If anybody was best going to sum up Nottingham Forest’s remarkable season, perhaps inevitably it was Ola Aina.
The full-back is the beating heart of the Reds’ dressing room. He has also been a driving force in securing European football. Off the pitch, his social media videos, offering a peek behind the curtain at the training ground, have quickly become the stuff of legend.
In one such clip, Aina recorded his response to a fan expressing concern about the way the Champions League race and Forest’s part in it was heading as a crucial final day approached. “Listen, mate,” Aina said in animated fashion. “Learn to enjoy the process, yeah.
“Whether that be football or something else. Just learn to enjoy the process, bro.”
In other words, revel in the journey as much as the destination. And for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side, what a journey 2024/25 has been.
A campaign jam-packed with memorable moments and superb stats. It might not have ended with the Champions League qualification the Reds craved, but it has still been one heck of a ride.
Forest spent their first two years back in the Premier League - after a 23-year absence no less - battling just to remain in the division. This time around there is some disappointment and frustration not to have finished in the top five. Regardless of the weeks spent in the Champions League places only to just miss out, that is a quite incredible transformation.
The Reds are in Europe for the first time in three decades. No matter that it is the Conference League rather than the top table they had dreamt of, it is still a superb achievement.
Coming seventh with 65 points represents the club’s best Premier League finish and their highest points tally since 1994/95, when they ended the campaign third. On the back of avoiding the drop with 32 points (albeit with a four-point deduction) the previous year, Forest became the first team in the league’s history to double their haul from one season to the next.
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In goalkeeper Matz Sels, they have a Golden Glove winner, sharing the award with Arsenal’s David Raya after notching 13 clean-sheets. In Chris Wood, they have a 20-goal striker. Only Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (29), Newcastle United’s Alexander Isak (23) and Manchester United’s Erling Haaland (22) found the net more times than the New Zealander.
When he scored in the 2-2 draw with Leicester City, Wood became just the second player to have bagged 20 goals in the Garibaldi in a single campaign. He followed in the footsteps of the great Stan Collymore, who racked up 22 goals in 1994/95.
When he teed up Nikola Milenkovic in the 2-1 victory over West Ham United in the capital, Anthony Elanga recorded his 11th Premier League assist of the campaign. In doing so he equalled a club record set by Bryan Roy, also in 94/95.
Individually and collectively, Nuno’s men have hit new heights and broken records. They have won more league matches (19) than in their previous two seasons combined (18). And boy have some of them been brilliant.
From the statement 1-0 triumph away to Liverpool in September which suggested something special was brewing to February’s 7-0 demolition of Brighton and Hove Albion. From the seven-match winning streak in all competitions to the three FA Cup penalty shootout successes, Forest have thrilled and delighted countless times. Not so long ago, away victories were a rarity; this time around, travelling supporters have enjoyed 10 of them. Only champions Liverpool (11) triumphed more times on the road.
There have been tough moments, too, of course. There is no glossing over how the team ran out of steam and legs towards the end, with the final day 1-0 defeat to Chelsea summing up a faltering finish to the campaign.
But going back to Aina’s point right at the very start of this piece, the journey was filled with the kind of moments which will live long in the memory. Be it Arne Slot being taunted by thousands of fans to the tune of The Cranberries' hit Zombie or Nuno being captured dancing in the dressing room, or Harry Toffolo joking about downing shots of pickle juice in a bid to avoid cramp against Tottenham Hotspur or thousands of limbs going crazy at Anfield, Old Trafford or the City Ground, this season has been one for the ages.
Pundits aplenty tipped the Reds for relegation before a ball had been kicked. Forest overperformed by quite some distance, even if expectations changed as the weeks passed.
Nuno referred several times to how the campaign had been a surprise; how nobody expected the club to be challenging at the top end of the table, let alone go into the final day still in with a shot of making the Champions League. Add an FA Cup semi-final to the mix and the Reds have well and truly done their bit towards trying to upset the established order.
With that in mind, for the man in the dugout, the season could also be judged on different metrics. Back in August, the goals were very different.
Reflecting on the progress made, Nuno said a few weeks ago: “Our main objective was achieved long ago. Our main objective as a club, as a squad, as a team was achieved some while ago, wasn’t it?
“So, let’s enjoy it. Having a season where there is a clear improvement from the team, that was our main objective. And we achieved it.
“To play and be consistent and to improve from last season, then in terms of points and all these things, it was some while ago that we were out of that trouble.
“We are already proud and happy with the work that we’ve been doing in the season. In the end, we’ll see and we evaluate.
“But personally, success for us, as I see it, is being able to improve the team, being able to compete really well in a tough competition that is the Premier League, achieving good performances and results, our fans bonding together with the squad, and doing it without big and major conflicts among us. That’s a big success.”
Some of those words were perhaps uttered with the aim of relieving a bit of the pressure on his team at such a crucial stage, but there is a truth to them. Forest have undeniably improved - the stats and the figures tell as much. They have put solid foundations in place and have taken significant steps forward.
They have delivered a few punches to the big boys. They have shown they mean business, even if they are not at the level they wish to be at yet. And they have done it all with a head coach and a group of players who share a tight bond among themselves and with the fans.
It has been a revelation of a season that has also been one of evolution. One with significantly more highs than lows, even if how the final day, in particular, panned out did sting.
“We are in a good place and we should be proud. Too bad we didn’t achieve the dream but football and life always gives you a second chance,” Nuno said after losing to Chelsea.
Any sense of disappointment should not last long, though. Forest have a European campaign to prepare for. It has been many years since they have been able to say that.
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