Nottingham Forest have won promotion to the Premier League – and Steve Cooper showed a real outpouring of emotion at full time.
Cooper took his Forest side to Wembley on Sunday evening for the Championship playoff final against Huddersfield Town.
You would maybe think that a dramatic semi-final win over Sheffield United would prepare Forest fans for a similarly nail-biting final.
It doesn’t really work like that though and Forest fans went through every emotion in the book in the Wembley sun.
Forest did claim a 1-0 win though with Levi Colwill’s inadvertent own goal handing Cooper’s men the victory.
Nottingham Forest have won promotion to the Premier League
Forest weren’t exactly at their best against Huddersfield but few will care; after 23 years away, Forest are finally back in the top flight.
Huddersfield had two strong penalty shouts turned down in the second half and may feel a little robbed this evening.
That feeling will last a while, but so will the feeling of delight and joy for the Forest players, fans and staff.
There have already been wild scenes of celebration from all connected to Forest but boss Cooper took a slightly different approach.
Sky Sports captured footage of Cooper walking back to his seat on the Forest bench upon hearing the full-time whistle.
Cooper then put his head in his hands and simply took a moment to think about what he had just accomplish and really let it all sink in.
As his players ran wild on the Wembley pitch and Forest fans were probably falling over themselves celebrating, Cooper just took a moment of quiet reflection.
You can be sure that the Welshman will be celebrating just as passionately as anybody else this evening and beyond, but that moment just summed up Cooper and his emotional approach to the game.
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