When Nuno Espirito Santo took charge at Nottingham Forest on December 20, 2023, he inherited a side that was sitting 17th in the Premier League table with 14 points, five points outside of the relegation zone.
A little less than a year later, on December 14, 2024, he guided Forest into the top four in the table — and they have remained there ever since.
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They have gone from desperately fighting to avoid relegation to dreaming of playing in Europe for the first time in three decades. Champions League qualification is a realistic goal. Plus, there is a trip to Wembley for an FA Cup semi-final to throw into the mix.
When Forest fans began the chant of ‘on the p*** with Nuno’ as he led them to survival last season, none of them would have believed that the journey would have brought them to this point. We still don’t know if the ‘Madri and Stella’ from the song will be swapped for celebratory Champagne. But Forest are almost certain to return to Europe next season; the only thing to be decided is which competition it will be in.
Realistically, the ‘worst-case’ scenario is that Forest qualify for the Europa League — which every fan in the city would have been delighted with back in August. It’s probably reasonable to put the bubbles on ice, just in case.
(Molly Darlington/Getty Images)
But whatever happens from this point on, the former Wolves and Tottenham manager has already done an incredible job at the City Ground.
The sheer scale of the remarkable transformation he has inspired means Nuno simply has to be a contender for the manager of the season award.
The timing of such a statement might seem a little unusual, coming as it does on the back of a defeat to one of their rivals for a top-five finish. But even the manner of the 2-1 loss at Villa Park provided more reason for optimism than dismay.
Forest took on an established top-flight team, Aston Villa, who will play in the Champions League quarter-finals this week under their own elite-level manager, Unai Emery. They did enough to deserve something from the game despite a long list of setbacks.
They were without the injured Ola Aina, who has established himself as one of the best right-backs in the country. And they had to pick a team without either of their recognised forwards in club top scorer Chris Wood and his backup, Taiwo Awoniyi. They also had to withdraw another of their most influential attacking figures, Anthony Elanga, as a precaution at half-time in Birmingham.
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Despite all of that, partly thanks to some astute tactical changes from Nuno — who switched to a man-marking approach in the second half — they created enough opportunities to have drawn or even won the game.
Yes, a few minutes of very un-Forest like chaos cost them, as Villa took a 2-0 lead in the first 15 minutes. But in the second half, when they went toe-to-toe with one of the form sides in the division, they were not outclassed. With Wood in their ranks, they would probably have got something.
Forest had themselves emerged victorious in their five previous games, including 1-0 wins over Manchester City and Manchester United, a 4-2 win at Ipswich and FA Cup penalty shootout wins against Ipswich and, most recently, at Brighton.
People have doubted them ever since a 2-1 win over Villa at the City Ground — which came amid a run of six consecutive victories — guided them into the top four.
Since 2024 became 2025, the question for many has been when the bubble will burst. But this is where Nuno’s greatest success has been achieved. Because while his constant mantra of only thinking about ‘the next game’ might be frankly boring at times for those in the media, it also happens to be the beating heart of Forest’s success.
It is more than just a cliche; it is a mentality that has helped to shield his players from outside noise and, most importantly, from the weight of expectation. At the Nigel Doughty Academy, the focus is always just on the next game. Never beyond it.
This week, everything will be about the visit of Everton on Saturday. On Thursday and Friday, the fine details will be honed on the training ground. Forest will go into the game in confident mood, armed with self-belief built on the back of nine Premier League games unbeaten on the banks of the Trent, where they last lost in November.
Nuno — who collected his third Premier League manager of the month award of the campaign for March — does not stand alone when it comes to serious contenders for the manager of the season accolade.
(Michael Steele/Getty Images)
Emery is also staking a serious claim. His Villa side face his former club, PSG, in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Champions League tonight and they have a strong chance of qualifying for the competition again next season, while they will face Crystal Palace in the other FA Cup semi-final. The 53-year-old Spaniard may not have made a success of his short time at Arsenal, but he has established himself as a world-class manager.
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Arne Slot has picked up the baton from Jurgen Klopp and looks almost certain to lead Liverpool to their first Premier League title since 2019-20, even if the prospect of a more remarkable campaign has fallen by the wayside, following defeat in the Carabao Cup final and their Champions League exit.
Marco Silva has done an excellent job at Fulham, lifting them into European contention as, similarly, has Andoni Iraola at Bournemouth. Fabian Hurzeler’s Brighton side had been flying before suffering three defeats in the space of week, starting with Forest’s FA Cup quarter-final success on the south coast.
But nobody has quite inspired the level of transformation that Nuno has.
Nuno has taken a side that finished 17th last season, six points clear of relegation with 32 points. Having made only a handful of quality additions to the squad, Forest should now comfortably double that points tally this time around.
Yes, the addition of Matz Sels last January, followed by the arrival of players like Nikola Milenkovic and Elliot Anderson during the summer window, have taken Forest up another level. So Forest’s recruitment team again deserve significant praise. Forest’s success has not been built by Nuno alone.
But Nuno has given them an identity and a unique way of doing things. He has given them something else too: the ability not just to dream of what might be possible but to believe that it might just happen. Whether Forest go on to qualify for the Champions League, whether they lift an FA Cup for the first time since 1959, Nuno has already given fans something they have not had for three decades: the sense that they once more belong among the elite.
And for that, Nuno has also more than earned his own place there as well.
(Top photo: Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)
This news was originally published on this post .
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