Jermaine Jenas has revealed he had a deep love for Nottingham Forest while playing for them as a teenager and claims he never wanted to leave the club who sold him to Newcastle in 2002.
Jenas burst onto the scene with Forest as a hotshot teen aged just 17 in 1999 before making his professional debut in 2001. The ex-midfielder went on to make 29 first-team appearances for the club, scoring four goals along the way.
Playing for Forest was a dream come true for the Nottingham-raised former England star who was capped 21 times for his country. The club had success in the late 1970's and early 1980's winning two European Cups, one UEFA Super Cup, one League title, two FA Cups, four League Cups, and one FA Charity Shield in successive spells under under Forest icons Brian Clough and Peter Taylor.
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And Forest's rich history was embedded in the likes of Jenas when he joined the club. Jenas revealed the club's European trophies were still on show as soon as he entered the grounds, and that the education he received from the team's legends was instrumental in helping him grow as a player.
Jenas, now 39, told William Hill whilst picking the Forest shirt as one of three he was most proud to wear during his career: “Growing up as a Nottingham Forest youth player, it is drilled into you that this is a club that has won things. The history is everywhere. The two European Cups they won are front and centre when you walk into the club as a kid.
"All of the players are still there, and they tell you the stories of this sort of way playing football at the club. This is a certain type of education that you’re getting that is above and beyond an education that you’re getting at any other club."
But his dream was brought to a sudden end in 2002, when Forest decided to ship him to the Magpies for a club-record fee of £5million, which was a club record at the time. Forest had ran into some financial hardships, and as the club's most valuable asset, Jenas was sold to balance the books.
Jenas had just got settled at Forest, being named club captain, and buying a flat in the city before things suddenly changed and he was told it was time to pack his bags. However, the football pundit would've stayed put if it was up to him, and despite going on to play for a number of big clubs such as Tottenham aswell as Newcastle, Jenas envisioned himself staying at Forest for his whole career, like Steven Gerrard did at Liverpool.
He added: “It was a shame it went the way that it did. I loved it to bits and never wanted to leave. The dream for me would have been to have done what [Steven] Gerrard did at Liverpool.
"If Forest had had the money to be competitive and invest and keep me as a Premier League player for Nottingham Forest it would have been the dream. “I was 17 years old, captain of the football club and I’d just bought this flat on the River Trent.
"I used to wake up on a Saturday morning and I could see people walking to the stadium. I was living the dream and then suddenly everything changed. There were obviously big financial problems and as I was the club’s most valuable asset, I had to go.”
Jenas did return to the club for a a brief loan stint in 2012, before joining Queens Park Rangers the following season, and calling time on his playing career in 2014 after a slew of injuries. But now, Jenas is able to watch his former side play in the Premier League once again following their promotion to the English top tier division this season.
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