Chapter 125: Press Conference Part 2
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
In English, "justice" can refer to the quality of being fair and reasonable, or the judge of a country's Supre Court. The judge who represents justice had ironically personally closed the door to justice for the family mbers of the deceased.
And the souls of the 96 Liverpool fans shall never get the chance for their grievances to be redressed. Until now, they had been labelled as "football hooligans", hovering in between Heaven and Hell. They are unable to enter the gates of Heaven, but they are also unwilling to enter Hell and be tortured.
Later, the furious Scousers launched boycott activities against The Sun, and those activities were still going on. It was not unusual to see Liverpool fans raising posters high up in the air, with the following words written beneath a bloodied The Sun logo:
The truth is that 96 people died in the 1989 Hillsborough tragedy! For the deceased, don't buy The Sun's newspapers!
Until now, The Sun newspapers' circulation in Liverpool remained at a agre 10,000 copies, which was 200,000 copies less compared to before the Hillsborough tragedy took place.
To the powerless Liverpool fans, this was their only ans of fighting back given that they were not even able to obtain support from the law. However, this ans of fighting back remained powerless and insignificant in the face of the watchful eyes of the police, judges, lawyers, and English governnt.
After understanding that background, one would be able to understand why the dia paid so much more attention to the viewing platforms instead of the field.
Ever since Thatcher's indiscriminate, ironfisted policies, football hooliganism appeared to have left the masses' fields of vision. The dia reported mostly about the tabloids of football stars and managers, but the match from yesterday caused the paparazzi all over England to beco excited once again.
Yes, football hooligans were back! Football violence was back! The thing that allowed us to draw the attention of the masses was back!
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With a whooshing sound, Tang En threw the newspapers in his hands out. He had originally thought that things would end just like that, and let the past remain as the past. He did not expect that…
After experiencing the Hillsborough tragedy, the English dia displayed much more restraint. This ti, most of them felt that the Millwall fans were the ones at fault. At first, a group of extremist Millwall fans began singing mocking songs about the deceased young football fan, Gavin Bernard, who had died as a result of a fight that broke out between football fans. Then, the song began to spread and raise discontentnt amongst the Nottingham Forest fans, which caused the clash during the match.
Fundantally, Tang En felt that this was still considered a just report from an objective point of view, as it did not label the Forest fans that were forced to retaliate as "football hooligans."
However, Millwall FC Chairman's words made Tang En extrely furious.
"…I am enraged by those who say that the Nottingham fans only clashed with the police after being provoked by our fans. I witnessed with my eyes that the Nottingham fans were the ones who incited the fight this ti. They tried to rush on the field and threw the plastic seats, which they tore off, onto the field…" This was what Millwall FC Chairman Theo Paphitis said when he was interviewed by the reporters.
"I was directing the match at the ti, and could not possibly notice what happened on the viewing platforms. No coach would focus his attention on sothing unrelated to the match. However, I heard about the incident afterwards, and I feel that this incident was not caused by the Millwall fans, but instead by a group of ruffians from Nottingham! Therefore, the ones who should shoulder the responsibility should be them and not us!" This was what Millwall FC Manager Alan McLeary said in an interview with a reporter from The Sun.
The riot which took place this ti at New Den Stadium resulted in 13 people injured. Five Millwall and two Nottingham fans were arrested by the police. In addition, a total of 88 seats sustained damages of varying degrees, and there were several policen who suffered light injuries as well. It was considered one of the largest-scale fan riots to take place in an English stadium in recent years. The largest-scale fan riot that took place outside of the stadium would have to be the riot which took place on the 7th of June in the previous year, when the Millwall fans rioted after Millwall FC was defeated in the playoffs.
For the Millwall chairman and manager to say sothing like this with various dia paying close attention to the incident, it was no different from trying to shift the bla to Nottingham Forest.
Tang En personally already disliked Millwall as a club, and his hatred for it only grew after this incident.
He decided to break the silence and give those shaless people a sound slap on their cheeks.
Therefore, he took a piece of paper and decided to write an open letter before tasking it to Pierce Brosnan to help him publish it in the newspapers. The feeling of having to suppress one's words inside the heart was too unbearable. Luckily, he had a reporter friend who he was on relatively good terms with.
Just as Tang En finished writing the first word, he received a call from Doughty.
"Tony, can you co to City Ground Stadium?"
"What's the matter? I'm currently…" Tang En looked at the open letter, which he had only begun to write, and was about to ask if it was sothing urgent. If it wasn't, then he would decline.
