Steve Cooper
Steve Cooper will once again remind his players of Nottingham Forest’s rich history in the League Cup as they bid to reach the semi-finals of the competition. The Reds have lifted this particular piece of silverware four times and have finished runners-up twice, but it is a long time since they have reached the latter stages of the tournament. When they beat Blackburn Rovers in the last round, it sent them through to the quarter-finals for the first time since 1994. But they don’t want this season’s run to end there. Standing in their way of a place in the last-four are Wolverhampton Wanderers, with the clubs set to battle it out Trentside on Wednesday night. Since being appointed at the City Ground, Cooper has been keen to draw upon Forest’s illustrious past. And as he prepares to do so again, he has reflected on a recent chat with Reds great Nigel Clough which took place with a picture of his dad, Brian, nearby.
Steve Cooper said: “I spoke to him here (at the Nigel Doughty Academy) after we played against Mansfield. We had a cup of tea after and a good hour together. It was an amazing time, really. He’s obviously a good bloke and has managed more than 1000 games, which is unbelievable. I don’t know how he’s done that! I got some information from him on the past, which was brilliant. It was nice that when he was talking there was a nice picture of his dad in the office as well. I enjoyed that and it meant something to me. It’s good that some of our boys (Will Swan and Riley Harbottle) are doing well on loan there this year as well, so there’s a good relationship between the clubs. I should have reached out earlier, but it was nice to do it as we did, and I was really fond of the hour we had together.”
The challenge for Forest now is to take inspiration from Clough’s success in the cup. Cooper discussed the club’s record in the competition with his players prior to taking on Blackburn, and he will do the same this week.
Steve Cooper added: “I’ll definitely be reminding the players about the headline history in the tournament. Supporters would naturally think about that and, maybe with respect, the older people might reminisce a little bit, and then that will filter down. That’s important. The same goes for us and the players. There is always context to a game, and a lot of the time there’s added context. The added context to this game is that it’s the club’s first quarter-final for 29 years. I won’t say that’s an achievement, but it is certainly a positive thing. There’s also the club’s history of the tournament, and it’s a quarter-final anyway regardless of those things. It’s a game that we should look forward to, we should take responsibility for and really commit to. Look who’s won it. Manchester City have won it a lot over the years, and Liverpool. You just look at the recent list of winners and it obviously means something.”
