Nottingham Forest taking on Malmo in the Europa League will mark a special night for the football club and a chance to look back at the club’s greatest ever day.
In 1979, Viv Anderson was in the team as Forest defeated the Swedish champions to become European champions for the first time in the club’s history under the legendary Brian Clough.
Fast forward to 2025, and Evangelos Marinakis will be present at the City Ground with the hope of seeing his club take a step towards securing a play-off at the very least in the Europa League.
Will Nottingham Forest beat Malmo in the Europa League?
Anderson has been taken to task on the club’s owner, and he’s confessed that one decision he made in the summer has proved a bit of a masterstroke.
Viv Anderson hails Evangelos Marinakis over Morgan Gibbs-White
Marinakis was busy during the summer. If it wasn’t signing new players, it was trying to make sure the star attractions already in place at the City Ground remained at the club.
One of those was Gibbs-White, with Marinakis choosing to ignore Tottenham’s advances despite them activating a release clause in the contract of the Forest vice-captain.
With Tottenham getting thrashed by Arsenal at the weekend, Anderson praised Marinakis for his Gibbs-White heroics and also found time for a cheeky dig at Tottenham.
His overriding feelings, however, towards Marinakis are extremely positive and he has lauded his ownership of the club in recent years.
He told the club’s official website: “I was an apprentice here as well, and I go back, every time I go back, something else has changed. It’s just fantastic what he’s spent here. I dread to think how much money he must have spent because it’s fantastic now, the football club.
“Every time I come down to the club, there are so many changes. He’s spent money on this, that and the other.
“He’s got to take an enormous amount of credit, and I think keeping (Morgan) Gibbs-White was a big thing as well for the football club, and I think having watched Tottenham the other night he will be thinking ‘Thank God I stayed here’, but yes I think he’s got to take a hell of a lot of credit.”
Gibbs-White thriving under Sean Dyche
It’s been a long process to this point, but finally, Gibbs-White looks to have turned a corner this season under the management of Dyche.
He’s scored in his last three Premier League matches in games against Manchester United, Leeds and Liverpool, with the number 10 starting to showcase his quality again.
Dyche has clearly got a tune out of Forest, and now he will hope to win more matches domestically and in Europe to lift the Reds further.
As for Gibbs-White, he will be hoping to recover from the niggle that will keep him out of tonight’s game with Malmo and then keep performing well to ensure a spot in Thomas Tuchel’s squad for the World Cup in the summer.
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