Former Nottingham Forest defender Michael Dawson has highlighted the "special" and rare show of raw emotion that came from Steve Cooper after the Reds beat Fulham on Tuesday night.
Cooper burst through a line of police officers in front of the away end, letting out a roar of delight as he celebrated such a huge victory with the travelling supporters. It was so much more than the customary post-win fist-pumps Forest fans have come to love. It was a special moment that shows just what being the Forest head coach means to him.
Speaking after the match, Dawson highlighted the "different" and "special" moment - explaining why such emotion in front of the away supporters was well justified.
Read more: Nottingham Forest old boy agrees with Marco Silva about controversial decision at Fulham
Read more: Predict Nottingham Forest's run-in and see where they finish in final Championship table
"Mind-blowing," Dawson said of the seven months Forest have had under Steve Cooper. "When he walked through that door in September, if you said they would be challenging for the top two, people would have laughed at you, and I would have been one of those people. It was impossible. Bottom of the league table to where they are now, chasing Bournemouth down...
"You see his emotion there (after the match) and rightly so, because he deserves to have that passion and desire, because these Forest fans, they travel in their numbers. Tuesday night down to London, they will follow. They've done it for years. Twenty three years since they've been in the Premier League. They're dreaming, they really, really are.
"I think Steve Cooper has shown his emotion. We don't often see that. We see the fist-pump to the fans after games that they've won, but that was different. That emotion was special.
"It means a lot. They've done incredibly to get to where they are to today, and they've put Bournemouth under pressure, they really have, even though they had a great result coming back (at Swansea)."
