As every groundhog season ended over the past 10 years or so, I fell into the same routine - delighted for a break from it all for a few weeks but quickly longing for a return to action as the excitement started to build again.
Yes, the build-up to the same fixtures we’d had year after year and the players we were going to sign to finally get us up (but without genuine belief as only three ever went up and it was never going to be us). I’d moan about parachute payments like it was a comforting excuse; you get the picture.
So, the reality of what happened last season still hasn’t hit, just as the reality of what our club are now doing to ensure I never have to pretend to be excited about Barnsley away again is incredible. The way this transfer window is going, I don’t think any of us could’ve thought it would be us.
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We now sign players from Bayern Munich and Liverpool, and listen to pundits casually changing their opinion of our chances of survival as each new arrival is confirmed. But it’s the ones I’ve never heard of that now excite me - and with good reason. Remember, it was players like that who got us where we are now in the first place. And we seem to have signed a few of these again already, so hopefully the Steve Cooper and Dane Murphy masterclass in player recruitment is happening again - and who knows where it may end?
This club has genuine togetherness now, something that’s been lacking for so long, and it’s all down to Cooper and his team. My thoughts have moved from looking at where we can get any points to having a daily look at our odds for a top-half finish. I can’t help it.
What we did last season was arguably the greatest turnaround in Championship history. Although some of the stars of that Forest team have now moved on, I wholeheartedly believe this is just the beginning. We are Premier League, and we are certainly not content with just surviving.
The City Ground can continue to be the fortress it was last year; the fans can be that 12th man when needed, just like in the home leg of the play-off semi-final against Sheffield United when it looked like the tie was only going one way. If we don’t win game after game next season, at least we trust the process and have complete belief that Cooper and his new-look team will guide us up that top-flight table.
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