Nottingham Forest have tied down Steve Cooper to a new deal at the City Ground - despite claims he was close to the sack.
The former Swansea City manager has penned a fresh contract with the newly-promoted Premier League side until 2025, a club statement confirmed on Friday morning. The statement added: "It is now important that our focus is solely on football. As a group we are all concentrated and will do everything we can to help the team move up the league table and once again demonstrate our qualities that led us to the Premier League."
Cooper produced heroics at the City Ground last term as he earned the Reds promotion to the Premier League via the play-offs, having taken over with them languishing at the foot of the Championship table.
However, Forest have endured a challenging start to life back in the top flight despite a huge summer transfer outlay in which they signed 22 players. They find themselves at the bottom of the table with eight games played.
They have only one win from their opening matches and have lost the last five in a row, the latest of which was a 4-0 humbling loss at the hands of local rivals Leicester City on Monday evening.
After the crushing defeat at the King Power Stadium, Cooper refused to be drawn on speculation surrounding his job. He said: “In terms of my personal situation, I’m not standing here after a game thinking about myself. I’m more disappointed that this club that means a lot to me has lost another football match. That’s where my concerns are.
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“I don’t want to be thinking about my situation, I want to be thinking about the football club because that’s more important than anything.”
There were suggestions that owner Evangelos Marinakis was set to make a change following the loss to the Foxes. However, a decision never came, with further reports suggesting that Cooper was being given a stay of execution at the City Ground.
Now, the Reds have performed a dramatic turnaround by handing Cooper a new deal which means he will be in the dugout for at least the next three years. Many supporters will view it as a just reward after he ended the club's two-decade wait for top-flight football, even if they are concerned by Forest's poor Premier League form.
Cooper's new deal comes after Forest also announced earlier in the week that they had appointed former Watford official Filippo Giraldi as sporting director.
The Reds are next back in action against Aston Villa this weekend as they attempt to end their losing streak and with it climb off the bottom of the table.
