Nottingham Forest won promotion during the 2021/22 campaign, and the season will live long in history.
Steve Cooper’s appointment changed the landscape as far as Forest were concerned, with the Reds going from relegation certainties to promotion hopefuls in a matter of months.
Cooper had a mix of youth and experience, with five loan players ensuring that Forest were well-stocked and well-balanced when it came to a promotion tilt.
The stars aligned for Forest, and now, Wayne Rooney has admitted that he was very keen to sign one of the loan stars from that season for his Derby County outfit.
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Forest had a wonderful squad under Cooper in 2021/22, and whilst Rooney was fighting to keep Derby in the Championship at the time, he might have been casting admiring glances towards the City Ground.
The last meeting between Forest and Derby came during that season, with the Reds running out 2-1 winners courtesy of goals from Lewis Grabban and Brennan Johnson.
James Garner was a driving force in the Forest midfield during that season, and Rooney has now said on the Wayne Meets podcast on BBC Sport that had he had his way, he’d have ended up at Derby.
He said: “Yeah, I tried to sign him when I was coach at Derby County when he signed for our rival team Nottingham Forest. I tried to get him on loan.
“But he’s been playing right back as well. Yeah, but he’s a good player.”
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It’s easy to say in hindsight, but the fact that Forest got promoted and allowed Garner to sign permanently for Everton is a complete and utter travesty.
Manchester United did play hard ball with Forest in fairness. The Reds were told that United wanted to give him a go in the senior Old Trafford squad, before letting him leave for £15 million prior to the transfer deadline.
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At that point, Forest had already assembled a solid group of midfielders, with Orel Mangala, Remo Freuler, Cheikhou Kouyate and Lewis O’Brien all being added to the ranks.
Ultimately, none of those players are still at the club, whilst Garner is now being touted as a midfielder with great versatility who could gatecrash the England squad for the World Cup.
Rooney is a huge fan of Garner and as his fan club continues to grow, Forest might look at the midfielder with huge regret and a tinge of what might have been had the club managed to get him permanently in 2022.
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