After 16 seasons at Nottingham Forest, we’d racked up an impressive haul of 33 trophies, leaving us just five short of the tally amassed by Sir Alex Ferguson at Man UFC. We’ve now amassed 10 Premier League titles (3 behind SAF), 2 Champions Leagues, 5 FA Cups and 4 Carabao Cups (all level with SAF), 1 Europa League, 1 Club World Cup (1 behind SAF), 3 UEFA Super Cups (1 more than SAF) and 7 Community Shields (3 behind SAF).
The Forest revolution was further boosted by the board completing an expansion of the Brian Clough Arena, giving us a 73,703 capacity. The club’s bank balance also passed £1 billion for the first time thanks to raising £Xm in sales, including long-serving striker Marcus Grimm joining Hertha for £64m after 160 goals in 277 league games and homegrown striker Aaron Vine going to Roma for £27.5m. We also saw the legendary Viní Jr. retire after 662 career league appearances to become our under 18s assistant.
We invested some of the incoming cash in new wonderkids, signing centre-back Radek Stejskal for £9m from Slavia Prague and winger Ismael Reina for £7.5m from Mallorca. They join exciting young talents like Sebastião, Jones and recent youth intake starlet Brooklyn Ellender in the first team this season.
Our 4-2-4 tactic remains, with Lautaro Arias moving alongside main man and captain Luís Pereira. And, for what I’m fairly sure is my first time on FM, all the starting XI have at least 4-star ability.
Targeting 7 Successive Titles
The new season began with a testimonial for homegrown hero Johnny O’Hanlon, who’s made 398 league appearances since coming through our first youth intake in 2022. He scored the opener as we beat affiliate club Olympiacos 3-1 then suffered damaged cruciate ligaments. But the season proper started by demolishing Man UFC 4-1 in the Community Shield with goals by Pereira, midfielder Aymeric Vandendriessche, centre-back Jorge Pavas and 6ft 6in striker Jean-Pierre Sauvage.
We’re 11/10 favourites to defend our title, with West Ham next favourites at 9/2. We began at Brighton and Pereira scored twice in two minutes before Sauvage sealed a 3-0 win. Pereira scored again before a brace by winger Milo Bedini as we set a new club-record attendance of 73,703 at home to Spurs. And the same duo were at it again as Pereira bagged a brace in a 3-1 win at Brighton.
Our Portuguese captain maintained his flying start with a brace as Reina got his first for the club in a 4-1 win at Norwich then a hat-trick in a 4-0 victory over Brentford. Sauvage replaced him at home to Southampton and bagged four in a 6-1 pummelling, and Pereira was clearly hurt by that as he returned to also bag four as we battered Stoke 8-1 away.
The perfect start ended with a 3-2 loss at Newcastle and we lost two crunch games at home to leaders Chelsea and at Liverpool. December saw two more huge games, starting with Pereira’s hat-trick and a first goal for homegrown right-back Frank Wakaso in a 5-1 hammering of leaders Arsenal. A couple of weeks later, we hosted West Ham and Arias and Pereira earned a 2-1 victory to take us back to the top. Another away loss followed 2-0 at Spurs, but we responded in style on Boxing Day putting NINE past Stoke led by a Pereira hat-trick and Arias’ ridiculous goal and assist hat-tricks!
That left us 3rd in what looks to be shaping up to be an interesting title race, with 5 points separating the top five. However, we’ve scored 74 goals in 21 games led by the prodigious Pereira, who’s scored 31 in 21, Vandendriessche’s league-high 14 assists, and Arias’ 13 goals and 11 assists.
Champions League Excitement
We began with a 1-1 at home to Inter then Pereira scored both in a 2-0 win over Juve. We won six out of eight, including fully rotated teams winning 3-2 at København and 4-1 at Atalanta, and qualified in 4th.
Villa awaited in the last 16 and two edgy games finished 1-1 then 0-0 before the giant Sauvage headed home a free-kick after 115 minutes. PSG was up next and a 1-1 first leg was followed by our best away performance in months as Arias’ brace led a 4-2 victory. Real Madrid followed and a dire 0-0 at home gave us an uphill battle. Real started the second leg better as Endrick had a goal disallowed then Tom Ritzy Gilcher saved his penalty and we made them pay as O’Hanlon’s shot deflected in for a cruel own goal. We went defensive and held on for a narrow victory!
