Latest Nottingham Forest news as Nuno Espirito Santo’s Reds prepare for start of 2024/25 Premier League campaig
Holding court as sunrays streamed through the Turf Moor press conference room, Nottingham Forest head coach Nuno Espirito Santo had a clear point he wanted to make.
The Portuguese tends to be a man of few words when he faces the media. In this instance, he repeated the same ones several times for added emphasis.
“The platform is there,” he said shortly after his team’s final-day victory over Burnley last May. “The platform is there, the platform is there.”
Nuno’s statement holds true several months later as his team prepare for their return to action. But now it is all about how the Reds build on that foundation. That is the challenge ahead of them.
Here we go again with a new season. And this time it will be different for Forest – right?!
After two nerve-shredding campaigns, can the Reds make it a bit easier on fans’ blood pressure in 2024/25. That will certainly be the aim.
Forest want to push on in the Premier League this term. They have had two successive relegation battles after securing their return to the top table in dramatic style; two years where nails have been bitten and permutations pored over in the latter stages of the campaigns.
Progress will be the watch word this time around. It was hoped that would be the case last season of course, but it didn’t quite pan out like that.
But then becoming an established top-flight club was never going to be easy. It was always going to take time. Forest had been away from the elite for more than two decades when they memorably secured promotion in 2022, so ensuring their return was not a short one had to be the immediate priority.
Now they have done that and are heading into their third successive season among the big boys, the goal is to start climbing. Certainly for ambitious owner Evangelos Marinakis, another year of scrapping for survival is unlikely to cut it.
The shipping magnate has made no secret of the fact he wants the club to be challenging further up the table. Indeed, he spoke of targeting trophies in the hours after that magical day at Wembley two years ago. His expectations haven’t exactly been tempered in the intervening period.
“You will see great things with Forest,” Marinakis said earlier this year. “I’m confident that you will see in years to come where Forest will be. It’s a great team, it inspires us and we want to do more and you will see in the years to come that we have big dreams for Forest.”
He was speaking after Olympiacos’ victory over Aston Villa in the Europa Conference League in May. That the Greek giants, who Marinakis also owns, went on to win that competition will no doubt only have added fuel to his “big dreams” on the banks of the Trent.
The man tasked with fulfilling them is Nuno. This will be the 50-year-old’s first full season at the helm. He will no doubt hope it proves to be a somewhat quieter one than last time around.
Nuno certainly had a lot to contend with after he was appointed last December. From a points deduction to numerous refereeing controversies and several key absences, the Reds boss did not have an easy time of it.
It was, he admitted once it was all done and dusted, the most challenging period of his managerial career to date. “Definitely the most difficult,” he conceded.
No wonder he gave a puff off the cheeks after the final whistle had blown and safety had been secured in Lancashire. It was that kind of season. Nuno’s pledge to celebrate with a couple of beers and a day off will have been echoed by many in the away end and those supporters following from afar that day.
The former Wolverhampton Wanderers chief managed to successfully steer Forest through those somewhat choppy waters, though. Moreover, the team showed some promising glimpses under his stewardship.
It was tough going at times, but there was enough to suggest there is cause for optimism when it comes to the campaign ahead under Nuno. Nevertheless, he left nobody in any doubt about what would be required going forward.
“We know from since we arrived the squad is unbalanced; it was naturally unbalanced,” he stated back in May. “We were not able to balance it. We are short of options in some positions and unfortunately we had a lot of injuries.
“When you think about building, the platform is there. It is just a matter now of making the right decisions to have the squad to face what is going to be again a very tough season. What makes it through the season is the squad.
“I think the team started to enjoy themselves because we have been able to start creating a routine. We had the same players playing together over and over again, and that reflects in the performance.
“Of course, when you say enjoy, all the managers enjoy when they have a lot of solutions and can build. It is not enjoyable when you are short of options and have to try things.
“But in terms of football, I think we finished in a very nice way in terms of playing. We played big teams and were always entertaining.”
Nuno admitted last season was challenging because he arrived midway through it. He likes to spend time creating a bond and a unity within his squads. Being thrown straight in at the deep end of the Trent didn’t allow for that during his first few months in charge; not when there was such pressure to achieve results.
“It was the first time we as a coaching staff had joined a club in the middle of a season. It was a new experience,” he explained on that day at Turf Moor.
