Belief, togetherness and Rebel City: the ingredients for Nottingham Forest’s fight for survival

Joe Worrall said it best, as he often does, in his heartfelt post-match interview after Forest conquered Wembley.

“We’ve suffered for a long time off the pitch.

“He (Steve Cooper) has given us that bit of belief. We’ve been a mistreated team and he (Cooper) has come in and given us that hope and belief and just been so nice. He’s killed us with kindness.”

The ‘off the pitch’ suffering that Worrall spoke of has been felt by a generation of Forest fans, but as Henry Kissinger so famously put it, ‘a diamond is a chunk of coal that is made good under pressure.’

The events of last season have had a lasting impact on the club and this season has been even more special precisely because of the years 23 years of wandering in the wilderness. A healing of sorts has taken place and there is a different feel about the club.

No longer are stories of European triumph the only ones to tell for the Garibaldi faithful. It’s not just about John Robertson, John McGovern and Psycho, it’s about Brennan Johnson, Joe Worrall and Ryan Yates.

It’s not just about Brian Clough, it’s about Steve Cooper.

The built-up pressure of 23 years of disappointment has been released, and Forest fans have made it known to travelling fans what it means to them that their club is back where it belongs.

While their place in the Premier League is at risk, the strength of feeling between fans and the club is at a generational high, and this will be a great source of motivation for the players responsible for getting Forest out of the bottom three.

As Steve Cooper commented last week, ‘this is the time to believe now more than ever.’ He is absolutely right in saying that the biggest thing he and his staff have achieved is building belief.

Expecting disappointment became entrenched in the Forest psyche over the past two decades. Playoff losses to Yeovil, Swansea and Sheffield United drilled that even deeper into the minds of Forest fans.

But under Cooper, the contrast couldn’t be more stark and there is hope that while he is at the helm, Forest can deal with the adversity coming their way. Forgive me for being romantic, but the togetherness that has been created at the club has a part to play in this relegation scrap.

So often, teams with a strong culture rise above the challenges that face them and succeed because the players are playing for something greater than themselves.

Forest is an ‘against-the-odds’ club. Nottingham is a rebel city with a rich history of subverting the status quo. With this at the heart of what Cooper has achieved and established at Forest, they still have a fighting chance.

A positive performance against Aston Villa, with a return to Cooper’s favoured back three, has set the wheels in motion for a spirited fight from Forest in the final eight games of the season.

So despite the troubles facing them in the present moment, Forest fans can be thankful that the relationship between fans and the club has been restored and there is enough ‘ammunition’, as Marinakis puts it, to get themselves out of the relegation fight.

There is a revived sense that the spirit of Cloughie is back at the City Ground.

‘I hope anybody’s not stupid enough to write us off’ rings loudly in the ears of Forest fans, young and old. That sense of achieving against the odds is back thanks to the work of Steve Cooper and his merry men.

As long as that remains, there is hope on the banks of the River Trent that Nottingham Forest will go from strength to strength under Steve Cooper and the ownership of Evangelos Marinakis.