Sunday’s loss against Chelsea saw Nottingham Forest miss out on the Champions League, and the squad are now hinting at how they feel about next season’s UEFA Conference League task.
Regardless of the Chelsea defeat, the Reds have still had a remarkable campaign. Roy Keane said Forest overachieved by qualifying for Europe, which is hard to argue with when looking at the season as a whole.
Incredibly, Forest doubled their points tally in the 24/25 season compared to the previous campaign, something never seen in the Premier League before. To build upon this, Evangelos Marinakis plans to invest heavily in Forest to make European football a regular fixture at the club.
Forest’s first foray into Europe for 30 years will be the Conference League, a competition that captain Ryan Yates believes they can attack.
Photo by Andrew Kearns - CameraSport via Getty Images
Photo by Andrew Kearns – CameraSport via Getty Images
Ryan Yates on the potential UEFA Conference League ‘blessing’
Forest’s Conference League spot is guaranteed regardless of whether Chelsea win the competition on Wednesday, giving Nuno Espírito Santo clarity about the task ahead.
Given the history of Premier League sides in the competition, Forest will enter the Conference League as one of the early favourites, something that Yates has spoken about in an interview with The Mirror.
Yates said: “We were saying that in the dressing room, we have to always look at the positive. The teams aren’t going to be as strong in that competition. It’s another chance to win silverware.
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“We’d like to think that we can go even further in that competition. Hopefully, it can be a blessing in disguise for us. I’m sure the people who sit upstairs will be doing their hard work now and getting us ready for a successful season next year.”
People often scoff at the Conference League as insignificant, but a chance at European glory should be something that garners more respect. For any Forest fans in doubt, they should simply look at what it meant to West Ham United in 2023.
Nottingham Forest should treat the Conference League like West Ham
The City Ground will be rocking when that first Conference League night comes around, and rightly so, regardless of any tinge of disappointment about it not being the Champions League.
At the very least, the competition will give Reds fans some brilliant memories. The same applies to the players, as well, who can take excitement from how West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen reflects on the club’s Conference League triumph.
Bowen said: “Winning football games is a massive honour, but to do it in a competition and go through the group stage, the knockout rounds, go through everything to get to the final and win the final at the end of the season with your teammates is probably one of the greatest honours you can get.
“I never thought I’d be sitting here with […] a European winners medal.”
The Forest squad will undoubtedly be added to this summer, but for those like Yates who will be along for the ride, the Conference League could be a career-defining competition.