on behalf of the Forest team. It’s not that he is not qualified, but that he has been doing basic training during this period. After starting to practice with his teammates two months ago, he still has no tacit understanding. He will occasionally play in the team competition, but he is basically a role of accompanying the prince to study. He was replaced after playing for a while. No matter how good his performance is, he will never be within the area of ​​the youth team coaches.

This kind of role is quite embarrassing. No one will really believe that this amateur boy selected by talent shows can really pass the test for one year and eventually stay at Nottingham Forest Club. So no matter how hard Chen Jian works, no one will put too much effort into this person. Only Greenwood is the exception because he knows that Assistant Tang cares about the Chinese boys. As a colleague who has worked in the youth team together, he is willing to help Tang pay more attention to his Chinese compatriot.

Since this game is to allow first-team coaches to examine which players in the youth team can be transferred to the reserve team, there is naturally no need for him to occupy a place to play. Therefore, he was a little surprised when he heard Greenwood call out his name.

It was just a little bit, and Chen Jian didn't take this action any great opportunity. He smiled and nodded to show that he knew, then calmly changed his clothes, ran out of the second-story building where the locker room was located, and ran into the training ground covered by rain and fog.

While passing by the sidelines, he saw Coach Greenwood chatting with three men holding three black umbrellas. After running over, the faces of the three people showed off from behind the umbrellas, and he recognized who they were one by one.

The first one is the Chinese assistant coach Tang, whom he is most familiar with. In his eyes, this man is always gentle and busy. He can be an assistant coach in a team like Nottingham Forest at the age of thirty. It is really amazing. Seeing him makes Chen Jian full of strength - although a coach, a player. But on the road to pursuing his dreams. Tang is his first idol of Chen Jian.

Standing next to Tang, holding an umbrella. The tall man in black who frowned and didn't speak much and just listened is the king of this team, Tony Don. Nottingham Forest has a poor record recently, and even qualifying for the Champions League group has become a problem. He must be under great pressure now after three years of glory...

The man looking around behind them was another assistant coach of the team, Chris Lack.  I heard that after Donn left the youth team, he was the director of the youth team, and coach Greenwood was once a coach under him.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   �

After running through several coaches, Chen Jian and other teammates started warm-up exercises under the leadership of the coaches. The temperature is low in winter and there is rain today. The warm-up activities must be done well. Otherwise, it would be too unpaid if you are injured in such a game.

Tang was talking to Greenwood about the recent training situation of the youth team in order to facilitate first-hand intelligence consultation. After they finished chatting, the four of them turned around and looked at the young people warming up on the training ground.

All three of them were wearing umbrellas, but the head coach of the youth team, Greenwood, just wore a wool hat to cover his bald head who had few hairs but was very caring about it. The rain had already wet his whole body, but he didn't care about those trivial matters. He was not the coach who came down from the first team to "inspect" him, he was the intuitiveness of this place. He couldn't walk here with an umbrella. Sometimes he had to come out to demonstrate his movements in person, or jumped in front of the player who made a mistake, and put his face against the tip of the unlucky nose and roared. Do you think this affects the umbrella?

Squinted his eyes. Try not to let the rain slide into his eyes. He waved his hand into the field and shouted, "Okay, let's start!"

The players on both sides stood obediently. The coach who acted as referees whistle sounded and the team training match began.

Tang En also knew very well that it would be almost impossible to find a player in the youth team who could be transferred to the first team. But he had to appear here to give young people the motivation to train hard and stay in Wilford with peace of mind. In fact, there are two assistant coaches who are really detailed and careful observation. He just needs to find the people he is interested in.

The team players have very high technical requirements for playing in the rain that cannot be considered light, so the most common scenes that people on the sidelines see are people who are on the back and horses, falling down and facing the sky.

Greenwood was a little embarrassed. The day that Tang En chose was too casual, or the timing was too bad. Such a game could not fully demonstrate the players' best condition and best performance. If the first team coaches stood in the cold rain and watched "mud football" for dozens of minutes, they would definitely lose patience to criticize these young children for bad comments.

Because the first team coaches want to see the strength of the young players. So although they are under 18 years old, two talented players, John Bostock and Nicklas Milan, who have been training in the U17 echelon, were all transferred from U16 to U18 by Greenwood to participate in today's game.

Tang En focused on these two people. He wanted to see how these two geniuses have improved their level after one year of training in the Forest Team.

