Nottingham Forest’s plans to redevelop the City Ground are gathering pace, with Chris Cohen suggesting that change off the field will make the club more appealing.
That is certainly the intention of a big-money project.
Success on the pitch will always be the driving force behind recruitment plans.
Being competitive and pushing for promotion to the Premier League will undoubtedly aid the bid for reinforcements.
Players, and coaches, want to form part of ambitious projects.
Forest have pieced together plenty in recent times, but have struggled to deliver on promise.
Times are a-changin.
Dream
Sabri Lamouchi has the Reds daring to dream again that a return to the big time may soon be made.
And it could be that top tier competition returns to Trentside in new-look surroundings.
The plans for a facelift at the City Ground look very impressive.
There is, of course, a long way to go before drawings on paper become a reality.
Baby steps are due to be made from 2020.
With the intention being that Forest will eventually grace a 38,000-seater arena brought dragging and screaming into the 21st century.
If they are rubbing shoulders with the elite again once the Peter Taylor stand is reborn, then they will already be dealing in a different transfer market.
If not, with there still some knocking on that door to be done, then they should still be well placed to bolster the ranks with top talent.
Reds legend Cohen has told the club’s official social media team of the stadium proposals: “I think it attracts players, most definitely.
Massive
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“Even doing the changing rooms a couple of years ago was a big step.
“But to see what the plan is and when it’s implemented, with the megastore and the amount of hospitality you are going to be able to utilise, I think it’s going to just grow the football club again.
“And with the history that we’ve got, we are always going to be a massive football club. But to go alongside that history it needs the kind of development that the owners and the new manager are putting into it.”
The past will always remain part of Forest’s present.
And it will add to the appeal whenever a transfer target is lined up.
Efforts are, however, been made to try and make the future brighter for generations starved of success.
Getting things right on and off the pitch will help to complete that puzzle, with the Reds needing the transfer boost predicted by Cohen to help fire them back to a level more befitting of the surroundings they will soon be gracing.
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