The rapid rise of Nottingham Forest saw us reach the Champions League semi-finals and confirm a 2nd season of European football as we dropped from 4th to 7th on the final day of the 2024/25 campaign. But last season had massively boosted our finances with £86m in the bank.
The improved financial situation saw the board finally agree to my requests for much-needed training and youth facility improvements. They also boosted youth recruitment to Good, increased our youth level to Category One, and expanded the coaching and scouting teams to 10 and 15 respectively.
The summer began by moving on homegrown winger Brennan Johnson, who was unimpressive last season and had 12 months on his contract, to Leicester for a new record sale of £24m. We strengthened at the back by snapping up centre-back Nathan Zeze for £12m from Nantes and added some bite in midfield by raiding Sporting again for Dário Essugo for £24.5m rising to a club record £43.5m. We also added our first taste of newgen potential with left-back Lucas Castro for £7m from River, goalkeeper Osman Royett for £735k from Junior FC and our third Serbian in striker Andreja Dunderski for £750k from Vojvodina. But I generally held back on spending too much in an attempt to hold onto money for the future and as we had a solid and settled team.
And with those new signings in, we’re sticking with the tried and tested formation and the starting 11 looks like this. Reiss Nelson steps up as the starter on the left with Essugo coming as the playmaker alongside Danilo.
4th Season Kicks Off
We’re still predicted to finish 11th with title odds of 200/1 and the board expects a mid-table finish. Our 3rd full season at Forest began at home to Watford and started well as centre-back Ousmane Diomandé headed home after 20 minutes, midfielder Oscar Gloukh converted a penalty and Lorenzo Lucca completed a 3-0 win just after half-time. We then came from 2-0 down inside 24 minutes to salvage a point courtesy of Ângelo and Gloukh, a Lucca double earned a 3-1 win at Norwich and a Gloukh brace, which included a goal of the month winner, led a 2-1 win over Newcastle.
The next month or so served up several big tests of our credentials. We passed the first as Lucca and Yaser Asprilla goals downed Man UFC 2-0 at home. But a first loss of the season saw Brighton beat us 2-0 despite having eight shots to our 15 before being battered with 33 shots to three at Man City and losing 3-1. Lucca had started the season superbly, scoring 12 in 12 in all competitions, and that earned the 6’7″ monster his first Italy cap. He made it 13 in 13 after the international break to earn us a 1-1 draw at home to leaders Liverpool then scored two more in a 2-0 victory at West Ham.
More big tests saw a 1-0 home defeat to Chelsea and a 4-0 beating at Arsenal, but a Lucca hat-trick got us back on track with a 3-2 win at Palace. And a brutal Christmas schedule saw Anthony Rouault nick a draw at Spurs then a 1-0 defeat at home to Man City, which left us 9th after 20 matches. However, Rouault got too big for his boots and forced through an £18.5m move to Atlético in January.
First Taste of Europa League
Lats season’s 7th-place finish sent us into the Europa League for the first time. And we got a decent draw in which the big tests were trips to Kyiv and Fiorentina and entertaining Sevilla.
We started with a dominant 4-0 win over Slavia led by a Lucca hat-trick and the big striker scored both in a 2-0 win at Kyiv. Nelson bagged a brace as a heavily rotated side beat Sturm Graz 4-1, Asprilla scored the only goal at home to Raków and Lucca scored all four in a 4-1 victory at Ludogorets. A late Lucca double rescued a draw with Sevilla and we secured qualification in the New Year by thumping Fiorentina 3-0 then a rotated team finished off with a 2-1 win at Shamrock. And that secured 2nd place in the league phase.
A favourable last-16 draw saw us take on Sturm Graz. The first leg in Austria was a tight affair but Asprilla came off the bench to nick the only goal. We were equally unconvincing at home as a 0-0 narrowly sent us through. That set up a quarter-final with Eintracht Frankfurt, which Lucca took total control of in the home leg as he scored four in a dominant 5-0 win. And a 2-1 loss in Germany eased us into the semis.
