Head coach Steve Cooper is desperate for that winning feeling at the City Ground - and not just because of what it would mean for Nottingham Forest’s survival hopes.
With four games of the Premier League season left, the Reds are in the bottom three on goal difference. They are level on points with Leicester City and Leeds United above them, and one ahead of 19th-placed Everton.
Cooper’s side ended an 11-match winless run in their last game Trentside, when they beat Brighton and Hove Albion. But although they put in another good performance against Brentford at the weekend, they let a second successive victory slip from their grasp as the hosts came from behind to triumph 2-1.
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It means there is plenty riding on Monday night’s home clash with Southampton. And Cooper has always understood what doing well means, not just for the club but also for the city.
Asked about his vision for Forest, he told Mike Calvin’s Football People podcast: “That’s a hard question to answer because this football club, I think, is a little bit different and it does capture the imagination of a lot of people in football. You also ask me the question when we are on the back end of too many winless games.
“I know that any longer term success at a football club is built on the short-term success of winning games. It’s not only winning games - because we’ve had this last season and with good moments we’ve had this season - it ripples through the city.
“When the City Ground is full and Mull of Kintyre comes on before the game, you feel part of something bigger than a football team. You feel part of a city and a community. An outsider like me feels honoured to be a part of it.
“With everything like Trent Bridge, the cricket ground next door and people walking from the city and coming from the surrounding towns and villages, you really do feel part of something greater than yourself. I felt that from the start.
"My first game here was a home game against Millwall, we were bottom of the league and there was 25,000 people here. I remember coming out of there thinking, just imagine if you can get it going here, in terms of winning games. There was so much goodwill around the place.
“It’s an honour to be part of that. I just love it when we have that feeling. But to have that feeling, we need to win games, because winning games here is more than the three points - although I’m desperate for three points!”
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