If someone had asked him to step down two days ago, he would have been happy to be relieved of the burden. But now things were different. Since he had come here and become the acting head coach of a football team, he had to do something, leave something behind. This was both a challenge and an opportunity. After all, he had often fantasized while watching games about what he would do if he were the head coach, and he had played plenty of football manager games.

Now he stood on the sidelines, outwardly looking like a wooden post, but in reality, he was working hard to match the names Walker shouted with the players on the field.

The black player with a small braid, whose hairstyle resembled Rijkaard’s, was the forward David Johnson who had bumped into him and injured him on the sidelines the other day. Judging by his performance on the training ground... he was pretty fast, with good explosiveness. For now, that was the only direct impression he could form; the specifics would require deeper observation, through matches...

The short player who had just made a beautiful cross was Andy Reid (Andy Reid), an outstanding young player developed by Dunn himself, who had just been promoted to the first team with him at the start of the new year. Dunn glanced at this kid a few more times. From his memory, he recalled that this player later appeared at Tottenham. He hadn’t expected that he had transferred from Forest. The fact that he was transferred in itself showed his ability—would a Premier League veteran club be interested in a player without real strength?

Since Reid was mentioned, there was another person who couldn’t go unmentioned. Dunn turned his gaze to the backfield. Among the group practicing headers, a tall player immediately caught Dunn’s eye. Bright golden short hair, a youthful face, delicate features, but already showing the demeanor of a leader. Even the coaching staff’s defensive drills were arranged around him. This was the center-back Michael Dawson (Michael Dawson), hailed as Nottingham’s future hope, who had come up to the first team from the youth squad together with Andy Reid and their mentor. The match two days ago was his League One debut, but unfortunately, the team suffered a heavy defeat, and his performance wasn’t great either. But that didn’t affect his mood; his face still radiated an optimistic smile.

Dawson was promoted to Nottingham’s first team together with Reid, and two years later, they both left Nottingham for Tottenham. Dunn had watched a few of his later matches at Tottenham; the young man performed well, working seamlessly with Ledley King in defense, and at such a young age, he dared to command the entire back line. He had always been a mainstay in England’s youth teams, and later even had a chance to enter the national team, but that was all in 2007. Right now, Dawson was just a green youngster, full of hope and longing for the future.

The thought that this person would be developed by himself gave Dunn a sense of accomplishment—he didn’t care which “Dunn” deserved the credit; now it all belonged to him.

He carefully observed the team’s training, not only to remember the players’ names and appearances, as well as their technical characteristics, but also to remember the team’s training methods and style. He couldn’t ask others too many questions, or he would expose the fact that he was actually a rookie. Worse, he might be mistaken for an amnesia patient and sent to the hospital...

According to his observations, Nottingham Forest’s strength was by no means weak. Many players had very prominent characteristics, and such a team in the second tier of English football had the strength to fight for promotion. But halfway through the season, Nottingham Forest was ranked tenth, mid-table. For a team that had hoped to compete for the First Division title before the season, this result was certainly disappointing. Even worse was the club’s financial situation. After selling Jenas to Newcastle, most of the transfer fee was used to pay off debts, leaving the then head coach Paul Hart with very little transfer budget, and Hart himself had lost confidence in achieving the chairman’s goals with this team. In the first 27 rounds of the season, the team had ten wins, eight draws, and nine losses.

Although he hadn’t seen Paul Hart’s team play, Dunn believed in this man’s ability. A coach who could develop so many outstanding players shouldn’t be doubted. Even after selling some players, like the star Jenas, the team’s strength shouldn’t have dropped this much. The players’ abilities weren’t the problem, so where exactly had things gone wrong to result in these standings?

Dunn noticed that the players were still looking at him. Although Walker was the coach leading their training, everyone’s attention seemed to be focused on him, the outsider. In their eyes, he saw something all too familiar from the past two days, and he didn’t like the feeling of being looked at like a freak.

So his voice suddenly rang out on the training ground.

“Hey! Are you visiting a zoo?! Where are your eyes looking? Focus on your training! What are you looking at me for?!”

Now he really had become the animal in the zoo, with everyone turning their gaze to the angry head coach. The coach they thought was a wooden post suddenly shouting and yelling would surprise anyone. But what shocked them even more was that the usually reserved, never loud, always orderly Tony Dunn would actually say something so emotionally charged.