Nottingham Forest went from battling relegation to battling for Champions League qualification last season, demonstrating the fantastic progress of the club.
Nuno Espírito Santo demonstrated his excellent ability as a manager, as coming into the campaign, not many would have expected Forest to be challenging at the top of the Premier League.
Nottingham Forest exceeded expectations, as they challenged for qualification for the Champions League; however, they would fall short, only securing a place in next season’s Europa Conference League.
Yet, this is an incredible feat, and it saw them achieve something no other side in Europe’s top five leagues could manage, not even PSG.
Nottingham Forest saw the greatest progression across Europe’s top five leagues
Nottingham Forest were the side that saw the most progression in terms of points from the 2023/24 season to the 2024/25 campaign.
Nuno’s side finished the 2023/24 season with 32 points and in 17th in the Premier League.
Yet, 12 months later, they finished seventh in the English top flight with 65 points.
This is a 33-point improvement across a season, demonstrating the positive impact Nuno had upon the Forest squad and how the players performed at such an incredible level.
Napoli were the club that saw the next greatest improvement across the top five leagues in Europe, as they improved by 29 points, while PSG only saw an eight-point improvement.
Ryan Yates on the Europa Conference League ‘blessing’
While Forest will have been disappointed to have failed in their revised ambition of securing Champions League football, the Europa Conference League could be a blessing for the club.
Given the history of Premier League sides in the competition, Forest will enter the Conference League as one of the early favourites, something that Ryan Yates has spoken about in an interview with The Mirror.
Yates said: “We were saying that in the dressing room, we have to always look at the positive. The teams aren’t going to be as strong in that competition. It’s another chance to win silverware.
“We’d like to think that we can go even further in that competition. Hopefully, it can be a blessing in disguise for us. I’m sure the people who sit upstairs will be doing their hard work now and getting us ready for a successful season next year.”
People often scoff at the Conference League as insignificant, but a chance at European glory should be something that garners more respect. For any Forest fans in doubt, they should simply look at what it meant to West Ham United in 2023.
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