A few days after overseeing a feat no other Nottingham Forest boss had managed for three decades, Nuno Espirito Santo took a moment to reflect and to consider the task ahead.
What will it mean, he was asked after qualification had been confirmed, to take charge of the Reds in Europe for the first time? How will he feel when the occasion comes around? What will be going through his mind?
“In that moment? Hard work,” the Portuguese replied with a chuckle and a broad grin. “Concerns. Tight schedule. Wow!
“It will bring us more problems, but yes, it is fantastic. Fantastic! That will be in July when we think about that. We have to recover energy for that.”
Forest have not competed on the continent for 30 years, since they qualified for the Uefa Cup under Frank Clark in 1995. They are now set to test themselves on that stage once again.
It has been a while. A whole generation, in fact. But do not think for a single second this will be a one-off. Not if Evangelos Marinakis has anything to do with it.
Securing European qualification for the 2025/26 campaign is simply another (albeit significant) step forward for the club. It does not represent the end of what owner Marinakis refers to as his “big dreams” for the Reds.
“I recall that one of the messages was clear since promotion, it was to achieve European football,” Nuno has said of Marinakis. “And he has been pursuing this dream since he joined Forest.”
The Reds head coach is not wrong. No sooner had Marinakis completed his takeover of the club, in May 2017, he made his long-term vision very clear.
“Forest is one of England’s oldest clubs and one with a proud history of national and international excellence,” the Greek shipping magnate said at the time. “Our objective is to bring back the glory days.”
Part one of that mission was completed on that sun-drenched day at Wembley three years ago when a long exile from English football’s top flight was brought to an end. Now there is also a big tick in the box marked “Europe”.
But the project doesn’t end there. Marinakis is a deeply passionate and highly ambitious man. There is always another goal to be set, more success to be had and new dreams to be fulfilled.
Some may have raised their eyebrows when he talked of wanting to win trophies while the promotion party was still going strong, but he is not a man who settles. Or one who stands still. He wants Forest to continue pushing to the next level. Being back in Europe is just another springboard for the club; the intention is to keep reaching even higher.
“I see it as the platform,” Nuno has said of this season. “The platform that we have now has been built and put together since the moment that Forest achieved promotion to the Premier League; since Steve (Cooper) was here, and with all the players that came in.
“This is the platform now. I think we are still building on that. And I think we have a good platform.”
Does that mean every year the goal is to be seriously competing for something - as was the case this term with reaching the FA Cup semi-finals and battling at the top end of the Premier League table?
“And more. And more,” Nuno replied. “We lost in the first game of the Carabao Cup (to Newcastle United). We wanted to go much further in that. This competition is so important, in terms of the squad and the minutes it gives you.
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“This is what you build as a platform - approach it game by game and try to go as far as you can in all the competitions to have the platform to hopefully one day say: ‘OK, we are ready to go and fight for everything now.’”
Have Forest got the belief that they can keep building towards the next step? Nuno is unequivocal on that front.
“I am not sure it is a belief any more. It is something that is certain,” was his response. “Does that make sense? If you consider that this is a miracle, maybe you have to believe.
“I know that the players have worked very hard from the first day and have been committed to improving - and there are a lot of things to improve yet. There is no need to believe; it is a certain thing that we are here to compete in every game.”
Competing in Europe will be a whole new adventure. But the Reds want it to be the start of an era in which they regularly travel down this road.
Marinakis is well aware of what it takes to triumph on the continental stage. Olympiacos, who are also owned by the 57-year-old, beat Fiorentina last year to take the Europa Conference League crown and become the first club from Greece to lift a European trophy.
Winning the Champions League is the dream. Marinakis is certain Forest, who know a thing or two about success on that front, or Olympiacos will claim that particular cup at some point in the future.
“What I have to say is that (when) both clubs will compete in the Champions League, one of them will win it,” he has said. He wasn’t joking, either.
The Reds have spent this term disrupting the established order in English football’s top flight. Now they want to do it again. And again. Even pundit Jamie Carragher, someone who predicted Forest would fall through the relegation trap door this time around, is of the view this will be no “fluke” on the banks of the Trent. It is the start of something.
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Nottingham Forest are flying high in the Premier League and Reds fans are dreaming of a return to European competition. It has been an outstanding campaign for Nuno Espirito Santo’s men, who are on course for a place in the Champions League next season. And Forest supporters can whet their appetite for a possible return to football’s top tier on the continent with our 48-page special edition celebrating the club’s two European Cup wins.
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“I wouldn’t say he is buying into being an underdog,” full-back Ola Aina said of Marinakis in a recent interview with the Daily Mail. “That’s not what he wants. It’s more that he knows the potential of the club to be able to compete season after season and challenge for things.”
Being up there for one season is one thing, doing it year after year is quite another, of course. Rivals will rebuild and recharge over the summer, they will spend and strengthen, and the competition will only get even tougher.
Forest will do some transfer business of their own, though, and they already have a strong base in place. Meanwhile, off the pitch, former Arsenal sporting director Edu is expected to take on a key role across Marinakis’ umbrella of clubs. Landing the Brazilian, with all the experience and contacts he has to offer, will be a real coup.
However, the summer will not be without its challenges as the Reds steel themselves to go again. As ever, getting the recruitment right will be key, while there are sure to be vultures circling around some of the club’s star men - not least Morgan Gibbs-White.
Nuno has always insisted Forest are a big club, though. They didn’t require European football to prove that. But now they have it, the aim is to ensure fans need to have their passports at the ready every year. The building blocks are certainly there.
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