After they took down Chelsea in the away game, the Forest team continued to follow closely Manchester United’s heels. The Nottingham Forest team returned to Nottingham in a lighthearted mood, but as soon as they returned to Nottingham, Tony Twain’s good mood vanished.

Ribéry’s agent, Bruno Heiderscheid came knocking. Without waiting for him to speak, Twain knew what he wanted.

At the end of last year, after Franck Ribéry had just won the Ballon d’Or, Heiderscheid had come to Twain in the hope of improving terms for Ribéry. Since Ribéry joined the team, he had signed a total of two contracts. One was signed when Ribéry first joined and was not famous yet. He did not even have a decent agent at the time, so the terms of the contract were average, but Ribéry was satisfied. Later, as the team’s results climbed and Ribéry’s personal performance stood out, he was no longer satisfied with this amount of salary. He found an agent: Bruno Heiderscheid. The first thing that Heiderscheid did as his agent was talk to the club about improving the contract terms.

At the time, the Forest team was on the rise, so Ribéry’s salary requirements were fully satisfied. As a result, everything was to everyone’s satisfaction and Ribéry continued to stay in the Forest team.

The timing of the third pay rise was not too long ago. It was just before the start of the season. Despite financial constraints, the Forest team gave most of the First Team players higher salaries. Twain thought the contract extension would allow the team’s squad to be stabilized for at least another three years.

He did not expect this. He did not expect that just half a season later, Ribéry’s agent would show his face again, taking advantage of the fact that Ribéry had just won the Ballon d’Or to ask for another pay rise.

Twain had not spoken to Heiderscheid, but in his mind, the agent’s insatiable greed had surpassed Billy Woox and Anelka’s two stupid brothers. How could he pop up to ask for a change in the contract after it had just been renewed six months ago? If he agreed to it, he was afraid that agents of other players would follow suit. The Forest team would recreate the economic crisis by trying to satisfy the insatiable group of “Mr. Ten Percent.”

Bruno Heiderscheid had thought that since Ribéry had just won the Ballon d’Or, he was on a roll. Therefore, he went to Twain, thinking that he would not dare not to comply. Twain was tougher than he anticipated. The first few dealings between the two sides had been cordial and negotiations had been smooth. The outcomes satisfied him. He thought Twain would always be like that.

The club refused to talk to Heiderscheid again, and the matter was shelved just like that.

Why did Twain care so much about the rumors of Ribéry’s transfer to Real Madrid? Because he was well aware of what kind of character Ribéry’s agent was. Billy Woox was nice compared to him.

That was why he insisted on talking to Ribéry before he was willing to face the media’s questions. He was reassured by Ribéry, because Ribéry did not want to leave, and did not take the opportunity to bring up a pay raise. That was the end of the matter.

But was Twain stupid enough to think that Heiderscheid would let this rest? He had been waiting for this day to come.

Ribéry would not mention a salary increase. There were few players in the world who would step out to talk about it. Otherwise, there would be no jobs for the agents. After Twain closed the door on him the last time, Heiderscheid learned. He did not rush to approach the Nottingham Forest Football Club for a new contract as soon as the transfer rumors came out. He studied Tony Twain and found that he was amenable to coaxing but not coercion. He might have met with a rebuff again if he had approached him at that sensitive moment.

After half a month, he felt the time was ripe to look for Twain again.

“Mr. Heiderscheid, I remember clearly the last time I said that we had just signed a new contract, didn’t I?” Twain smiled insincerely at Ribéry’s agent.

The Frenchman, Bruno Heiderscheid, sat opposite him on the couch with a smile on his face, as if he had not discerned the unwelcome meaning of Twain’s remark at all.

All agents needed to be thick-skinned like Heiderscheid. The same was true of Billy Woox. But why did Billy Woox’s impudence make Twain furious, but Heiderscheid only made Twain feel disdain?

“I’m doing this for the good of the club.” Heiderscheid laughed. “There are a lot of rumors about Franck’s transfer, and I’m worried about what you will think, Mr. Twain. So I took the initiative to come here first, lest Mr. Twain think I’m pulling some tricks.”