"Regarding the fans rioting incident which took place yesterday, I intend to hold a press conference under the na of the club. Co… I know you must want to scold that bunch of b*stards. Now, I'm giving you a chance to scold them in front of the whole of England!" Doughty said fiercely.
Tang En was overjoyed. "You really know well, Edward! I'll head there right now!"
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Fifteen minutes later, Tang En appeared in Doughty's office located inside City Ground Stadium. When he was invited into the room by Ms. Barbara Lucy, Doughty was standing in front of the windows with his back facing the door as he looked at countless reporters rushing toward the gate.
Mr. Doughty, Mr. Twain is here."
Doughty turned around and smiled at Lucy. "Thank you, Ms. Lucy."
Ms. Lucy poured a drink for Tang En before leaving the room promptly.
Tang En's eyes followed Ms. Lucy's shaking butt until it exited the room, before turning around. He saw Doughty staring at him and laughing, and therefore scratched his head embarrassingly. Tang En explained awkwardly, "Erm… your new secretary is not, not too bad…"
"That is not a new secretary. Ms. Lucy followed here from Arica and has always been my personal secretary. She and Allan are both people who I can completely trust."
"Mhmm, I know. Then what about ?" Tang En was very intrigued by Doughty's last sentence, and decided to ask.
"You too, Tony. Although we've only known each other for a short ti, but I like your straightforward personality a lot." Doughty sat casually on one corner of the table. This kind of situation was sothing that would never been seen during his father Nigel Doughty's ti as the club chairman.
"Hey, when you told I wasn't in your plan, I really thought that I had been abandoned." Tang En shook his head lightly. "Did you know? At that ti, I had at least three club's telephone numbers in my pocket, and I could have left whenever I wanted."
Doughty nodded his head, signaling that he knew. "That's why I always had a question. Tony, what made you ultimately decide to stay in this club where you were unable to see your future, even if it ant going back to the youth team to coach?"
This question made Tang En silent for a while. After which, he replied softly, "Doughty, when I was deciding between whether I should leave or stay, I hesitated for a very long ti. Many people helped directly and indirectly, for instance… Boss Clough took to the managers' cocktail party to gain exposure. There, I t countless successful and unsuccessful managers, and it was as though I had entered a completely different world from before. He even told that failure is only temporary. After that I went to the youth training grounds and amidst the empty compounds, I saw George Wood—the genius who I found in the slums that day—he was practicing so basic techniques alone in the training field, striving hard toward his dream of becoming a football star. After that, I paid a visit to Gavin's grave."
Hearing Tang En say this, Doughty no longer sat on the table casually with his body slanted. He got off and listened to Tang En while standing in front of the table.
"I t Michael there, and he told that he wanted to return to Arica. His wife was unable to bear the pain of staying here, haunted by her longing for their son. Hence, they wanted to migrate to a country where there was no football. I did not try to persuade him, because his family and life are more important than football. He knew that I might leave, so he said…"
Tang En continued speaking slowly and softly, as though he had once again returned to that fateful afternoon. In front of Gavin's tombstone, Michael patted Tang En's shoulders and said, "… Brian Clough ca to this team on the 3rd of January, while you, Tony Twain ca here on the 1st of January with a difference of two days. What a pity, perhaps we have all missed a legendary tale."
"He left after that, while I remained in the empty cetery alone. Even though Michael compared to Clough, I still did not make up my mind to stay. Until I saw a line of words carved on Gavin's tombstone. The words were extrely small and had been neglected by all the while. Do you want to know what was written on it?"
Doughty nodded his head.
"Written on it was: The person resting here is Michael Bernard and Fiona Bernard's deeply loved son, Nottingham Forest's most loyal fan, George Wood's number one supporter forever—Gavin Bernard."
Tang En did not continue, and Doughty also fell into silence.
He knew of the incident between Tang En and Michael. Michael Bernard was a famous person amongst the football fans of that district, and everyone knew that he had a smart and lovable son. Doughty also felt sorry for Gavin's death. Otherwise, why would he have thought of holding a press conference today, in order to refute Millwall's groundless claims?
But he had not expected that young child would hold such an important position in Tony Twain's heart. Looks like he did the right thing by calling him over.
Doughty coughed and said, "Alright, I think it's almost ti. Let's go down…"
The silence in the office room was finally shattered, waking Tang En from his deep thought. He raised his head and looked at Doughty, before frowning and standing up.
"Erm, Tony," Doughty reminded him. "Do you need to prepare the script for your speech? I had Ms. Lucy draft up a copy for you beforehand…"
Tang En shook his head and declined his goodwill respectfully. "Thank you, Edward, but there's no need for it. I've never heard of soone using a script when scolding people." After that, Tang En pushed open the office door and walked out.
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