Nottingham Forest, which secures a 1-0 victory over Manchester City on the city ground, is now a step closer to returning to European football for the first time since the 1980-81 season when they participated in the first round of the UEFA Cup. A team that won the cup twice in the 1979 and 1980, the difficult trees are the definition of a sleeping giant who only returns to the Premier League in the 2022-23 season after an absence of 18 seasons in the top flight.
Even last season, Forest finished 17th in the Premier League, barely to avoid relegation, and with a strike by Callum Hudson-Odoi they are only third behind Arsenal and Liverpool in the Premier League table. If you were told that Forest Boven City and Chelsea would be with only 10 games that were left in the season, the expectation would have been that the other two were historically bad, but that is not the case – Forest will not stop.
On December 14, Forest came in the top four after scoring two goals after the 87th minute to beat Aston Villa, and it looked like a good story rubbing shoulders with the elite of England would probably fade. 84 days quickly ahead and that has not been the case now that the city is at home. Forest may benefit from a drop -this season of Pep Guardiola’s men, but given that they have had blips in recent weeks when losing Newcastle United and drawing with Arsenal, this was an important victory to straighten the ship and keep control of their destination in a tight race for the top five.
A sleeping giant
A club that has been around since 1865, Forest reached their peak in the late 1970s and did it double in 1978 when they won the Treble of the First Division, European Cup and the League Cup under Brian Clough. In the following season they finished second, but they were still able to protect silverwork with the European Cup again while they also won the UEFA Super Cup in 1979 and 1980. It is perhaps a while since the difficult trees have tasted success, but that does not mean that they are strangers.
After relegation to the championship in 2004, a roller coaster started with the team that fell in League One before returning a championship in 2008. While Steve Cooper did not led a forest back to Europe, he turned their form to protect promotion to the Premier League with 11 victories and six draws during a half season in 2022. Cooper ended a place in 2022. Cooper ended a place in 2022. Cooper ended a place for the nuno-santo-santo-santo-santo-santo-santo-santo-santo-santo-santo-santo-santo-santo-santo-santo-santo-ea.
Investment of ownership
The ownership of Forest under Evangelos Marinakis has been a Mercurial, but it is one that the team can offer resources to compete as soon as they are in Europe. Forest took over Marinakis in May 2017 with the aim of qualifying for Europe and is now close to securing that goal.
Splashing to catch up with players such as Elliot Anderson, Kikola Milenkovic and Morato, and Morato has already paid for dividends, but Forest has done well to choose players from the rest of the Premier League with an attack led by Morgan Gibbs-White, Chris Wood, Anthony Elanga and Hudsonoi.
Wood’s 18 goals this season pushed them on the table after his 14 goals the season before they held in the Premier League. An undervalued striker during his time at Burnley, where Wood scored double -digit goals in four consecutive seasons for a lower half side, he then went four consecutive seasons without scoring five goals before he came to Forest and returned to his best at 32.
On the way to Forest and becoming the best version of yourself, is an impressive part of their scouting and the attitude of the team under not only Nuno, but also earlier managers. That may not have been the case for Gio Reyna’s half season on the city, but these are reasons why Forest was able to bump over their weight and that is why they can stay. UCL Play can stretch teams to the limit, as Aston Villa and Newcastle United have realized, but this is a forest team that has almost drawn a whole new team before he is promoted to the Premier League and they have many players on loan they can use. Only the time will tell how Bos will do it on a new European trip, but the most difficult part is returning.