Sir Alex Ferguson’s impressive tally of 13 Premier League titles had been broken as we led Nottingham Forest to our 14th championship success in the 2041/42 campaign. I’d also racked up 5 Champions Leagues, 6 FA Cups and 4 Carabao Cups among my 47 trophies as a Football Manager. And, given the level of success, this could be the last season of this challenge with Forest.
The summer of 2042 was one of change as several long-serving players announced they intended to leave. Winger Milo Bedini played 308 league games since signing from Madrid in 2031 but joined Spurs for £27m, midfielder Aymeric Vandendriessche played 328 league games since joining from Genk in 2032 and also joined Spurs for £20m and centre-back Jorge Pavas, now 33, made 462 league appearances since joining in 2026 but moved on to West Ham for £6m. We also sold homegrown midfielder Andrew Dorrian, who wasn’t developing very well, to Juventus for £35m.
I allowed those moves given the talent we had coming through. That included attackers Michael Roper and Danny Farley, who joined Brooklyn Ellender as homegrown England internationals at the World Cup, which was won by Brazil as full-back Vinícius won Best Player! And a few months later, fellow academy product left-back Harry Wilson also made his England debut.
We strengthened the club’s potential with striker Tomás Rodríguez for £6.25m from Independiente, a couple of Club Brugge wonderkids in centre-back Niclas Moors for £33.5m and winger Régis Ilunga for £20m, and Atalanta winger Marcello Tronchin for £54m. I also promoted homegrown left-back Junior Farrell-Henry and midfielder Dagistan Sarikaya. And in January, we added Brazilian goalkeeper Anderson Rodrigues for £16.25m from Bragantino and wonderkid Tor Martin Aretun on a free from Lillestrom.
I saw no need to change our all-dominating tactic, but there are some changes to the starting lineup. Academy products Jack Gorman and Ellender are now our first-choice midfielder and right-winger alongside Wilson at left-back. And the squad is now looking far more youthful, with the exception of star men Luís Pereira and Filip Post, now 34 and 30.
Seeking More Silverware
We began the season with more silverware as a Pereira brace defeated Arsenal 2-1 in the Community Shield. Ten days later we faced Newcastle in the UEFA Super Cup and a Post brace led a dominant 5-2 to win our 6th Super Cup, a new record 7 victories for Forest, and my 49th trophy at the club.
We remain big title favourites, although our odds have dropped to 13/5 compared to Man UFC at 4/1, Arsenal at 6/1, West Ham at 7/1 and Arsenal at 9/1. We began at home to 1000/1 outsiders, newly-promoted Bristol City and an Ellender brace led an easy 2-0 victory.
We faced Newcastle three days after the Super Cup with backup centre-backs Giovanni Cannas and debutant Moors, but the exact same result followed as a Post hat-trick led a 5-2 battering. The Dane, who retired from international football in the summer, was on form again three days later as his brace inspired a 4-2 win at Spurs alongside Gorman and Ellender goals. And Ellender matched his league goal tally of the previous two seasons (4) inside four games as he scored in a 3-1 win at Bournemouth.
Back-to-back 2-2 draws with West Ham and Man UFC kept us top on goal difference. But we soon hit top form as Pereira scored four in a 5-0 hammering of Sunderland away before two big games in early December. First, we went to Liverpool and dominated 4-0 with goals by Lautaro Arias, Pereira, Ellender and Roper then a few days later welcomed 3rd-place Arsenal and the same result followed led by a Pereira brace. But a 3-2 loss at Man UFC, in which Roper scored both our goals, ended a 23-game unbeaten streak and took us into the new year with a 5-point lead over West Ham.
Arias was a surprise winner of the Ballon d’Or. He backed that up by winning Goal50 for the first time with Pereira in 4th then his first World Footballer of the Year and World Player of the Year awards, the latter of which Pereira had won 8 times in a row.
Champions League Disappointment
Our Champions League fixtures were probably our toughest yet, starting with a 2-1 defeat at German champions Hertha. Roper scored in a 3-1 win at home to Atlético and hit a screamer in a 3-2 win at Werder led by two assists by fellow academy product Ellender before a 1-0 loss at Marseille. But a Pereira double led a 2-0 win at home to Barca before an Arias brace secured a vital 2-1 win at Napoli. And wins over Slavia Prague and Braga eased us through in a fairly impressive 4th.
The tough games continued as we faced Barca in the last 16. Two Pereira penalties helped us hold on as the defence imploded in a 4-2 defeat at Camp Nou and we couldn’t recover, only winning 1-0 at home to exit at the last 16 stage for the first time in 14 years.
We put the Barca disappointment behind us with a Pereira brace inspiring a 2-0 win over Man UFC in the FA Cup quarter-finals. And Ellender’s goal eased us into the FA Cup Final, which could be our final match as Forest manager. We had a few injuries, including Post and Wilson, but a rare Schade goal before Arias struck from close range was enough for a narrow 2-1 victory in a really poor match. And that’s our 6th FA Cup win of the save.
Chasing Title 15
A tough run of games continued as Chelsea and Spurs visited Brian Clough Arena in the first 4 days of 2043. But they were dispatched 4-1 and 1-0 to move us 7 points clear before Tronchin scored his first goal in a 3-0 win at Southampton to extend that lead to 10 points having played one game more. That sent us on a mad run of 9 successive league wins, including Post scoring the only goal at Arsenal, to move 17 points clear with 6 games remaining. And we wrapped up the title with an easy 3-1 win at Middlesbrough, which was my 50th trophy in charge of Forest.
Nottingham Forest won an 11th successive Premier League title!
That left us on track for the best season in Premier League history, trailing City’s record 100 points by 10 points with 5 games remaining. Ellender and Pereira strikes earned a 2-1 win at Blackburn, our winning streak ended with a 0-0 at home to Bournemouth, an Ellender double led a 4-2 win at Newcastle and Pereira rolled back the years with a hat-trick and an assist to thump 3rd-place West Ham 4-2 at home. We went into the final day at Palace on 100 points and another Ellender double and Pereira’s late goal earned a 3-1 victory.
So we finished on 103 points with a new league record 33 wins and just 1 defeat, scoring 102 and conceding 27, and finished 26 points clear of Man UFC and Arsenal. Pereira was top scorer for the 8th time with 25 in 36, Arias led assists with 13 and a league-high 7.72 average rating and Tom Ritzy Gilcher kept a league-high 20 clean sheets.
Finishing On A High At Forest
Pereira remains our main man, even at the age of 35, scoring 35 goals in 50 games. He’s now racked up 442 goals in 482 Forest league games. Arias scored 27, Post 20, Ellender an impressive 18 and Roper 14, while Arias topped our assists with 16 followed by Ellender (15), Post (12) and Tronchin (10). And the potential at the club is ridiculous, in the likes of Tronchin, Ellender, Gorman, Rodríguez and co.
But will we be here to see it through? I think I’m going to stick with Forest to see out Pereira’s career and see how a few of these youngsters progress. But I also have an interesting challenge from the same universe that I might take on as a spin-off series.
Join us next Wednesday for one final blog as we move towards the end of Luís Pereira’s career.
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