Ange Postecoglou hails Nottingham Forest’s return to European competition

Given it is only four months since Ange Postecoglou led Tottenham Hotspur to Europa League glory, it is perhaps a little too soon for the Nottingham Forest manager to start getting nostalgic about the competition. 

As the 60-year-old embarks on the same odyssey with his new club, however, he is far from oblivious to the significance of the moment. 

Twice champions of Europe under Brian Clough, Forest have a storied history on the continent. A Champions League place that seemed there for the taking for much of last season may ultimately have slipped away, but that has done nothing to dampen the sense of anticipation surrounding the club’s first European match in almost three decades, which will come on Wednesday night in Seville against Real Betis.

Postecoglou appears as caught up in the moment as anyone.

‘Everyone at Nottingham Forest is super excited’

“Thirty years, a club that’s absolutely climbed to the peak of European football in the past, and you can just imagine how the supporters are feeling,” said the Australian, who took up the reins at the City Ground a fortnight ago following the dismissal of Nuno Espírito Santo. 

“There’s probably a couple of generations in there who’ve heard the stories but not lived the experiences. Now they can live their own experiences. It’s special. I know everyone at the club’s super excited, the players are excited, and hopefully it’s a successful campaign for us.”

That Forest are contesting their first European game since a Uefa Cup quarter-final against Bayern Munich in March 1996 feels like a victory in itself. It is only four years ago that Forest were propping up the Championship table following their worst start to a season in more than a century. At that point, even survival seemed like a pipe dream. 

Yet Forest, revitalised by the September arrival of Steve Cooper as manager, ended the season in the playoffs and went on to beat Huddersfield Town in the final at Wembley, ending a 23-year absence from the top flight. Like Forest’s rise from the bottom half of Division Two to European champions following Clough’s arrival in January 1975, it was the stuff of fairy tales.

‘What football was always designed to be’

“Amazing,” reflected Postecoglou, who will be seeking his first win as Forest manager at the Estadio La Cartuja, Betis’s temporary home while the Estadio Benito Villamarín is being renovated. “It’s brilliant, it’s what football was always designed to be. If you dream and you do things well, you know that you can reach the absolute pinnacle of whatever endeavour you’re in, and especially for football clubs. 

“I think that’s always been the aspirational side of the game. Maybe it’s dwindling a little bit, but certainly those types of stories are the ones that resonate the most when you look at football’s history.”

How Postecoglou, whose Forest side are among the favourites to win the competition, would love to add another chapter to that history.