The result made him feel relieved. Although he was still young, these two players had already shown outstanding performance among many teammates who were one to two years older than them. They are the core players of the two teams in the Yellow Team and the Red Team respectively. The teammates around him cooperated very skillfully with them and are not unfamiliar with them. It can be seen that Greenwood often transfers these two to U18 to play games.

Although the poor venue and weather have somewhat limited their performance, Tang En firmly believes that if this continues, he may be transferred to the first team next season. Give them more opportunities and a broader stage to play.

After confirming that the performance of the two people satisfies him, he began to search on the court aimlessly again. The look of looking around easily gives people the illusion of his absent-mindedness.

In addition to the sound of players shouting and shouting at each other, the sound of water splashing in movements such as running, tackles, shooting, and constant whistles on the court. There was no other sound. Everyone was concentrating on the game in order to leave the best impression on Tony Don.

Although Chen Jian knew in his heart that he was still the role of "studying with the prince" in today's game, once he was on the court, at the beginning of the game, he devoted himself to it. He ran and fought hard, and conscientiously fulfilled the task given to him by coach Greenwood - right back, and stabilized defense.

He didn't expect to impress the coaches of the first team with his outstanding performance. He just felt that since it was a game, he had to do his best.

However, his performance was very bad in Greenwood's opinion. The grass was slippery in the rain, and some movements were unable to exert force. In addition, the shoe nails on the sneakers he wore were short nails, which made his grip performance look very poor. He looked extremely clumsy. On the right side he was guarding, he was always easily broken through by his opponent, so that it almost became the main attacking direction of the Red Team.

John Bostock also found that the Chinese were easy to bully, so he frequently dribbled the ball to press the ball to the side. The Yellow Team was about to take advantage of the situation to counterattack, but the Red Team pressed back. A group of young men were so pressed out that they couldn't get out. They were angry and moved a little more. Finally, Bostock got a penalty kick and then personally took the penalty. The Red Team led the Yellow Team 1:0. Greenwood outside the court applauded and cheered John Bostock loudly. This action stimulated the Yellow Team players who lost the ball.

The yellow team players who lost the ball began to have a disagreement. Although the ball lost was not broken through from Chen Jian, everyone looked at him with no friendly eyes - although they were usually happy, it was because Chen Jian did not pose a direct threat to them. But now if they were unable to show their best side because of Chen Jian's poor performance, then Chen Jian will definitely be resentful by his teammates. Who would be polite with a boy who only stayed in the team for a year at this time?

If you make a mistake, the one who has a better temper is just a glance at you. The one who has a more temper may just come up and point your nose and blame it.

Chen Jian stood on the right, and he could feel several eyes looking at him. He is not a fool, he knows what is behind these eyes.

He tried not to think about the contemptuous eyes of his teammates and continued to do his own work on the right.

Still defending.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             �

I can only continue to face the Red Team's repeated breakthroughs, one-on-one, one-on-two, one-on-three...

The tireless efforts of the Red Team finally achieved results. Bostock broke through Chen Jian, who had been in a mess, and assisted his teammates with a cross to score the second goal.

The Yellow Team fell behind two goals.

Unlike the first time he lost the ball, Chen Jian found that no one had glanced at him anymore - they completely regarded themselves as air. A central defender ran up and stood beside him. Obviously he was dissatisfied with his previous poor defense and wanted to play a guest appearance as a right back by himself.

Chen Jian looked at his teammates around him, then turned his head to look at the coaches next to him, wanting to see if this was what coach Greenwood meant. He didn't see any special gestures from coach Greenwood, but he looked absent-minded when he saw Tony Don.

This action suddenly stimulated Chen Jian.

No matter how you perform, football has been wandering around you all this time. Even if you are dissatisfied with your performance, you will at least stare at yourself and shake your head, or move your eyes away when you find yourself looking over. What's this now? You look around with your head tilted. Are you watching the game or looking at the woods in the distance?

It turns out that in the eyes of other British people, I was just a cloud of air!

Look at my body full of mud. It is probably the same as the rotten vegetable field when I fell to the ground. If I was stepped on it, I would not attract a trace of surprise...

Chen Jian looked down at his embarrassment. He felt humiliated for the first time.

