How to remember 2024-25
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That Nottingham Forest and their supporters were disappointed at missing out on a place in the Champions League speaks volumes about the strides the club has taken over the past 12 months.
The final whistle at the weekend brought with it a strange mix of feelings. While celebrating European football returning to the City Ground for the first time in a generation and acknowledging the efforts of a small, ultimately too-thin squad in taking the behemoths of English football all the way in the race to finish in the top five, it did feel a little flat.
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Being one equaliser away from the Europa League undoubtedly hurts, as does not claiming an extra couple of points somewhere along the way that would have meant Champions League football.
But this season will be remembered as the best in 30 years, with some huge landmarks along the way such as being the first Premier League team ever to double their points tally year-on-year and the first Forest team ever to win at Anfield and Old Trafford in the same season.
Beating Liverpool was also their first win at Anfield in 55 years.
There was the huge win over Brighton, a golden glove for the excellent Matz Sels, a monumental first season in English football for player of the season Nikola Milenkovic, some remarkable goalline clearances (Murillo and Harry Toffolo spring to mind!), 20 goals for Chris Wood, a first FA Cup semi-final since 1991, and for the travelling fans, 10 away wins.
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For context, across their previous three seasons in the top flight, they had won nine.
All this for a team and a club widely tipped to be relegated by a number of high-profile pundits ahead of the season. Even the most optimistic Forest fan might have struggled to see a top-half finish, and now they have a European campaign to prepare for.
An interesting summer lies ahead because the current squad struggled with a whole season of Premier League football. Ultimately, it was half a dozen games too thin as fatigue and injuries kicked in.
As they try to develop further for next season, depth would have been needed - even without Thursday nights across Europe to consider!
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Listen to full commentary on every Nottingham Forest game, and In The Game every weeknight from 18:00, on BBC Radio Nottingham.
And subscribe to the Shut Up And Show More Football podcast on BBC Sounds.
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