Another German side followed as we faced Wolfsburg. Left-back Emanuele Valeri gave us a great start as he scored inside 35 seconds and Nelson doubled the lead after an hour. But we gave Wolfsburg an undeserved chance by gifting them an 89th-minute consolation. However, we had no reason to worry as we totally dominated the second leg and eventually got our reward with two goals in six minutes by Lucca and Gloukh to reach a first European Final since winning the European Cup in 1980.
FA Cup Run
We reached the FA Cup quarter-finals with 2-0 wins over Forest Green, Stoke and Sunderland. That teed up a trip to Man City, which wasn’t looking good as Haaland scored after 20 minutes. But Ângelo quickly levelled and a late Gloukh double earned a surprise 3-1 victory. Another tricky game followed as we faced Man UFC in the semis. We got a great start as Zeze headed his first goal for the club and Lucca finished off a great team move just after the break. UFC got a goal back in injury time, but we held on to secure a place in the FA Cup Final!
Huge Week of Cup Finals!
A huge week saw Forest play the FA Cup Final on Saturday May 16 then the Europa League Final on Wednesday May . And their opponents in the finals were both sides of North London.
First up was a trip to Wembley to take on Spurs in the FA Cup Final. We lost Neco Williams to an injury and annoyingly had several players ineligible due to a U21 fixture clash, so we lined up:
Caprile; Sterling, Diomandé, Zeze, Valeri; Essugo, Danilo; Gloukh; Ângelo, Nelson; Lucca
Subs: Mijatovic, Royett, Sljivic, Asprilla, Ndour, Castro, Elciler
We started well as Lucca had a chance well saved. But it was Ângelo who stepped up, getting on the end of a floated Essugo pass and controlling and finishing on the volley superbly after 10 minutes. And seven minutes later, the Brazilian was played through and coolly slotted home to double his tally. He was soon involved again as his delicious through-ball sent Lucca through to slam home a third after 34 minutes, and we were in dreamland two minutes later as Nelson slid Lucca through for his second and 50th of the season! We didn’t let up as Danilo played in Ângelo to wrap up his hat-trick. But we did settle for five and captain Gloukh lifted the famous trophy for the first time in 67 years.
Nottingham Forest won their 3rd FA Cup!!
However, there was little time to celebrate that victory as we only had four days to prepare to take on Arsenal in the Europa League Final at the VELTINS-Arena in Gelsenkirchen. Williams was more or less fit to return, so him in for Sterling was the only change.
We again got a fling start as a huge goalmouth scramble – which included four shots generating 2.05 xG! – landed at the feet of Lucca who poked home from 10 yards. We did nothing for the rest of the first half and restricted Arsenal to a couple of long range efforts. That trend continued after the break as absolutely nothing until an injury-time highlight, which only resulted in Gabriel Jesus picking up a yellow card. While we picked up a boring 1-0 victory.
Nottingham Forest won their first-ever UEFA Europa League!!
Chasing European Qualification
2026 got off to a disappointing start as captain Rouault decided he wanted to leave and forced an £18.5m move to Atlético. Our star man Lucca’s agent was also trying to force a move but, when I told him where to go and Lucca sacked him, I was able to hand the Italian a new four-year deal on £90k per week.
The league form took a bit of a hit at the end of the season as we focused on the cups, and a failure to win in our final four games saw us drop to an 8th-place finish below Villa on goals scored. But who cares, as we’ll be back in the Champions League next season! Lucca was the second-top scorer in the Premier League with his 23 goals only bettered by Haaland’s 29. And Nelson’s 12 assists was only beaten by Norwich’s Pedro Brazao getting 13.
Another Amazing Season at Forest!
We ma have dropped off in the league a little, but I’ll absolutely take that for an FA Cup success and a Europa League win. That takes us to 3 trophies in 4 seasons, adding to our Carabao Cup win in 2024.
Lucca topped our scoring charts with an incredible 51 goals in 57 games, including 17 in 14 in the Europa League. Gloukh impressed with 14 goals and 6 assists and Ângelo got 11 goals and 10 assists, but Nelson was fantastic with a club-high 23 assists and 4 goals and Essugo chipped in with 11 assists from holding midfield.
We ended the season in a solid financial position with £128m in the bank. So could we strengthen the squad over the summer and build on this success in 2026/27? Join us next Wednesday to find out!
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