Nottingham Forest fans will forever be indebted to Steve Cooper for the work he did in winning promotion back to the Premier League.
Cooper arrived at a time when Forest had won just one of nine Championship games at the start of the 2021/11 campaign and remarkably led the club to the Premier League via the play-offs just months later.
The boss then managed to go one better and keep Forest in the Premier League. Harry Toffolo praised Cooper for his achievements and the left-back played plenty of games under the former Forest head coach.
In December 2023, Forest were in rotten form and Evangelos Marinakis had to make a huge call. Cooper was sacked after just over two years in charge of the club and it proved to be the right decision.
Cooper started this season in charge of Leicester. However, given their hatred for Forest, that was doomed to fail and the Foxes axed Cooper after just a few months in the hot seat.
Since his latest departure, Cooper has been on the lookout for work and he’s now seemingly been hooked up with an intriguing job.
Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images
Photo by OLI SCARFF/AFP via Getty Images
Steve Cooper oversees first game on the books of UEFA
It would appear that Cooper is leaving no stone unturned in a quest to broaden his horizons when it comes to getting back into football.
One day, Cooper will get the chance to manage at another club – although he might not walk into a Premier League job after his time with Forest and Leicester.
MORE FOREST STORIES
Last night, Henry Winter posted on social media that Cooper was overseeing his first match as a UEFA Technical Observer as Feyenoord took on Inter.
He was in the stands as the Serie A outfit did what their city rivals Milan couldn’t do and claimed a huge win over the Eredivisie outfit.
Cooper is clearly keen to take in as much football as possible during his down time and that should place him in the best possible place ahead of a return to management.
What a UEFA Technical Observer does
It’s believed that UEFA Technical Observers sit in the stands and observe matches in European competitions.
Quite amusingly, one of their remits is to choose the official Player of the Match when they oversee games, whilst a pool of technical observers will also choose the Team, Player and Young Player of the Season and also the best goals of the campaign.
During each game, the technical observer will work with the team in place to do analysis of the game, receiving footage that they can review later or whilst they’re in place at the stadium.
It’s also believed that technical observers are chosen based on their expertise in football and detailed understanding of the game itself.
As a result, it shows how respected former Forest boss Cooper is in the game and it does feel as though he will get a new job in the future with another club.