Having become the most successful Football Manager of all time in surpassing Sir Alex Ferguson’s haul of 38 trophies, the only remaining objective on our list was his 13 Premier League successes.
We’ve now won an incredible 40 trophies at Forest, comprising: 12 Premier Leagues, 4 Champions Leagues, 1 Europa League, 5 FA Cups, 4 Carabao Cups, 1 Club World Cup, 4 UEFA Super Cups and 9 Community Shields.
The summer of 2040 saw us bid farewell to long-serving left-back Rozemiro, who had 12 months on his contract, was 29 and wanted £250k a week, as he joined Arsenal for £48m. We also sold backup strikers Jan Mészáros to Gladbach for a ridiculous £35m and Sebastião to Celtic for £12.5m, winger Fransuar Baldasserini to Almeria for £15m
I sanctioned the Rozemiro sale to promote 16-year-old left-back Harry Wilson to the first team. And, while we didn’t sign any first-team players, he was joined by fellow academy product Jack Gorman, who eventually went out on loan.
We’ve had a slight switch around in the defensive positions, with the versatile Vinicíus moving into the holding role and the improving Radek Stejskal competing with Wilson at left-back and homegrown Frank Wakaso on the right.
Targeting A 13th Title
We had an immediate reunion with Rozemiro against Arsenal in the Community Shield, drew 2-2 and won it for the 10th time on penalties. A much more convincing victory saw us wrap up an early double as striker Jean-Pierre Sauvage bagged a brace in a 4-0 win over Hoffenheim to defend the UEFA Super Cup and win my 30th cup tournament at Forest.
We remain heavy favourites to win the Premier League with the bookies slashing our odds to just 7/5, with the next favourites being Man UFC at 9/2, West Ham at 11/2 and Arsenal 10/1. Our defence began with Sauvage’s hat-trick and a Pereira brace leading a 6-2 thumping of Wolves. But we were even better a week later, as Pereira plundered four in a 7-0 annihilation of newly-promoted Cardiff. Wilson and Gorman made their first league starts as we edged a 3-2 win at Brighton through Pereira and wingers Milo Bedini and Filip Post. And last season’s Champions League hero Brooklyn Ellender popped up with an injury-time winner in a 2-1 victory at Chelsea.
The perfect start continued through to Post and Pereira earning a 2-2 draw at Liverpool and Pereira moved past 350 league goals in 390 games for Forest with a brace in a 3-1 win over Norwich. In fact, our superstar Portuguese captain was enjoying one of his best seasons, as he scored a hat-trick to down Sunderland 4-1. But he soon got injured and without him we lost 2-0 at Arsenal after 19 league games unbeaten. But he scored on his return in a 3-0 win at Wolves, bagged a hat-trick in a 4-3 thriller at Blackburn on Boxing Day then scored twice as we defeated Liverpool 3-1 three days later.
That left us 8 points clear of Arsenal, thanks to Pereira scoring 25 in 18 with an 8.05 average rating, Lautaro Arias scoring 15 in 16 and Post leading the assists chart with 9. That form saw Pereira win a 7th successive World Player of the Year and a 3rd successive Footballer of the Year. Tom Ritzy Gilcher won Goalkeeper of the Year, but the most exciting news saw Ellender win European Golden Boy.
Flying Start To 2041
We continued our fine form into the new year, including Pereira and Post inspiring a 2-1 win at Man UFC and Pereira bagging a hat-trick as we dominated struggling Brighton 5-0. But a big game in early February saw 2nd-place Arsenal visit the Brian Clough Arena and Pereira took it upon himself to deliver as his hat-trick led a 4-2 victory. Arsenal then lost their game in hand 4-0 at Man UFC to leave us 11 points clear with 11 games remaining.
A 2-1 defeat at West Ham in mid-February made things interesting as Arsenal moved within 5 points with 10 games to go. But that fired us back into form, including a Pereira hat-trick inspiring a 5-0 hammering of Spurs to open up an 11-point gap going into the final 6 games. And we wrapped up the record-equalling 13th title of my reign with 3 games to go as Bedini and Post strikes earned a 2-0 win at Cardiff.
We finished 8 points clear of Arsenal, who set a new record for most points without winning the league, with 98 points after 32 wins and 4 defeats, scoring 107 goals. Pereira enjoyed his best season so far, scoring a league-high 43 goals – which is one short of Haaland’s Premier League record of 44 in 2029/30 – with an 8.03 average rating and 14 player of the match awards in 32 games. That saw Pereira reclaim his Footballer of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year awards from Arias, who was second to him with a 7.83 average rating. Post’s 14 assists was bettered only by Arsenal midfielder Villalba and Ellender won Players’ Young Player with 4 goals, 9 assists and a 7.36 average rating.
