Latest Nottingham Forest news as Alan Shearer discusses the 2023/24 Premier League season and the struggle against relegation.
Alan Shearer pulled no punches as he reflected on Nottingham Forest’s ultimately victorious fight against relegation in the Premier League this season.
Shearer predicted that Forest would be in a campaign-long fight for survival in pre-season – and thought they would lose – and says they were’very fortunate’ to finish on the right side of the dotted line, especially since they were also deducted four points for violating profit and sustainability regulations.
Steve Cooper was relieved of his duties in mid-December, and Nuno Espirito Santo eventually led the Reds to 17th place in the final table with 32 points, six ahead of third-bottom Luton Town, eight ahead of Burnley, and twice as many as rock bottom Sheffield United. It remained the lowest points total for any team escaping relegation since the Premier League format was implemented in 1992.
Shearer stated in the most recent episode of The Rest is Football podcast: “They are extremely fortunate that the other three were hopeless. If you were ever going to be deducted points, this was the season to do it because of the other three newcomers to the league. They [Forest] can count themselves really fortunate.
“They made some horrible decisions, Nottingham Forest, but let’s hope they learn from them so they can go on. Chris Wood scored the goals.
“Bringing in the referees was a terrible idea that worked against them. They thought that would give them an advantage, I’m not sure how they thought that, but they did. It went completely the other way. Every decision went against them. They reversed it near the end of the season, but they were fortunate in the end… They’ve got some good players.
