Pope John XXIII
Vital Football Legend
There are some of you for whom this post is going to induce vomiting, because you had no real affection for Steve Cooper. For those people, you can consider yourselves welcome to fuck off to the next post on the thread where I will post a very brief overview of Bournemouth.
I honestly couldn't give a toss about Bournemouth and I don't intend to spend a lot of time talking about them. They are on a great run. They are a bogey team. Stop Solanke. That's all you need to know about Bournemouth for tomorrow.
So, to Steve.
It was an appointment that began with some skepticism by certain posters:
His first game was a 1-1 draw against Millwall at home. I took my daughter to that. It was so dull she wanted to go at half time. She has never been again and got into ice hockey after.
But we just started winning.
Who can forget this? 1-0 down in injury time, by the final whistle 1-2.
By this time of year in 2021 we were motoring.
A 2-0 win against Peterborough in December saw a sell out crowd. I don't think there was another game all season that wasn't a sellout. I have a feeling that might have been our first hearing of "Just Can't Get Enough" as well.
January saw us do something we had never, ever done before; a January window in which we made a couple of shrewed signings that actually improved the squad. Keinan Davis arrived, as did Sam Surridge and both were excellent.
We beat Arsenal, we murdered Leicester at the CG. And we just kept going. Week after week, win after win. Forza Garibaldi really caught on with the banners. The fans were excited. The crowds were roaring. And Steve Cooper loved it. He connected with us, he calmed us, he kept us on the ground but made us dream. Jonno was absolutely unplayable with Spence. Worrall and McKenna could shut up shop when they wanted to. We looked great. We looked like we would get into the playoffs.
Exemplified by even our dodgier games.
Drawing at home to Stoke, Samba gets sent off, penalty scored, Worrall has to go in goal. And Yates pops up in extra time to equalise.
Cooper got us really believing. Who can forget the Jack Colback goal? He won't forget it. He could barely believe it. We beat West Brom 4-0
Suddenly, autos looked on. What was amazing was that the players clearly all believe they were going to do it. They believed we were going to get second, and when we didn't, they felt like it was an insult to have to go through the playoffs. The manager made them believe that. A team that had been, in Worrall's words, "shite"..
What was extraordinary was that I actually started to believe we were going to do it as well. It wasn't until much later that I realised it. But I did. At some point, probably around April, I knew we were going to do it. I knew it was going to be our year.
This stuff became the norm
And I remember that, everywhere around Nottingham I started hearing "Just Can't Get Enough". You'd hear people playing it in their car in the spring warmth, and you knew they felt it too.
When we once again blew a home leg of the playoffs, I was absolutely sure we were going to lose in extra time. Same old, same old. And yet in another way, I didnt. On the one hand, the thought that we might actually win a high stakes penalty shootout never occured to me. And on the other, I knew it would be our day somehow .... Wow. What a day.
This was my view of the end of the game
I won't go too much into Wembley. It was probably the best day of my life. A lot of people who were there say that. Probably Steve Cooper included. His reaction was priceless. But just remember this
And for those of you at home, this magical commentary
Look at this. When has Wembley seen celebrations like this from fans?
And the man himself. This is what he is like. What he inspires and why be inspires.
Onto the Premier League, and we have had some great times with Cooper. The guy had to incorporate 20 new players, losing most of his promotion squad. And incorporate them he did. At times it was a struggle. But there were some massive highs. The first win against West Ham was epic and the fans were, for the first time in my life, 100% behind everything the team did. Our first win in the Premier league since May 1999 against Leicester
We beat Liverpool and Spurs and by the time of the world Cup, we were competitive. Reinforcements arrived in January, some by Cooper's choice and we looked decent. We beat Southampton, Leeds and Leicester and were well clear.
And there was this- a goal right in front of me that I will never forget. A sensational team move in a game where Cooper got his tactics spot on and we drew with the treble winning team
We had a bad run. For the second time that season, Cooper nearly got sacked and Marinakis talked to other managers behind his back. But he got on with it. He changed his tactics, he learned. He adapted and got the most out of returning players.
