Godfather Of Champions

In English football, there were a few tiny rules, or minor curses, like the fact that a team could not win if they used the South locker room in the Millennium Stadium. Of course, this had been broken by Nottingham Forest\'s Tony Twain, and Arsenal had used the South locker room for today\'s game. Another curse was that the team that won the FA Community Shield at the beginning of the season would lose the Premier League championship. In 2000, the FA Community Shield champion was Chelsea, and that season they were only placed in the sixth place. The Premier league championship was taken by Manchester United. In 2001, after brilliantly winning five championships, Liverpool had won the Community Shield in the new season but did not win the Premier League championship. Then, in 2002, Arsenal fared the worst. They had won the Community Shield, but their success was reversed by Manchester United after they had been leading for half of the league. In 2003, the Community Shield belonged to the Red Devils team, but Arsenal was unstoppable that season and took the championship with an impressive record of being undefeated in the 38-rounds. And Manchester United even lost to Chelsea at the last minute, and only placed third.

As for the 2004 Community Shield champion, what would their outcome be at the end of the season? Tang En remembered very clearly.

After hearing the Manchester United fans\' never-ending complaints and self-deprecating remarks, he laughed, "That\'s not certain yet, maybe this season\'s Premier League champion will be Chelsea!"

That fat man looked at Twain in surprise and dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "How could that team of mercenaries be our opponent? Just because they were the runner-up last season doesn\'t mean they\'ll be able to take the first place this season... don\'t you know anything about football?"

It seemed that his words had provoked the man\'s temper, and Tang En did not want to argue the issue with a belligerent fan. So, he and David Kerslake quickly left the Millennium Stadium.

On the way back, Kerslake also talked about the issue. He felt that Arsenal\'s current state was very good, and that their winning streak had not declined due to the long summer.

"Why can\'t Wenger\'s team break the curse that a Community Shield champion can\'t get the Premier League title? You mentioned Chelsea, but I don\'t think they\'re that good. Like us, they brought in too many new players over the summer. The team manager and the players are all new, and breaking in the new team is going to take up a lot of their time. I don\'t believe they can pose any threat to Arsenal and Manchester United this season. I\'m more optimistic about them for next season."

Twain was not willing to bet with Kerslake. This was not because he was uncertain as to whether the future would be the same as he remembered, but rather because they had joined the Premier League as well. "This year is the best chance for Chelsea to win the championship," he said, shaking his head.

"Why?" Kerslake was puzzled.

"Because..." Twain turned to look at his partner and laughed mischievously. "Starting next season, we\'re in."

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The FA Community Shield was precursor to the English Premier League, meaning that the league tournament would be fully opened a week later.

During that one-week period, Twain and the Forest team accepted an interview with Sky TV. This was a feature segment that Sky TV, which was in charge of broadcasting the Premier League, would produce every season; through it, their audience could see the new season\'s twenty teams. Besides the winning favorites, the most important portion of the program was the newly promoted teams. After all, for the majority of the audience, the three newly promoted teams were brand new and unfamiliar. Because the Forest team was the most unique one among the three promoted teams, they received more attention.

As they were a newly promoted team that had to take part in a European tournament, the media\'s main concern was what the Forest team\'s goal was this season. For almost all newly promoted teams in their first Premier League season, the goal would be to simply maintain their status; this was because it was a qualitative leap from League One to the Premier League. Many teams which had been formidable in League One were badly battered when they entered the Premier League.

Twain obviously did not want something like that to happen to him, but he did not state his exact goal. He just said, "We want to win every game that we think is necessary to win." That was the goal of the Forest team.

The Sky TV reporter tried to decipher the hidden meaning of his remark, so he followed up excitedly with more questions. "For example, last season, Arsenal..."

This was a dangerous sign. Journalists always liked to use this approach of thinking out loud and using a seemingly inquiring tone to reel people in. Twain firmly shook his head. "Arsenal is Arsenal and Nottingham Forest is Nottingham Forest. I\'m not going to repeat the path that others have taken."

The disappointed journalist thought of another related question. "The longest unbeaten record in England\'s top leagues was maintained by the Forest team, forty-two games..."

"The past record has nothing to do with the current Forest team. Just like no one thinks that the Forest team is a European champion right now."

Twain\'s answer was completely uncooperative, but the Sky TV journalist still did not give up. He rolled his eyes, and suddenly thought of a very exciting topic. "According to the competition schedule, the Forest team will play against Arsenal on its home grounds on August 26."

Twain nodded, not knowing what the rather annoying journalist was going to say.

"If Arsenal wins the first two rounds of the league tournament, did you know, Mr. Twain, that Arsenal and the Forest team\'s third round of the league will be Arsenal\'s forty-third game after their record of being undefeated for forty-two consecutive rounds?"

Twain was stunned to hear the reporter say that. When he had first focused on the competition schedule, he was already vexed that they had to encounter such a strong team at the beginning, but he did not think that there was another hidden meaning within.

Twain got a little impatient now that he was entangled with this journalist over one record. He frowned and said, "A record is meant to be broken by others, I don\'t think that\'s a bad thing. In addition, I think I need to remind you, sir... Are you certain that Arsenal isn\'t the subject of today\'s segment?"

The journalist was slightly embarrassed by Twain\'s counter question, and had to switch to some very ordinary and common topics that were mundane and uninteresting to the audience. Twain managed with a few remarks, left the crew, and ran to the training ground to focus on the team\'s training.

For him now, appearances on television were completely incapable of satisfying his sense of achievement and ego. He cared more about the team\'s victory and glory. Furthermore, it felt awful to be belittled by this blasted journalist. Now that Arsenal had won the Community Shield, all of England was concerned about when the record would be broken by Wenger\'s team. Hence, having created this record previously, the Forest team had been dragged out of history and dusted off to be used as a backdrop for Arsenal\'s brilliance.

The feeling of being a supporting actor to others made Tang En uncomfortable.

When will the damned media and fans talk about the Forest team as a leading character rather than as a supporting role?

Ah, it looks like I still have a long way to go!

When the new season\'s Premier League was about to kick off, the lower level league tournaments were already up and running. The opponents that Tang En was familiar with were struggling in a completely different world, and he no longer wished to go back.

At the same time, the Football League First Division had been renamed the EFL Championship since the start of the new season because of new sponsors, and the corresponding lower-level leagues had also been renamed. The name "championship" sounded flashy but, in fact, it was just a change in name, not in substance.

After being promoted to the Premier League, Tang En did not care about the miscellaneous matters of the lower-level leagues. But the league\'s name change did make him a little rueful.

Perhaps there would never be an "EFL Championship" trophy in the Forest team\'s trophy room.