That's right, I'm from a country with backward football, I'm a show star from a commercial talent show. I know how much I'm going to be. I don't expect to get the same treatment as you all have. But at least... at least look at me! A big living person of 1.83 meters and 70 kilograms is standing here. He was passed over and over again, facing each other, being fooled by monkeys, he is running, jumping, and falling... He is moving, he is a living person! Can't you guys see the eyes of you?!

At this time, Chen Jian suddenly hoped that Greenwood would run to him angrily. He scolded him. Because that means that he is still being watched and he still exists on the court.

I don't expect you to praise anything. I just hope you don't ignore me, don't pretend to not see me, and don't turn a blind eye to all my efforts!

Why do I work so hard every day? Why do I work alone in this unfamiliar environment? Are you pursuing your ideals, so am I? I didn’t want to be promoted to the first team of Nottingham Forest, I just want to become a real professional football player!

It's been seven months, except for being praised once. It's all criticism and scolding. No effort will be rewarded or affirmed. No matter how bad I do, I'm always working hard, right? Why do you so easily deny my sweat and hard work every day of the seven months?

He saw Tang standing next to Tang En, and he looked at him, then sighed and lowered his eyes. Obviously he was disappointed with his performance. This is OK.

Chen Jian was suddenly ignited by a fire in his heart, and he walked out of the field. When he walked to Greenwood, he said to the head coach of the youth team in English: "Please replace me, coach Greenwood."

Everyone was dizzy by his actions. Greenwood didn't understand what was going on. He never caused trouble and did not blush with anyone. Why did the Chinese Chen, who always kept smiling, suddenly pursed his lips tightly and stood in front of him with wide eyes wide open and said this.

Before he could answer, Chen Jian had already bypassed him and walked towards the locker room.

"Stop." He was pulled.

Chen Jian turned around and stared at the person who grabbed him. It was Tony Tangen who was "absent-minded" looking around just now.

In such a dark weather, he did not wear his iconic sunglasses and appeared on the side of the training ground. So Chen Jian was able to see the head coach's eyes at this moment.

A little cold.

"Who told you to leave?" he asked coldly.

"Tony..." Tang shouted a little surprised.

Chen Jian did not answer Tang En's question. He didn't know why the first-team coach suddenly held him and refused to let him go.

"I'll ask again, who told you to leave?" Tang En repeated the question in a cold tone. His eyes were staring at Chen Jian, his tone was colder than his.

Greenwood felt a little reluctant to Chen Jian was scolded by the King of the Forests. He knew what kind of person Tony Tangen was. His sarcasm could make the strongest child cry. He planned to give Chen Jian a step, so he waved his hand to call the substitute next to him, but Tangen stretched out his umbrella to stop him.

"Go back to the court. The game is not over yet, and the coach has not changed you." Tang En said with a dark face.

Chen Jian still didn't understand why the first-team head coach suddenly took care of his affairs when he was a person who was training in the Forest Youth Team. He glanced at Greenwood. In his heart, only the head coach of the youth team, Greenwood, has the right to give orders to him.

Greenwood smiled bitterly and waved his hand: "Go back to the court, Chen. The game is not over yet, I haven't replaced you yet."

Tang En let go of his hand, Chen Jian glanced at Tang En. He returned to the stadium with a stubborn look on his face.

The players looked at Chen Jian who returned to the stadium in confusion.   I haven't figured out what happened just now.

The central defender who planned to play a cameo as the right-back was also called back to the central defender by Greenwood, and the game started again.

Chen Jian's performance was as bad as ever. Or worse than before. His emotions must have been impacted by this incident just now and became extremely unstable. How could he play well in a restless game?

Tang En finally stopped looking around, and under the black umbrella he stared at Chen Jian.

When Chen Jian was defending Bostock, he was knocked out by the opponent with one pass. When he turned around, he lost his balance. He slipped his feet and kneeled on the ground, supported his hands in the mud, lowered his head, and did not get up again.

He felt very frustrated. He was looked down upon, scolded, humiliated and played with. Because he had no strength, because he performed poorly. The reality was so cruel. He found that the dream had left him, and perhaps he was not waiting for him in front of him at all. Everything was a daydream he imagined, just deceiving himself.

He suddenly wanted to cry loudly, for the sake of his dreams that have been buried deep in his heart for so many years, for the ten years he had spent loving football, and for the stupidity of giving up his studies to come to the UK to pursue his dreams.
To be continued...