Godfather Of Champions

The team was practicing on the training field with assistant manager David Kerslake leading. Meanwhile, Tang En was in the Chairman\'s office with Evan Doughty. They were both watching the ongoing training through an enormous French window.

"Tony, is there a problem with the team?"

Evan was clearly asking the obvious. Currently, the team had two straight losses in the League. Furthermore, since Tang En had taken the initiative to approach him, even a fool would be able to deduce there was a problem. As if realizing that his question was silly, Evan continued, "I meant to ask what the problem is."

Tang En peered down at the training grounds and hesitated briefly before nodding.

"Yeah, Evan. We may need you to fork out some money again. There\'s a position that needs to be filled. Within the 18 rounds of the League, our team loses goals to the opponent in practically every match. Based on the recent matches, I have to say that Darren Ward is no longer able to fulfill my expectations."

"Darren Ward? Are you planning to buy a new goalkeeper during the Winter transfer window?"

"Yes. I already have a candidate, but we might face competition from elsewhere…" In fact, Tang En knew. The competitor that Forest would be facing was the opponent who had made George Wood an overnight star: Manchester United.

"So, in the financial sense, I really need the club\'s full-hearted support."

Evan did not immediately respond but lowered his head in deep thought.

Tang En was in no hurry. He stood at the side as if watching the training. He understood Evan\'s difficulties.

After all, he had spent quite recklessly during the summer. The English Premier League was rather different from Serie A or La Liga. Spending several million pounds on transfer fees was a considerable expenditure for a club that was neither considered rich or powerful. Unlike the La Liga, it had once been practically unheard of for an English Premier League team to spend a hundred million in one summer buying players.

Due to a champion level manager, Mourinho, joining Abramovich\'s Chelsea this summer, their expenditure also rose to a champion level. Abramovich drove the consumption boom in the English Premier League scene; this summer, the spending of English Premier League clubs on player transfers increased tremendously.

According to convention, Nottingham Forest, who had just been newly promoted and who had recently gone through a financial crisis, would be lucky to get a five or six-million-pound budget for the transfer. However, Tang En had asked for 12 million and basically squeezed the finances of the team dry. He also understood that the monetary request would not be as easily agreed to by Evan as during the summer.

"I\'m very interested to hear your target, Tony." Evan was in deep consideration and still did not agree.

"Fulham F.C. and Netherlands National Football team\'s goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar," said Tang En.

Evan dug around in his mind in recollection, seemingly having some impression.

"The tall lanky one? He\'s pretty good, but I heard that Manchester United is also interested in him."

Tang En laughed wryly. "That\'s why we need to prepare more funds… The only condition we can appeal with is to increase the transfer fees and meet the salary demands of the Dutch man."

"How much is his weekly salary in Fulham F.C.?"

"40 thousand pounds." Tang En held up four fingers.

Evan frowned. If they wanted Netherland\'s national goalie, their offered salary could not go beneath that value. But doing so would inevitably destroy the current pay structure within Forest Team. The most highly-paid in Forest player right now was Viduka; his weekly salary was only 40 thousand. Even for George Wood, who had recently shot to fame, his weekly salary remained the same as that of the contract signed last season: a sum of 2,500 pounds.

"How high of a transfer fee are you expecting, Tony?" Evan asked again.

"I think…" Tang En recalled briefly. Manchester United signed on Edwin van der Sar in July next year. How much did that cost them? Three hundred? Five hundred? I remember it was a rather special number… Got it!

"It should be no less than 2.5 million pounds."

"Why 2.5 million?"

"Well, if we go any lower, Fulham F. C. probably wouldn\'t agree. They spent more than five million pounds when they first bought the Netherlander from Juventus. Now that Edwin van der Sar is almost 34, he can\'t possibly be sold at a higher price than before. But it can\'t go too low either. After all, we aren\'t the only party interested in Edwin van der Sar."

Hearing Tang En\'s explanation, Evan nodded. "You\'re right, Tony. But surely your candidate list doesn\'t have just one name?"

