Nottingham Forest manager Steve Cooper smiled, and then attempted to sum up the emotion and stress experienced by a manager chasing promotion.
Will he enjoy the play-offs? “Is any of it enjoyable?! I don’t know if enjoyable is the word for any of this job!,” replied the former Swansea and England U17 boss.
It was a response that reflected a chaotic end to the regular season against Hull on Saturday. Brennan Johnson smashed home a 92nd minute penalty to keep them third in the league… only for Lewis Keane-Potter to equalise in the 94th minute, with Forest slipping a place.
But it has been mainly ups since Cooper took over in September with Forest roaring up the table and finishing 13 places higher than last season. On reflection Cooper relishes the battles ahead, knowing his side have a shot at Wembley and then promotion to the top tier for their first time since 1999. He added: ”Yes you have got to get excited about it. I can’t think of anything worse than finishing the season this weekend. We want to keep going. It is who we are. It’s monumental and shows how good these guys are.
“We watched the Sunderland (League One) play off game on Friday. You could see the atmosphere, the excitement, that is coming for us as well. They are unique, they are brilliant and you want to be part of it. Get excited about it, get up for it and back yourself. It will be two huge attendances and both trying to get in front of an even bigger one in the final.”
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Summing up Forest’s journey from the bottom of the league to play-offs, Cooper admitted: “Yes we thought we’d get there. It has been a brilliant campaign, no doubt. First we couldn’t get into the top ten. We were floating around 13th 14th and I was thinking we don’t seem to be going anywhere here. You were still looking down a little bit. We kept going, broke into the top ten. Then we couldn’t get close to sixth and at one time I thought: maybe the gap is too much to make up. We won a few games… got five points away, three away and went on a brilliant run late on and got in comfortably.”
How Cooper will use all his organisational and psychology skills to ensure Joe Worrall and co cash in on their big chance. He added: “We want no regrets. Succeeding in life is about taking opportunities. It is about seizing the moment. We are really excited. The lads know deep down how well they have done and so do I.”
