Steve Cook will go down in Nottingham Forest folklore as a key component in a team that ended 23 years of hurt away from the Premier League.
The centre-back signed from Bournemouth during a brilliant January transfer window in 2022, with Sam Surridge and Keinan Davis also joining him at the club.
Cook helped the likes of Scott McKenna and Joe Worrall go to another level and was part of the team that went on a ridiculous run of form to make the play-off and then win them.
The defender is currently playing for QPR back in the Championship, but looks back fondly on his time with Forest.
His experience really shone through at the City Ground, and in a recent interview, he looked back at the signing of one key man, which provides a comical anecdote.
Morgan Gibbs-White of Nottingham Forest throws a match shirt in support of Taiwo Awoniyi
Photo by Steve Bardens/Getty Images
Why Steve Cook had to apologise to Morgan Gibbs-White
It was Gibbs-White’s missed penalty that sent Forest to Wembley to play Huddersfield in the Championship Play-Off final.
He later signed for Forest once promotion had been secured and the rest, as they say, is history.
Cook might have been slightly nervous about seeing Gibbs-White after he signed for Forest, admitting he gave him a torrid time when he came up against the young attacker.
MORE FOREST STORIES
He told the Red Side of the Trent podcast: “When he signed, I had to apologise to him because I’d nailed him. It was quite late on in extra time, he turned and I just thought, ‘I’m going to have to do you here!’
“I spoke to him a lot during the game because I actually thought to myself that I might just try and get in his head but it was in a nice way. I was like, ‘Look, we’ll be signing you in the summer anyway, Sheffield United aren’t going to sign you in the summer if they go up’, I was like, ‘Come on, you’re coming here anyway’.
I tried to get into him that way but obviously, when he scored, it didn’t really do much good, but he’s a top player, Morgan, he’s a really good lad as well. He’s really grown into the role he’s in now. I think he’s matured so much and I think on the pitch you’re starting to see the best of him, and I think there is only more to come.
“I remember when we signed him and the club had spent so much money on him and this and that, but we honestly thought he was the perfect signing, this is where we were at. The manager and he had a pretty close relationship anyway.
“We got on really well, and he’s terrific as a player and as long as Forest keep hold of him and I really hope they do, I think he’s got an amazing future if the club and he can keep aligned, it’s a match made in heaven really.”
Cook became cult hero at Forest
Naturally, Forest had players during the promotion season who threw themselves into the spotlight every single week.
For example, Brennan Johnson scored the goals and Brice Samba kept them out, but it’s fair to say that the catalyst to push for promotion was the signing of Cook.
Forest needed that element of experience, and Steve Cook recognised that by choosing to bring Cook to the club, despite boasting three central defenders already.
Cook caught the eye with a number of fine displays, and he was also never shy in winding up the Derby fans on social media during a season in which they were relegated from the Championship.
The defender never let anyone down when called upon for Forest, and it’s great to see him still playing well for QPR back in the second tier.