McCreadie says Forest are back where they belong

ROY McCreadie admitted feeling emotionally overwhelmed when Nottingham Forest defeated Huddersfield Town 1-0 in the Championship play-off at Wembley last weekend.

That narrow victory secured Forest a return to the English Premiership for the first time in 23 years.

Nottingham native McCreadie, who spent much of his youth following Forest, insists the club is back where it belongs – in the big time!

The former Omagh Town manager lived a stone’s throw from the City Ground before moving to Northern Ireland and right up until his early twenties was a regular on the terraces.

Forest have been relegated three times since those heady days of the late seventies and early eighties and McCreadie, who now lives in Omagh, is delighted that Steve Cooper’s side is back among England’s elite.

“It’s a big club, they deserve to be there but they had to get there. Next season is going to be massive to try and stay there,” he said.

“The armchair supporters are glad to see them back there again. It’s been an emotional time I can tell you, definitely very emotional.

“They have tried something like 25 managers in a bid to get back to the Premiership and what they have achieved this year is phenomenal.

“Steve Cooper, who many didn’t want, took over and from day one I could sense he was the right man. I would still tune in to Radio Nottingham’s Matchday, they call it, and I would listen to him being interviewed and talking about the values of the club, meeting supporters and ex-players and I could sense that he had something about him.

“To take over a club that was bottom of the league after seven matches, almost secure automatic promotion and to then win the play-off – he has been absolutely fantastic.

“The whole city is benefiting from it. I still have connections there, nephews and cousins and such, and they are keeping me up-to-date with everything that’s going on.”

For McCreadie it’s extra special given that he was cheering on from the terraces during the halcyon days when the likes of the late Brian Clough and Peter Taylor were running the show.

Forest won promotion from the old Second Division (Championship) in the 1976-77 season and just 12 months later were crowned the kings of England by winning the First Division (Premiership)- for the one and only time – at the first attempt.

That was the beginning of a golden era for The Tricky Trees, who went on to win four League Cups and two European Cups (1979 & 1980) by defeating Malmo and Hamburg in the respective showpiece finals.

McCreadie remembers all the great players from Ian Storey Moore, who scored a brilliant hat-trick against Everton on his first visit to the City Ground in the mid sixties, right up to when the likes of Kenny Burns, John McGovern, Tony Woodcock, Peter Withe, Trevor Francis, Archie Gemmill, Colin Barrett and others were bringing European glory to Forest.

And as a young boy McCreadie, who famously guided Omagh Town to a sensational Budweiser Cup success in 1991, got to meet many of his heroes on a regular basis.

“The City Ground was less than half a mile away, the training pitch was nearby down by the river; we spent many a day down there,” continued Roy.

“We would meet the players all the time and talk to them.

“The City Ground was just yards away from Trent Bridge and in those days I watched a lot of cricket as well.

“A lot of the players watched the cricket and I’d often see them down there.

“I met Cloughie many a time as well. What a character; he was a man before his time.”