I'll never forget this, one of the most important goals in our recent history and easily the goal of the season; Renan Lodi's absolutely vital equaliser against Brighton, which got us on the road to a win that completely changed our season.
We beat Southampton and then we have the Arsenal game
Who can forget full time in this game?
Or the togetherness that Cooper brought to these players, demonstrated by the waka waka
I took a video of the full time singing of Freed From Desire, which I will not post here; why bother, when you can hear it from a couple of miles away?
I have no intention of discussing the negatives or "balancing" these memories. They are special. Cooper has been, without doubt, a special manager for this football club, even in just two and a half years.
He made us believe that our club wasn't some special basket case that just couldn't succeed.
Moreover, he made us believe in ourselves as fans again. After years of listening to players and commentators, and even each other, lament Forest fans as fickle, negative, demanding, getting on players backs as soon as things weren't great; Cooper got us believing we were special fans that really got behind our team again.
We did it; don't get me wrong. It was the fans who did all of that. All the roars, all the singing, all the banners, all the noise. It was all us. It was all within us to do it. We all wanted to do it. We just needed the catalyst to get it out.
Cooper provided that. Firstly, by giving us a really great team and PL football. But secondly, by caring. He wanted that from us, he appreciated it and he placed himself right with us. From very early on Cooper has made it clear that this is far more than just a job to him, and we have loved that.
He threw himself into the club and the city. He embraced it and loved it as much as we loved the success he brought. For the first time in years, we were all together, and we made that happen together.
I will always thank Steve Cooper for that, as much as for the two great years. We repaid him with boundless loyalty. In no way, shape or form is this sacking anything to do with the fans. I know he will appreciate that.
Steve is a great manager and will be a great manager somewhere else. I wish him all the best and thank him deeply and sincerely for all the great times and emotions we have experienced together
I honestly couldn't give a toss about Bournemouth and I don't intend to spend a lot of time talking about them. They are on a great run. They are a bogey team. Stop Solanke. That's all you need to know about Bournemouth for tomorrow.
So, to Steve.
It was an appointment that began with some skepticism by certain posters:
We won our first game after he was appointed, away at Huddersfield. That turned out to be an outstanding result given the way the season went, but Cooper was not actually in charge for it yet; more of a reaction to Hughton leaving I guess.
His first game was a 1-1 draw against Millwall at home. I took my daughter to that. It was so dull she wanted to go at half time. She has never been again and got into ice hockey after.
But we just started winning.
Who can forget this? 1-0 down in injury time, by the final whistle 1-2.
By this time of year in 2021 we were motoring.
A 2-0 win against Peterborough in December saw a sell out crowd. I don't think there was another game all season that wasn't a sellout. I have a feeling that might have been our first hearing of "Just Can't Get Enough" as well.
January saw us do something we had never, ever done before; a January window in which we made a couple of shrewed signings that actually improved the squad. Keinan Davis arrived, as did Sam Surridge and both were excellent.
We beat Arsenal, we murdered Leicester at the CG. And we just kept going. Week after week, win after win. Forza Garibaldi really caught on with the banners. The fans were excited. The crowds were roaring. And Steve Cooper loved it. He connected with us, he calmed us, he kept us on the ground but made us dream. Jonno was absolutely unplayable with Spence. Worrall and McKenna could shut up shop when they wanted to. We looked great. We looked like we would get into the playoffs.
Exemplified by even our dodgier games.
Drawing at home to Stoke, Samba gets sent off, penalty scored, Worrall has to go in goal. And Yates pops up in extra time to equalise.
Cooper got us really believing. Who can forget the Jack Colback goal? He won't forget it. He could barely believe it. We beat West Brom 4-0
Suddenly, autos looked on. What was amazing was that the players clearly all believe they were going to do it. They believed we were going to get second, and when we didn't, they felt like it was an insult to have to go through the playoffs. The manager made them believe that. A team that had been, in Worrall's words, "shite"..
