Nottingham Forest is the surprise team in the Premier League. Coach Nuno Espírito Santo turned the relegation candidate into a team that lets fans dream of the glorious past.
Liverpool used to be the big rival. It was the end of the 70s and the beginning of the 80s: Liverpool won European cups and championships, Nottingham Forest under the legendary coach Brian Clough won the European Cup twice and the championship once.
Forest stopped winning major trophies in 1990 and was relegated last from the newly founded Premier League in 1993. It took Liverpool until 2020 before they won their first championship title since 1990. But the “Reds” from the northwest of England were always in the top league, winning a few cups and the Champions League.
Nottingham soon in the Champions League
Since the competition was given this name in 1992, Nottingham Forest has never taken part. It would still be a surprise if the premiere were to take place in the 2025/26 season. But it no longer seems absurd at the end of a year in which the away trips to Liverpool document what the club was and is like.
“Let’s enjoy the time. Happy New Year everyone,” Nuno Espírito Santo wished the Forest fans after the 2-0 win at Everton FC on Sunday (December 29th, 2024). The Blues’ victory in Liverpool was their fifth in a row in the Premier League. The last time something like this happened was at the end of the 1994/1995 season. Forest ended up third that season. That was the best placement to date, but it was not enough for the Champions League as only the champion was allowed to take part.
Meanwhile, fourth place in the table is guaranteed to be enough for qualification, and Nottingham will occupy that position at least after half time. Before the 19th game of Arsenal FC and Chelsea FC, it is even in second place.
Nuno Espírito Santo has been without a job for a good year
About a year and a week before coach Santo didn’t want to attach any importance to the ranking, as was customary in the industry, he had taken over the “Tricky Trees”, as the club is called because of the tree in its coat of arms. Forest was in danger of relegation at the time and the Portuguese Nuno Espírito Santo had not had a job for a long time.
After his successful time at Wolverhampton Wanderers, he moved to Tottenham Hotspur in 2021 and was released after just ten games in the Premier League. In Saudi Arabia, Santo became champions with Al-Ittihad and was released a few months later.
The former professional player (including FC Porto and Deportivo La Coruña) was without a coaching job for more than a year, then Nottingham Forest, an ambitious club led by the Greek entrepreneur Evangelos Marinakis, who also holds shares in other football clubs, including Olympiakos, brought him in Piraeus.
Chris Wood has scored eleven goals for Forest so far this season, one in a 2-0 win at Everton.
Marinakis is an eccentric who has been accused of much but proven little. He once got into a fight with the Olympiacos squad and imposed fines because he didn’t like their performance. He often doesn’t speak well to referees either. The English FA banned Marinakis from the stadium for five games in October because he spit on the ground near the referees as they left after a defeat against Fulham.
A coughing fit, Marinakis said the spitting had nothing to do with the referees. The FA didn’t believe him.
Public accusation against referees
There had already been a notable incident involving Nottingham and referees earlier in the year. After a defeat at Everton on matchday 34, the club complained via its official channels that the referees had been biased, with the announcement being that the video assistant was a fan of Luton Town, a rival to Forest in the relegation battle.
Nottingham was fined around €900,000 for the allegations. In terms of sport, Forest got away with it and saved themselves in 18th place, while Luton was relegated in 17th place.
In the summer, as in previous years, there were a number of arrivals and departures. But that can hardly explain the rise. Only two players who were in the team for the 1-0 win against Tottenham on Boxing Day were not under contract with Forest last year, writes the Guardian. A lot has changed, but it was “not a revolution” that Santo and other people in charge initiated.
Only Forest have won against Liverpool so far this season
According to the Guardian, the basis for the soaring is the now much more stable defense, thanks to the targeted signing of the 1.95 meter tall central defender Nikola Milenković from AC Fiorentina, who is strong in the air.
The Serb also won on matchday 4 when the highs picked up speed. Nottingham won 1-0 at Liverpool FC. It is the only defeat of the season so far for their Anfield rivals, who they like even less in the East Midlands than in the rest of England.
The second leg will take place at the venerable City Ground on January 14th and will likely be overloaded with stories from the glorious past of both clubs. Before that, Nuno Espírito Santo takes a journey into his own past. Forest travel to Wolverhampton Wanderers on January 5th. Nottingham has never won six games in a row in the Premier League.