“He deserves every single plaudit” – Joe Worrall heaps praise on Nottingham Forest individual following promotion success

Nottingham Forest’s transformation from September 2021 to this past May was a remarkable one, going from a team that were bottom of the Championship table to earning promotion to the Premier League in the space of eight months.

Chris Hughton was dispensed of after a winless start to the 2021-22 campaign, and in came Steve Cooper, who turned the Tricky Trees’ fortunes around almost immediately.

The football was different and so were the results as the Welshman continued to lift the Reds up the table, and for a brief time they flirted with automatic promotion.

In the end though, Forest had to settle for a play-off spot, but after overcoming Sheffield United in a tense semi-final affair, Cooper’s side dispatched Huddersfield Town in the final at Wembley – despite seeing some controversial penalty decisions go their way.

Despite a whole squad of players being responsible for the performances on the pitch that secured Forest’s return to England’s elite, it is Cooper that deserves all the praise, according to club captain Joe Worrall.

“It’s been a long time coming, it doesn’t just happen overnight,” Worrall told Nottinghamshire Live.

“It doesn’t just happen with a month to go.

“If you look at our form guide this season, we’ve been the best in the league since the manager’s come in. That equals Premier League.

“We’re really good value for it. We don’t mind saying that, because we know what ability we’ve got.

“He deserves every single plaudit which comes his way.

“He’s come in and taken what is, from the outside, a bit of a misfit team, and a team that was low on confidence last season and hardly scored goals – we were okay defensively, but we could score for toffee – to a team which has been a breath of fresh air.”

The Verdict