What was extraordinary was that I actually started to believe we were going to do it as well. It wasn't until much later that I realised it. But I did. At some point, probably around April, I knew we were going to do it. I knew it was going to be our year.
This stuff became the norm
And I remember that, everywhere around Nottingham I started hearing "Just Can't Get Enough". You'd hear people playing it in their car in the spring warmth, and you knew they felt it too.
When we once again blew a home leg of the playoffs, I was absolutely sure we were going to lose in extra time. Same old, same old. And yet in another way, I didnt. On the one hand, the thought that we might actually win a high stakes penalty shootout never occured to me. And on the other, I knew it would be our day somehow .... Wow. What a day.
This was my view of the end of the game
I won't go too much into Wembley. It was probably the best day of my life. A lot of people who were there say that. Probably Steve Cooper included. His reaction was priceless. But just remember this
And for those of you at home, this magical commentary
Look at this. When has Wembley seen celebrations like this from fans?
And the man himself. This is what he is like. What he inspires and why be inspires.
Onto the Premier League, and we have had some great times with Cooper. The guy had to incorporate 20 new players, losing most of his promotion squad. And incorporate them he did. At times it was a struggle. But there were some massive highs. The first win against West Ham was epic and the fans were, for the first time in my life, 100% behind everything the team did. Our first win in the Premier league since May 1999 against Leicester
We beat Liverpool and Spurs and by the time of the world Cup, we were competitive. Reinforcements arrived in January, some by Cooper's choice and we looked decent. We beat Southampton, Leeds and Leicester and were well clear.
And there was this- a goal right in front of me that I will never forget. A sensational team move in a game where Cooper got his tactics spot on and we drew with the treble winning team
We had a bad run. For the second time that season, Cooper nearly got sacked and Marinakis talked to other managers behind his back. But he got on with it. He changed his tactics, he learned. He adapted and got the most out of returning players.
I'll never forget this, one of the most important goals in our recent history and easily the goal of the season; Renan Lodi's absolutely vital equaliser against Brighton, which got us on the road to a win that completely changed our season.
We beat Southampton and then we have the Arsenal game
Who can forget full time in this game?
Or the togetherness that Cooper brought to these players, demonstrated by the waka waka
I took a video of the full time singing of Freed From Desire, which I will not post here; why bother, when you can hear it from a couple of miles away?
I have no intention of discussing the negatives or "balancing" these memories. They are special. Cooper has been, without doubt, a special manager for this football club, even in just two and a half years.
He made us believe that our club wasn't some special basket case that just couldn't succeed.
Moreover, he made us believe in ourselves as fans again. After years of listening to players and commentators, and even each other, lament Forest fans as fickle, negative, demanding, getting on players backs as soon as things weren't great; Cooper got us believing we were special fans that really got behind our team again.
We did it; don't get me wrong. It was the fans who did all of that. All the roars, all the singing, all the banners, all the noise. It was all us. It was all within us to do it. We all wanted to do it. We just needed the catalyst to get it out.
Cooper provided that. Firstly, by giving us a really great team and PL football. But secondly, by caring. He wanted that from us, he appreciated it and he placed himself right with us. From very early on Cooper has made it clear that this is far more than just a job to him, and we have loved that.
He threw himself into the club and the city. He embraced it and loved it as much as we loved the success he brought. For the first time in years, we were all together, and we made that happen together.
I will always thank Steve Cooper for that, as much as for the two great years. We repaid him with boundless loyalty. In no way, shape or form is this sacking anything to do with the fans. I know he will appreciate that.
Steve is a great manager and will be a great manager somewhere else. I wish him all the best and thank him deeply and sincerely for all the great times and emotions we have experienced together
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Oh, and merry Christmas
