Nottingham Forest hero Frank Clark has lauded the "wonderful job" done by Steve Cooper to bring the club just 90 minutes away from the Premier League.
The Reds will take on Huddersfield Town at Wembley this Sunday for a shot at promotion in the Championship play-off final. While the Terriers were only in the top flight three years ago, Forest have not been there since 1999.
Clark, who won the European Cup as a player and gained promotion as a manager with the club, has been impressed by the way in which Cooper has lifted the team off the floor and has them within touching distance of the promised land. He says that the Welshman has infused "hope" back into the fanbase.
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"It is important for the club that we can get it back to the Premier League," Clark told Sky Sports. "This is the closest we've been and hopefully they can take that next step on Sunday.
"Steve has done a wonderful job. When he came in the club was really rock bottom. We were bottom of the league, we had one point after seven or eight games and the team looked very, very ordinary; poor.
"He's rejuvenated the whole club, gotten the fans back on side, they're really thrilled, and what he's done is given the fans hope; that's the big thing about supporting a football club.
"I think if you've got hope that the club is going somewhere, you can put up with a lot of things. That's what Steve has done here."
Clark has also been taken aback by the atmosphere that has been created by the City Ground crowd in recent months. The 78-year-old even went so far as to suggest it's the best he's ever seen.
"They have (been starved of success). The atmosphere in the last half a dozen home games - I have never seen anything like it, it's fantastic.
"They've really got behind the team, the team have responded. Like I say, hopefully they can take that next step on Sunday."
