Swansea City player Ryan Manning has heaped praise on Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper ahead of Saturday’s reunion.
The defender has been discussing his former boss during an interview with BBC Sport.
Manning was a regular in the Swans’ team during Cooper’s time at the club.
The current Forest incumbent led Swansea to successive play-off campaigns, reaching the final during 2020/21.
Cooper proved largely successful during his time at the Liberty Stadium and it was a surprise when he left in the summer.
Some Swansea fans haven’t been overly complimentary since he checked in at Forest but the Reds supporters are happy.
Manning, however, thinks Cooper deserves respect for the job he did.
The Swansea man told BBC Sport: “I think any manager that gets a team to the play-offs two years on the spin is obviously doing the right thing.
“Last season we got the play-off final, we were 90 minutes away from the Premier League.
“He is obviously a really good coach, a really good manager. He is able to get results in the Championship and he has done really well over the past few seasons. It’s no surprise he’s doing well at Forest.”
Cooper respected at Swansea but he’ll hope to win with Forest on Saturday
It did come as a shock when Cooper left Swansea during the summer. There were some uncertainties over the vision of the manager and the club not matching which made for interesting reading.
Swansea’s loss is Forest’s gain though and Cooper has been nothing short of a revelation since checking in at the club.
Given his acrimonious departure, the Reds head coach would surely love nothing more than to oversee a Forest win on Saturday.
Swansea have been in relatively good form of late, although the game does provide a real chance for the Reds to flex their top-half credentials.