Amid a season of memorable moments, Nottingham Forest could yet provide a few more before May is out.
Tuesday night may not have gone how the Reds had hoped, with automatic promotion proving beyond them. But a place in the Premier League remains up for grabs as the play-offs beckon.
Whatever happens between now and the end of the month, though, head coach Steve Cooper has set the club on an upward curve. And whether it be in the top-flight or mounting another push in the Championship, he will be looking for further improvement next season.
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“The team will never be at the level I want it to be, because the mentality always has to be to improve and strive to get better. We have to keep working hard to improve,” he has said.
That will mean looking at where his team can be improved, too. Regardless of which division Forest find themselves in.
There are a number of areas which will need addressing in the summer. Not least what will happen with the players the Reds currently have on loan.
Djed Spence, Max Lowe, James Garner, Philip Zinckernagel and Keinan Davis have all been integral to the club’s charge up the table. Trying to get some - or even all - of those five back would form the basis of a strong squad. They will need replacing, if not.
The end of the season must also see decisions made on the players whose contracts will come to an end, in Tobias Figueiredo, Gaetan Bong, Carl Jenkinson and Lewis Grabban. It is over the latter where perhaps the biggest call will be made.
Had it not been for injuries, Grabban could have been on course to bag a big goal-haul this season. He was in great form until an ankle sprain stopped him in his tracks at the end of January, then made just five appearances on his return before suffering a hamstring injury which ended his campaign early.
Be it in the Premier League or the Championship, Forest will need to make sure they have the right attacking options in place next term. Sam Surridge has proved to be an excellent addition, and getting Davis back would be a huge boost. But would those two be enough? The Reds have already seen the impact injuries can have - it is up front where they are currently particularly light.
Decisions will need to be made, too, on players currently out on loan. Jenkinson, Nicholas Ioannou, Mohamed Drager, Harry Arter, Lyle Taylor and Nuno Da Costa have been plying their trade elsewhere and will need clarity on their futures.
Cooper has the foundations of a great squad in place now. But plenty of scenarios will depend on how the next few weeks pan out, especially when it comes to hanging on to star players like Brennan Johnson and Joe Worrall. Both of whom have their admirers.
The dressing room the Welshman has right now could need some tweaks or a fair bit of surgery, depending on what happens. Given how well the group has done, trying to keep the basis of it together will be key.
