Since it is only four months ago that Ange Postecoglou Tottenham Hotspur led to Europa League Glory, it might be a little too early for the Nottingham Forest manager to become nostalgic about the competition.
While the 60-year-old on the same Odyssey starts with his new club, he is not aware of the meaning of the moment.
Twice champions of Europe under Brian Clough, Forest has a legendary history on the continent. A Champions League spot that seemed to be there for the most of last season may have eventually left, but that did nothing to dampen the feeling of anticipation around the first European match of the club in almost three decades, which will come across Real Betis on Wednesday evening in Seville.
Postecoglou appears as entangled as everyone.
‘Everyone at Nottingham Forest is super excited’
“Thirty years, a club that has absolutely climbed at the height of European football in the past, and you can imagine how the supporters feel,” said the Australian, who started the reins in the city area fourteen days ago after the resignation of Nuno Espírito Santo.
“There are probably a few generations there who have heard the stories but have not lived the experiences. Now they can live their own experiences. It is special. I know that everyone at the club is super excited, the players are enthusiastic, and hopefully it is a successful campaign for us.”
That Bos disputes their first European match since a UEFA Cup quarterfinals against Bayern Munich in March 1996 feels like a victory in itself. It is only four years since Forest was bothered by the championship table after their worst start of a season in more than a century. At that moment, even surviving a pipe dream seemed.
Nevertheless, Forest, revitalized by the arrival of Steve Cooper as a manager in September, ended the season in the play-offs and started beating Huddersfield Town in the final in Wembley, ending an absence of 23 years with the top flight. Just like the rise of Forest from the lower half of division two to European champions after the arrival of Clough in January 1975, it was the stuff of fairy tales.
WHat football is always designed to ‘
“Amazing,” reflected Postecoglou, who will look for his first victory as a forest manager in the Estadio La Cartuja, Betis’ temporary house, while the Benito Villamarín Estadio is being renovated. “It is brilliant, it is what football is always designed to be. If you dream and do things well, you know that you can achieve the absolute highlight of whatever striving you are, and especially for football clubs.
“I think that has always been the ambitious side of the game. Maybe it will decrease a bit, but certainly stories like that are those who resonate the most when you look at the history of football.”
How Postecoglou, whose forest side one of the favorites should win the competition, would like to add another chapter to that history.
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