Nottingham Forest want to keep the core of their promotion-winning “band of brothers” together for their return to the Premier League.
And CEO Dane Murphy says that includes trying to retain the services of at least some of the five loanees who became key members of Steve Cooper’s squad. Djed Spence (Middlesbrough), James Garner (Manchester United), Philip Zinckernagel (Watford), Max Lowe (Sheffield United) and Keinan Davis (Aston Villa) all played crucial roles in helping the Reds return to the top-flight.
Forest had drawn up two transfer plans for this summer, for either another season in the Championship or for making the step up. Murphy says, with the foundations already in place, the priority for the window will be cementing the group, followed by strengthening with further additions.
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“We have a very strong owner (Evangelos Marinakis) who is not afraid to invest in the club and make sure it becomes the Premier League club it should be, in all facets of the business,” he told US radio station Sirius XM. “At the same time, there have been a few clubs who have gone up and spent an inordinate amount of money and then gone back down, and it hasn’t worked.
“In recent years, you can look at Brighton and Brentford, even Sheffield United in the first year they went up, they didn’t spend a lot of money, they kept a core group of players that brought them up and tried to build off it. Sometimes in the second year it works, sometimes it doesn’t.
“I think it’s finding the balance between investing and making your team that much better to compete week in, week out, but still having your core group of guys. We have five loans, they all contributed - some pushed us beyond the mark. If we could get some of them back for next season and make them our players, we’re going to try to do that.
“I go back to the execution - find the balance of ‘okay, let’s invest but also, let’s keep the core chemistry and camaraderie’. It became a band of brothers at the end of the year, because it’s a young team with a few veteran leaders. To break that up now, to me, doesn’t make a whole tonne of sense.
“You have to secure your base - whether that’s the players, the staff, the backroom staff - you have to build on the blocks you already have and the base that’s already in place. We plan to do that.
“Now, it’s just up to us in the negotiations, speaking to other teams, speaking to staff and their agents, making sure, yes, we get our guys who are on the ground now and helped us to get where we are, to then build by adding a few players or a few key members of staff. Whatever it takes to make the club a Premier League entity. But as always, building from the core you have is the first priority.”
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Forest clinched their return to the Premier League after 23 years with victory over Huddersfield Town at Wembley on Sunday. Fellow promoted sides Fulham and Bournemouth ended their campaigns more than three weeks ago, while the top-flight season finished on May 22. Murphy wanted to ensure the Reds were not left behind in their preparations, whatever the outcome in the capital.
“Planning has already begun. You have to, because if you go to the play-off final, you’re weeks behind anyone else - if not months behind some of the teams who are safely secured in the Premier League and planning for next season,” he said.
“We went in with an either/or scenario. The hard work began a while back, and the execution now begins.
“Between our recruitment staff, myself, Steve and those behind the scenes, we had a plan in place for if we were able to make the push and get promoted, this is what the next step would look like. Now it’s the execution.
“If we had left it until now and started the preparation now, there’s no chance. It’s following through on the plan - making sure that if option one or two doesn’t happen, then option three has to happen and we still have a team that’s going to fight week in, week out in the Premier League.”
