David Johnson has explained the moment that made Nottingham Forest captain Joe Worrall cry in front of his teammates to the Garibaldi Red podcast.
Forest take on Huddersfield in Sunday’s Championship Play-Off Final and it’s a massive day for everyone associated with the club.
Earlier this season, Forest faced Bournemouth in a game that had they won, they’d have entered the final day of the campaign in second place.
The Reds lost the game 1-0 and ultimately they were forced to settle for a place in the play-offs.
Worrall, Ryan Yates and Brenna Johnson were all asked by Steve Cooper to do a speech ahead of the trip to Bournemouth.
It all became a little too much for Worrall and the ex-Forest striker has told the story of what happened in the dressing room.
Johnson told the Garibaldi Red podcast: “I’ll tell you this, they did a speech to all the players. There was Joe, Yatesy and Brennan, and the manager got them up and said to the players, ‘look you’re in Nottingham, this is what it actually means’.
“Joe got up and he was that emotional he started crying. He was saying that people just don’t understand what it actually means to me, my family, and the people I want to school with.
“If you don’t have people like that at the club, it’s just another job. You always need a core of homegrown players and hopefully, they can perform on the day.”
Worrall is Forest through and through and he’ll be desperate to see the job through
For the 25-year-old, Sunday will likely mean more than any other player. He will strap the armband on prior to kick-off and know that he’s potentially 90 minutes away from etching his name into folklore.
Worrall has been magnificent for the Reds. He has been an integral part of the team under Steve Cooper and he always gives maximum effort.
The central defender has been linked with a move away from the club. West Ham and Leicester are both keen but he will want to play top-flight football with Forest.
Worrall has served Forest with distinction since his debut in 2016. His final box to tick is walking out as captain of his boyhood club in the Premier League.
On Sunday, he could ensure that soon becomes a reality.
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