Securing a 1-0 victory over Manchester City at the City Ground on Saturday, Nottingham Forest are now one step closer to returning to European soccer for the first time since the 1980-81 season when they participated in the first round of the UEFA Cup. A team that has twice won the cup in the 1979 and 1980, the Tricky Trees are the definition of a sleeping giant only returning to the Premier League in the 2022-23 season after an 18-season absence from the top flight.
Even last season, Forest finished 17th in the Premier League, narrowly avoiding relegation, and with a strike from Callum Hudson-Odoi, they sit third only behind Arsenal and Liverpool in the Premier League table. If you were told that Forest would be above City and Chelsea with only 10 matches remaining in the season, the expectation would’ve been that the other two have been historically bad but that’s not the case — Forest won’t quit.
On Dec. 14, Forest entered the top four after scoring two goals after the 87th minute to defeat Aston Villa, and it seemed like a good story rubbing shoulders with England’s elite would likely fade away. Fast forward 84 days and that hasn’t been the case, now taking down City at home. Forest may be benefitting from a drop off this season from Pep Guardiola’s men, but considering that they’ve suffered blips in losing to Newcastle United and drawing with Arsenal in recent weeks, this was an important victory to right the ship and stay in control of their destiny in a tight race for the top five.
A sleeping giant
A club that has been in existence since 1865, Forest reached their peak in the late 70s doing the double in 1978 when they won the treble of the first division, European Cup and the League Cup under Brian Clough. In the next season, they finished as runners-up but were still able to secure silverware again with the European Cup while also winning the UEFA Super Cup in 1979 and 1980. It may have been a while since the Tricky Trees have tasted success, but that doesn’t mean that they are strangers to it.
After relegation to the Championship in 2004, a roller coaster began with the team falling into League One before making a championship return in 2008. While Steve Cooper isn’t leading Forest back to Europe, he turned around their form to help secure promotion to the Premier League with 11 wins and six draws during a half-season in charge in 2022. Cooper ended up giving way to the Nuno Espirito Santo era which has now been fruitful one.
Investment from ownership
Forest’s ownership under Evangelos Marinakis has been a mercurial one but it’s one that can provide the team with resources to compete once they get to Europe. Marinakis took over Forest in May of 2017 with the aim of qualifying for Europe and is now close to securing that goal.
Splashing out to bring in players like Elliot Anderson, Kikola Milenkovic, and Morato has already paid dividends but Forest have done well to pick players off the rest of the Premier League with an attack led by Morgan Gibbs-White, Chris Wood, Anthony Elanga and Hudson-Odoi.
Wood’s 18 goals this season have pushed them up the table after his 14 goals the season before kept them in the Premier League. An underappreciated striker during his time with Burnley, where Wood scored double-digit goals in four consecutive seasons for a bottom-half side, he then went four consecutive seasons without scoring five goals before joining Forest and getting back to his best at 32.
Heading to Forest and becoming the best version of yourself has been an impressive part of their scouting and the team’s setup under not only Nuno but previous managers as well. That may not have been the case for Gio Reyna’s half-season at the City ground, but these are reasons why Forest have been able to punch above their weight and it’s also why they could have staying power. UCL play can stretch teams to their limits as Aston Villa and Newcastle United have realized, but this is a Forest squad that signed almost an entirely new team before being promoted to the Premier League and they have plenty of players out on loan that they can use. Only time will tell how Forest will do on a new European journey, but the toughest part is returning.
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