That teed up an all-English Final and a repeat of 2037 in the same venue as we took on Man UFC at NSC Olimpiyski. We had no injury concerns so lined up:
Gilcher; Vinivíus, Pavas, Fernández, Rozemiro; Cicchetti, Vanendriessche; Bedini, Post; Arias, Pereira
Subs: Sauvage, Beleid, Mignemi, O’Hanlon, Reina, Schade, Wakaso, Stejskal, Ellender, Mrguda, Sebastião, Jones
We started terribly, as shoddy defending allowed Man UFC to score their first shot. But we grew into the game and Pereira equalised from Filip Post’s low cross with his 450th goal for the club. I laid into the team at half-time and got what I wanted as Arias raced in behind to slam home after 52 minutes. We dominated the game but that was all we needed as we held on for revenge and a 2-1 win.
Nottingham Forest won the Champions League!
Title Race Hots Up
2039 began with 2-1 wins over Newcastle and Leeds before Arias and Pereira scored in a 3-0 win at Villa. However, inexplicably, that proved to be Pereira’s last goal for 16 matches. We remained incapable of beating the top teams away with 2-0 and 3-0 defeats at West Ham and Arsenal. But O’Hanlon scored on his long-awaited league return as Arias’ double led a 5-1 hammering of Sheff United.
Our away struggles continued at Chelsea but a 1-0 win over Wolves and a 4-1 beating of Bournemouth, led by Sebastião’s hat-trick, kept us a point clear going into the final 5 games. And a huge trip to Old Trafford could prove pivotal.
Game 1 – Liverpool (5th, home): Pereira scored a penalty as we lost to Arsenal in the FA Cup semis, ending his 16-game goalless streak. And that seemingly sparked him back to life as he bagged a superb first-half hat-trick to defeat Liverpool 3-1. Man UFC beat West Ham 3-0.
Game 2 – Sunderland (19th, home): The Sunderland game was sandwiched by the two Madrid clashes, so I threw in a fully rotated 11. We still had too much for them as winger Fansuar Baldasserini and promising homegrown striker Jack Gorman earned a 2-0 win. The next day, Man UFC lost 2-1 at Leeds to extend out lead to four points.
Game 3 – Brentford (16th, away): The Madrid exploits caught up with us as, despite a Pereira brace, the defence crumbled and we lost 3-2. Man UFC drew with Brighton so our lead was 3 points with 2 to play.
Game 4 – Man UFC (3rd, away): A potential title decider took us to Old Trafford in the penultimate gameweek. But yet again in a big away game, we didn’t show up and had Gilcher to thank for it only finishing 1-0. That kept us above Man UFC on goal difference with West Ham now just 2 points back.
Game 5 – Norwich (11th, home): We entertained Norwich while Man UFC went to Liverpool and West Ham visited Wolves. West Ham led early on as we allowed Norwich to score their first two shots inside 20 minutes. I berated the lads and Pavas tapped in a free-kick, Arias equalised and Pereira snuck in to complete a 10-minute turnaround. Post won a penalty 24 seconds into the second half that O’Hanlon, in possibly his last match at Brian Clough Arena, tucked home and Fernández capped a 5-2 win.
Nottingham Forest won 7 successive Premier League titles!
We won the league by 2 points from West Ham, who climbed above Man UFC on the final day. We didn’t draw any games all season, winning 29 and losing 9, of which 8 were away! Pereira top-scored with 39 in 37 and Vandendriessche led the way with 16 assists, but just 2 after Christmas.
Celebrating Another Double
Forest’s dominance of England continued but we paired the title with a first Champions League success in 4 years, as we became Champions of Europe for the 3rd time in this save. Our youth teams also excelled with the U18s winning the UEFA Youth League for the first time and the U21s won the Papa Johns Trophy and the U21 International Cup, courtesy of beating Real Madrid B 3-1 in the Final.
Pereira led the way with 48 goals in 53 games, followed by Arias (24), Sauvage (20), Fernández (11) and Sebastião (10). Vandendriessche led the assists with 19 followed by Bedini (17), Post (16), Arias (14) and Pereira (12). But I as a little concerned by our defensive efforts towards the end of the season.
Pereira’s brilliance was rewarded as he won Goal50 for the 6th year in a row. He also reclaimed the FIFA Football of the Year, won a 5th successive World Player of the Year and a 6th successive Ballon d’Or, plus a 7th successive English Footballer of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year. Fittingly, he was also player of the match in the final day title decider and the Champions League Final. Sauvage won European Golden Boy and Players’ Young Player of the Year and we had 6 players in NxGn 2039, including 5 of the top 10 led by Reina and Jones in 2nd and 3rd.
These latest successes take us to 36 trophies at Forest, now just 2 behind SAF. So could we surpass his tally as we move into the 2040s? Join us in 2 weeks to find out!
Football Manager Addict 
Leave a comment