Nuno had a dream. Or so the song that used to reverberate around Molineux went, anyway. The soundtracks to Nottingham Forest games, even the 5-0 thrashing at Fulham, has been choruses of “Stevie Cooper”, paeans to a manager whose sacking came to feel an inevitability but whose popularity remained undented.
Nuno Espirito Santo’s challenge as his successor is considerable. Replacing Steve Cooper is part of it: the danger is that he seems the man foisted on Forest, the uncharismatic choice to take over from the cult hero who elevated them from the foot of the Championship, ended their exile in the Football League and kept them in the top flight.
