Steve Cooper hails ‘magical’ club as Nottingham Forest return to Premier League

A tearful Steve Cooper hailed “magical” Nottingham Forest for reminding the world of the City Ground club’s rich history by securing a Premier League future.

Forest will return to the Premier League for the first time in 23 years next season, after defeating Huddersfield 1-0 in Sunday’s Championship play-off final at Wembley.

Luckless Levi Colwill’s own goal settled football’s most lucrative match, with Forest standing to benefit to the tune of £170million through top-flight promotion.

Cooper inherited a Forest side bottom of the table and winless after seven matches in September: at the end of an arduous route to promotion, the 42-year-old struggled to keep his emotions in check on assessing a journey complete.

“I’m so glad everybody at the club gets to do their job in the Premier League,” said Cooper.

“There’s no doubt we deserve to be promoted, the football we played, the games we’ve won, the attitude we’ve given. Every time we’ve had an average game we’ve recovered.

“I’m just really proud of everybody connected with the football club: it’s a magical football club, and we’ve just reminded the world of that. It isn’t about individuals, success is about the team, the football club.

“I knew it before I came but when I walked in the biggest thing that struck me is how proud people are of this football club.”

Cooper talked of nostalgia in running the rule over Forest’s top attributes. But now the men from the east midlands can forget about harking back to former glories, and start plotting new days of success ahead.

“It’s such a nostalgic, brilliant, massive club that everyone knows,” said Cooper.

“And I’m so delighted we can go to the Premier League and the supporters and everyone connected to the club can experience