As expected, he used Real Madrid as a bargaining chip.

Twain smirked for a moment. “Did Franck not say himself that he wouldn’t leave Nottingham Forest?”

Heiderscheid spread his hands. “Yes, I also believe he will not leave the Forest team. But you know, Mr. Twain, there will always be flies in this world, and they like to bother their targets. If Franck doesn’t have something that can firmly reject, my player will be pestered endlessly, and that will affect his form. Also, I think if Nottingham Forest wants Franck to be loyal, shouldn’t the club do something about it?”

What he said was true. It was unreasonable for the club to ask the players to pledge loyalty to the club, and for the club to be unwilling to pay. It was no longer the outrageous period when the players would be paid twenty pounds a week.

There was a clear threat within Heiderscheid’s words. Twain admitted that he was threatened, but could not do anything about it. Neither he nor the club actually wanted Ribéry, a Ballon d’Or recipient, to leave Wilford. The unwillingness was multifaceted. In terms of popularity, Ribéry was the Ballon d’Or winner developed by the Forest team. He was the team’s top star player and was easily comparable to Beckham. From a tactical point of view, Ribéry’s presence enriched the team’s offensive routine, and he was an important part of the Forest team’s victory.

Ribéry could not leave.

He nodded. “Well, Mr. Heiderscheid, I admit there’s some truth to what you’re saying. Ribéry’s current 8,000 pound weekly salary is indeed low as compared to his level and reputation, but we need to carefully consider it. How about I give you an answer in three days’ time?”

Heiderscheid did not expect to take care of everything on the first day, so he nodded. “After three days, when you have carefully considered, please give me a ring, Mr. Twain.”

He left after he shook hands with Twain. Twain stood in his office, momentarily lost in thought. Then he went out to look for the chairman, Evan Doughty, and Allan Adams.

While he was lost in contemplation, he thought about what Allan Adams would think of the matter. When it came to money, Allan would immediately become “the devil,” which gave everyone a headache.

※※※

Evan Doughty was in a work discussion with Miss Barbara Lucy when Twain pushed open the door to walk in. The two smiled at each other warmly, somewhat surprised to see Twain appear at the door. Their smiles froze, but only for a moment, immediately returning to normal. Their faces that were close together, slightly parted.

Twain was sorry when he saw that Barbara Lucy was there after he opened the door.He should have knocked on the door first, but his relationship with Evan was more familiar, so he normally just opened the door and walked straight in. His voice would have traveled into Evan’s ear before he had gone in. This time he did not say hello in advance because he was thinking about the problem.

If Twain had closed the door and left, he would look even sillier. So he froze and pretended he did not know anything. He watched as Barbara Lucy calmly packed up the folders in front of Evan as she got up to slowly come up to him. “I’ll go and make you coffee.” She smiled at Twain when she walked past Twain’s side.

Twain smiled back. “Thank you, Miss Lucy.”

He went in, and Evan looked at him with a smile on his face, as if nothing had happened. “What’s the matter, Tony?”

“Ah, um…” Twain scratched his head. “Right, Franck Ribéry’s agent, Heiderscheid, came to me again, hoping to get Ribéry a pay raise.”

“Aren’t you in charge of the team?” Evan’s words meant that “you can make your own decisions.”

“Well, I think for any issues regarding money, isn’t it better to listen to Allan?”

Evan smiled. “You think it’s important to listen to Allan’s opinion too, don’t you, Tony? If I had told Allan about it, he would have been very happy.”

Twain chuckled.

“But it’s a pity that you can’t hear his opinion now.”

“Huh?” Twain was a little surprised.

“He’s in China now.”

“Oh!” Twain was even more surprised. “Did that talent show make him fall in love with China?”

“He fell in love with the Chinese market.”

Miss Barbara Lucy walked in with a coffee tray and put two steaming cups in front of the two men. They thanked Lucy, and she left, closing the door behind her. The three behaved calmly, without the slightest bit of embarrassment.

Evan sipped the coffee and continued, “the club plans to go to China this summer for a tour of competition. Partners over there have been found. Allan is there to confirm some details.”