FA Cup Final
We made it through to the FA Cup semis with wins over West Brom, Villa, Wigan and a tough trip to Newcastle. Another tough game followed as we drew 1-1 with Liverpool but Wilson chose the perfect time to score his first senior goal and take us to our 8th Final of this save but first in 3 years.
Awaiting us was Middlesbrough, who left our academy graduate club icon Johnny O’Hanlon out of the squad for their 2nd-ever FA Cup Final. Jorge Pavas saw off a knock in training and I decided to reward 17-year-old Wilson for some great progress by throwing him in from the start, as we lined up:
Gilcher; Wakaso, Fernández, Pavas, Wilson; Vinícius, Vandendriessche; Bedini, Post; Arias, Pereira
Subs: Sauvage, Soro, Verall, Redinciuc, Ellender, Schade, Stejskal, Reina, Dorrian
We made a bright start and banked it in as midfielder Aymeric Vandendriessche lofted a ball through the defence for Pereira to smash into the far corner on 12 minutes. Arias hit the post twice in the next four minutes before a rapid counter ended up with Bedini pulling the ball back to Vinícius to drill home his first of the season. Post won a penalty 10 minutes after the break, which Pereira converted, then sent a delicious pass through for Arias to make it 4-0 two minutes later. I rested all our key players after an hour and we breezed home.
Chasing 3 Successive Champions Leagues
Our Champions League defence began at home to Hertha and the 3P’s of Pavas, Post and Pereira earned a 3-2 win before Arias returned from a broken arm to score twice as we downed Nice 3-1. A rotated side drew 1-1 in Dinamo but a couple of tricky challenges saw a 0-0 at PSG and a 2-0 loss at Napoli. But a 3-2 win at home to Sociedad eased us through in 7th.
We took on Atlético in the round of 16 and Pereira earned a 1-1 before a Sauvage double led a 4-2 home victory. Pereira scored twice as we won 3-2 at home to Napoli then scored again in a 2-0 win in Naples in my 1,100th match as manager. That took us into another semi-final with Barcelona, who still had 36-year-old Gavi in midfield, and that showed as we dominated them 4-0 in our home leg with Arias, Luca Fernández, Post and Pereira goals. And a 1-0 defeat in Spain sent us through to a third successive Final and seventh in the last nine years.
The Champions League Final was a repeat of our 2035 success as we took on FC Bayern and former players Dunderski and Esnault at Old Trafford. Bedini pulled his calf in training, so I brought Ellender into the starting lineup:
Gilcher; Wakaso, Fernández, Pavas, Wilson; Vinícius, Vandendriessche; Ellender, Post; Arias, Pereira
Subs: Sauvage, Soro, Verall, Redinciuc, Jones, Schade, Stejskal, Reina, Dorrian, Horváth
This time we started poorly as Bayern scored their first shot. But we responded superbly as two great moves that started with Ellender, moved on to Post and ended up with Pereira equalising then putting us ahead after 18 months. Bayern got on top but Gilcher made a great save from Dunderski, who then hit the bar with a free-kick just after half-time. But Vandriessche picked up an injury and we immediately conceded to Dunderski and it drifted to a 2-2 finish. Extra time was a total non-event so it went to penalties and Post obviously missed our first one so we lost 5-3 on penalties.
More Record-Breaking Success At Forest
We celebrated yet another quadruple this season, adding another domestic double to our ever-growing trophy haul. Despite now being 33, Pereira was, yet again, our main man this season, reaching new heights even by his levels as he hit a new club record 42 league goals and 60 in all competitions – breaking his own previous records of 39 in 2038/39 and 54 in 2034/35.
Arias followed him with 30 goals, then Sauvage (20), Post (14), Bedini (8) and backup wingers Ellender and Ismael Reina (6). Post topped our assists with 18 followed by Vandendriessche (17), Ellender (15), Arias (14), Bedini (11) and Reina and Pereira (10).
The exciting Ellender became the first Forest academy graduate to make his England debut while at the club this season, at the age of just 18. He joins winger Kelvin Clay, who now has 26 caps since moving to Brighton, as our only homegrown England internationals. And Ellender’s promise was proven by winning NxGn 2041 with 5 other Forest players making the list, including Wilson at 11.
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