Evan was not wrong; Tang En would not put all his eggs in a basket. "Of course… I have many names, but I\'m afraid the most suitable candidate is Edwin van der Sar. Evan, do you know France\'s national goalkeeper, Frey? He\'s the main goalkeeper for Parma. Even with Parma in a financial crisis, we would probably need to fork out a much higher transfer fee if we want to get him. Plus, we\'d also face competition from Manchester United. their goalkeeper issue in this season was as apparent as ours. To save some money, we could consider loaning Toldo from Inter Milan. However, I don\'t think that would be a wise choice. His performances have been deteriorating tremendously… Otherwise, I also have several names of younger goalkeepers. But they are all much too young. They belong to the future and would not be able to solve our current problem."

Listening to Tang En\'s analysis, Evan had to admit that his proposal came from deep thought.

"Alright, Tony. We\'re currently in talks with the bank about renewing our loans. If we\'re successful, you wouldn\'t be lacking funds come January next year."

Evan Doughty finally gave a nod.

On hearing that there would be funds for him, the heavy worry in Tang En\'s heart finally dissipated. Forest was currently in the stage of a transformational change and funds were required in many areas. Tang En felt quite grateful for Evan\'s cooperation. A club chairman like him was becoming harder and harder to find. Perhaps it was due to his identity as an American who knew nothing about football, but he was able to delegate more authority to Tang En and tended not to overly question matters of the team. So long as Tang En gave a reasonable explanation, Evan would make no objections.

Although they were not as rich as the old Russian, Tang En felt grateful whenever he recalled the differences between Abramovich and Mourinho in the future.

Just as he relaxed a tad, Evan suddenly said, "Of course, Tony. Since we\'re investing more, we\'ll need to get higher returns. What\'s our aim for this season?"

Tang En understood the meaning behind Evan\'s question. As the team\'s chairman, it would be impossible for Evan Doughty to not have known the aim for the season; that was something decided upon before the season began. He nodded to Evan.

"We are not just aiming to avoid relegation. By the end of this season, I hope to appear in the list of teams eligible for the European tournament."

Evan burst out laughing. "I\'ll say. We are pretty in sync, Tony!"

Tang En scratched his head and chuckled.

※※※

The League was still ongoing, but Nottingham Forest had already sent someone to get in contact with Fulham F.C. To Tang En, his greatest advantage was that he knew Manchester United\'s cards. Ferguson had been making secret overtures to Edwin van der Sar for a while, and the media had long been reporting on the matter. However, Manchester United still had a lot of options, so they did not make any substantive contact.

Frey, who was unhappy in Parma; Juventus goalkeeper Buffon; and goalie Casillas from Real Madrid. As a rich and powerful team, Manchester United would always have some sense of superiority over Forest. The players they picked had to be of value. Although Edwin van der Sar was once numbered among the top few goalkeepers internationally, he was already 34 years old. It would be difficult for Manchester United to spend too much money on buying an older guy who would be retiring in a year or two; Manchester United\'s chief executive, David Gill, would not agree to it.

In the end, after the reported failure of Manchester United\'s attempts to bring in both Buffon and Casillas, they bought Edwin van der Sar over for only 2.5 million pounds. When Edwin van der Sar came over to Manchester United, very few people looked well upon him. After all, he was an old veteran. Everyone thought that Ferguson had bought Edwin van der Sar as emergency first-aid and that Manchester United would continue their search for outstanding goalkeepers in the transfer market. Indeed, the rumors of their involvement with Casillas never once stopped.

The financial situation at Fulham F.C. was not very good, and Edwin van der Sar was still drawing a salary of 40 thousand per week; Fulham could no longer withstand it. They would happily respond to an interested buyer, though they still needed to put up some show of reluctance.

In the face of Forest\'s asking price, Fulham F.C. initially started with the position of "Edwin van der Sar is our primary goalkeeper. He\'s not off-limits, it\'s impossible to get him cheaply."

Under Tang En\'s instructions, Nottingham Forest replied, "We definitely wouldn\'t be paying five million for an old player!"

Fulham F.C. also knew that. The buyer was no fool. So they brought up Manchester United. "Manchester United is also interested in Edwin van der Sar right now…"

Nottingham\'s reply was, "Have they made an offer?"

The answer was a definite no. There were only three clubs that still had interest in Edwin van der Sar. One was the rumored Manchester United – notice the "rumored." The other was a Netherland football team, Ajax. However, Edwin van der Sar had lived in England for four years and had gotten used to the football and lifestyle here; he no intentions to return to the Netherlands. After all, the English Premier League was considered a top-level League. The third club was Nottingham Forest, who had come knocking at their door.

Of the three, the only club who had made an offer was Forest.