Twain knew the club had a plan to make a fortune in China — no, it was a plan to make a fortune in East Asia — but he did not expect it to be so fast. Then again, it was normal. With the new stadium in construction, the club needed money in every aspect, so going to East Asia where there was lots of money to be made was a good way to ease the financial pressure on the club’s capital.

He nodded to indicate that he knew.

“So, the matter about Ribéry’s salary, you can deal with it yourself, Tony. You should know what the club’s bottom line is.”

Twain nodded again. “I’m aware, Evan.”

Though he appeared to be leisurely sitting there and drinking coffee, he was actually a little restless. After he spoke to Evan, he was not in the mind to discuss the plan to go to China for money, so he took his leave.

It was embarrassing to encounter that incident. Even a blind person could see what his boss was doing with Miss Lucy. What kind of work discussion required their faces to be so close? Evan’s wife, who hated Britain’s climate and diet, had insisted on staying with their children in the United States. She only occasionally visited her husband in the United Kingdom. A normal, middle-aged man was a young and vigorous age. With his wife not around for a long time, it was possible to imagine what would happen…

Miss Barbara Lucy was attractive, fair-haired, and blue-eyed, but her most attractive feature to men was her figure. When Twain first saw her, his eyes were caught by her breasts, and he forgot his manners. Evan Doughty spent long periods alone with Miss Barbara Lucy. Although Miss Lucy was the head of the Forest club’s outreach department, she was also Evan Doughty’s secretary.

Lucy was brought over from the United States by Evan. Maybe the two of them already had had an affair while they were in America.

Twain’s guesses were confirmed today, but Twain did not want to the person who confirmed it.

Would Evan develop a barrier against him in his mind? Would this incident affect the good relationship between the two of them?

Twain muttered to himself as he walked away, “I have to make sure I knock first the next time.”

※※※

Three days later, Bruno Heiderscheid received Tony Twain’s call, asking him to go to the club to discuss Ribéry’s new contract.

Twain’s terms for the new contract was a weekly salary of 90,000 pounds for a period of five years. The signing bonus, goal awards, assists awards and the others would be counted separately.

Heiderscheid believed the conditions were still a little low and wanted to continue negotiations with the Forest team.

A day later, Twain drew up a new contract, with a 100,000-pound weekly salary for five years, as well as the signing bonus, goal awards, assists awards, and others counted separately.

Heiderscheid was still not satisfied and even thought the club’s weekly salary was not enough to reflect the club’s sincerity. He brought up Real Madrid’s pursuit of Ribéry once again, which only caused Twain to smack the table.

“Mr. Bruno Heiderscheid, I think it is enough to reflect our sincerity to offer a one hundred thousand pound weekly salary contract in light of the club’s current tight financial situation. I am willing to revise the contract, but that does not mean you can ask for sky-high prices! Nottingham Forest is not a bank, and I’m not some idiotic ATM where you can take out as much as you want. A player’s loyalty requires the club to pay the price, so we pay the price that we think is appropriate. Shouldn’t you show the sincerity that the player really wants to stay here as well?”

Accordingly, Heiderscheid put forward his own “sincerity.”

A weekly salary of 130,000 pounds, the number of years in the contract reduced to four years, as well as a signing bonus, goal awards, and assist awards significantly improved from the figures given by Twain, and finally the salary had to be increased by fifteen percent every year.

In Twain’s view, it was robbery. “You might as well rob the bank, Mr. Bruno Heiderscheid. The money might come a little faster that way.” He sneered.

He would rather burst into obscene language, but he was Ribéry’s agent and falling out with him might affect the relationship with Ribéry, so he had to hold back.

The negotiations once again parted on bad terms.

Twain announced that Ribéry’s contract with the team was three years away. Before it expired, the revision of the contract had to be shelved.

Although he had won a temporary reprieve in the struggle with Ribéry’s agent, the matter greatly affected Twain’s mood. He smiled less and was a little short-tempered.

With his age just reaching thirty years, it was a difficult exercise to stay normal under pressure.