Celebrity Nottingham Forest fan Stuart Broad believes Steve Cooper is the man to keep the club in the Premier League this season, but the fight against relegation could go down to the wire.
The England fast bowler has been keeping an eye on two big games for Forest over the last week. The matches against Wolves and Leeds United saw the Reds pick up just one point from the six on offer.
That piled pressure onto manager Cooper, with speculation over his job reaching its peak on Wednesday. However, Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis reacted by releasing a statement backing the Welshman ahead of the final nine games of the season.
READ MORE: Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis avoided ‘silly mistake’
READ MORE: Forest injury update provided ahead of Aston Villa clash
Forest are 17th in the table and only out of the bottom three on goal difference, but Broad believes his team can avoid relegation, even if he does think it will be a close call.
“Yeah, we can,” he told TalkSPORT’s breakfast show when asked if he thinks Forest will stay up. “I watched this weekend, we had Wolves at home – and then Leeds.
“They were devastating results only getting one point out of those. Wolves, I think they had one shot on target and nicked a goal, I thought that was almost three points in the bag.
“Full credit to our owners, they are doing things differently. There would be many owners that would move Steve Cooper on but what he has done for our club, the support he has got from the fanbase and how he has galvanised a group of players that were completely new to him has been special and I think he is the man to keep us up. You see that atmosphere at the City Ground, you can’t tell me the fans aren’t fully behind that team, but we have got to pick our games.”
The England cricketer highlighted two games in particular where he feels the Reds can pick up points.
“We have got Southampton at home, almost a must-win,” he added. “You can sneak a couple of draws away from home and pick up a couple of points.
“If Man U play like they did at Newcastle at the City Ground next Sunday, you have got a chance.
“I think we are going to need two or three wins and stay up. I look at West Ham, I look at Leicester and think they are too good to go down, but they keep losing. It’s an amazing relegation battle to be part of, it’s petrifying.
“We have not been in the Premier League for 23 years. It’s been the first time in my adult life of watching, and you watch the games with such interest, such emotion because you want results to go your way. It’s going down to the last day, isn’t it?”
Do you think Forest will avoid relegation? Tell us in the comments section
READ NEXT:
