Football Trips Nottingham Forest: Best Premier League season since 1995?

The English champion will most likely be FC Liverpool, but the surprise team of the season in the Premier League is not from Anfield, but from the East Midlands: Nottingham Forest. The legendary club, which became champion in 1978 as a promoted team, is on its way to deliver a memorable revival like Aston Villa did last year – and to qualify for the Champions League for the first time. 

Oh man! Has it really been 29 years already? Yes, indeed! It was on March 19, 1996. 

At that time, Nottingham Forest lost 1:5 (first leg: 1:2) in the UEFA Cup quarterfinals against FC Bayern Munich, who also won the Cup. Did Forest lose? No, Forest was crushed. 

Destroyed by a Bayern Munich team that was going through hectic "FC Hollywood" times with almost daily theater in media-Munich. 

Nottingham Forest represented the golden years of English club football

The proud "Tricky Trees" amazed all of Europe with their stars Viv Anderson, Kenny Burns, Trevor Francis († 2023), and Tony Woodcock from 1978 to 1980. The protégés of the once quirky, sometimes unpleasant master coach Brian Howard Clough († 2004 / See also Premier-League-Offside "Days of Wrath") became European Cup champions of the European Champions Cup twice in a row (1979 and 1980). 

They were part of the English club armada that, between 1977 and 1982, did not allow any club from another country to win the Henkelpott. 

In 1977, 1978, and 1981, FC Liverpool triumphed, along with Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa (1982).

Then it was over for the tricky trees from Nottingham. The 1:5 loss against Bayern Munich at the City Ground remains Nottingham Forest's last European Cup match to date. The ultimate humiliation came when former Tottenham player Jürgen Klinsmann appeared after the match in a Forest jersey…

In 1998/99, Nottingham Forest had to leave the Premier League for 23 long years and suffered one of the heaviest defeats in the history of English elite football on February 6, 1999, losing 1:8 against the new leader Manchester United (4 goals from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer).

Back to the present. For event-breaks.com, I commented on May 29, 2022, the Premier League playoff match between Nottingham Forest and Huddersfield Town (1:0). The scenes of celebration in Wembley were huge, a legend of English football made its return after an eternity, and up in the box sat the visibly emotional mastermind behind Nottingham's rise.

Nottingham Forest Owner: "The Greek Tycoon"

The Greek shipping tycoon Evangelos Marinakis has invested in Olympiakos Piraeus (Conference League winner 2024, first European Cup winner from Greece), but has also been involved with Nottingham Forest since 2017. 

The big Greek – analogous to Anthony Quinn († 2001) as "The Greek Tycoon" Aristotle Onassis in the 1978 movie – has been the owner of the English traditional club ever since. 

Since their return to the Premier League in 2022, 430 million euros have flowed into the "Tricky Trees" squad. The highest transfer fee to date was paid in 2024 for English midfielder Elliot Anderson – 41.2 million euros went to Newcastle United. The eight most expensive transfers in the club's history were made since their comeback in the English elite class, including the deal for Chris Wood. 

The now 33-year-old striker from New Zealand initially joined on loan in 2023, then for 17 million euros from Newcastle – and is considered one of the guarantors of the rise. 

As the esteemed colleague Adam Clery describes him in the latest issue of British football magazine FourFourTwo, "a gift sent down from football heaven," “who torments anyone who cares more about Expected Goals than excellent vibes.”

18 goals in 24 Premier League games have been scored by the club wanderer Christopher Grant Wood (who has played for, among others, West Bromwich, Bristol City, FC Millwall, Leicester City, Ipswich Town, and Leeds United) this season. 

Chris Wood is the over-performer of the Premier League 

Mathematically, based on the "Goals minus XGoals" value, he is the over-performer of the league. Wood's value is +31 per 90 minutes, ahead of Newcastle United's high-flyer Alexander Isak (+14), Liverpool's goal scorer Mohamed Salah (+12), and Manchester City's one-man goal factory Erling Braut Haaland (+0.03). 

Nottingham Forest plays, unlike in the glory years between 1977 and 1981, when they amazed all of England with a variable, fast-paced short-passing game, against every trend.

Or in other words: possession is overrated! The team of Portuguese coach Nuno Espirito Santo plays with a tricky 4-2-3-1 system and less than 40 percent possession.

"Not here to mess around"

Nottingham has the lowest possession percentage in the Premier League, as well as the second-lowest shot distance, and in terms of shots on target, they are ranked 13th. 

But the team is a threat to every opponent in counter-attacks – as shown in victories against Liverpool (1:0), Aston Villa (2:1), and most recently at the beginning of March against Manchester City (1:0). "We’re not here to mess around," wrote Forest striker Callum Hudson-Odoi after the win against the English champions. 

And that is quite serious. Nottingham Forest is not exactly considered the fun machine of the Premier League right now.

With 49 goals, Nottingham earned 54 points, and no other team from the top 4 of the PL table scored fewer goals. 

In 1977, it was Liverpool’s former successful coach Bill Shankly († 1981) who likely motivated the "Tricky Trees" with an unforgettable locker room speech (“Don’t just play first division, go out and win the title!”), and today the players motivate each other towards the next, big success.

Nottingham, currently in third place, could qualify for the Champions League for the first time in its club history – 5th place in the Premier League would likely be enough for that – and for the first time since the infamous 1:5 against Bayern, play in Europe again. 

It would be the best finish for NFFC in the Premier League since 1994/95 when they also finished third under coach Frank Clark. 

German squad planner George Syrianos, who has been with the club since 2021, told SPORT BILD (Issue 11 / 2025): “It’s harder to stay at the top of the Premier League table for months than just getting there.”

True. At the River Trent, they haven’t forgotten where they come from. A different attitude would surely bring trouble with the big Greek...