Long-time Nottingham Forest fan Dave Marples put it succinctly when asked for his thoughts before the first Premier League game at the City Ground for 23 years.

Marples understands Forest. It is fair to say he sees the club differently to how most outsiders look at it.

“Lots of neutrals have wished us well because of Brian Clough,” he said. “We never tire of that because it is lovely.

“But we fell out of the Premier League at exactly the wrong time. We didn’t embrace the changing football and financial landscape. We just got left behind.

“Since 1999, we were an incredibly poorly run club. We made wrong managerial appointment after wrong managerial appointment.

“We are a ‘big’ club in terms of reputation. But while people like you see Forest as Clough and John Robertson and John McGovern, I just see losing to Cardiff at home on a Tuesday night for a seemingly endless reel for the last 22 years.”

1999 is a long time ago

There was a link to Forest’s illustrious past in the team that went down in 1999.

Steve Chettle played in the 1990 League Cup final win over Oldham and the FA Cup final defeat by Tottenham the following season, when goalkeeper Mark Crossley famously saved Gary Lineker’s penalty.

Both also started that final Premier League game against Leicester, in what turned out to be Ron Atkinson’s final game as a manager, by which time Forest were already down.

This Forest was very different to the images of the past, of Clough and Peter Taylor, of back-to-back European Cups with Peter Shilton, Viv Anderson and Kenny Burns. The 1999 team was one top-scorer Pierre van Hooijdonk walked out on before the start of the season. That went on a run of one win in 25 league games, that was beaten 8-1 at home by Manchester United.

Still, no-one could have thought it would take nearly a quarter of a century – and 19 managerial appointments – before Forest returned to the top flight.

“You always felt Forest was the type of club who would come back up reasonably readily,” former Forest skipper Stuart Pearce told BBC Sport.

Pearce made more than 500 appearances for the club during a 12-year stint from 1985 and then returned for an ill-fated seven months as manager in the 2014-15 season.

“But the Championship is such a tough place to get out of, history means nothing,” added Pearce.

“When I came back as a manager, the club was disunited. There is a unity about all the teams that get promoted from the Championship, from the terraces, into the academy and right the way through. It wasn’t there before. Now I see it.”

The downward spiral

There are some sobering reminders of what Forest became during their time out of the top flight. In 2006, they didn’t even make the play-offs in a League One campaign that ended with Southend United – now in the National League – promoted as champions.

Promotion back to the second tier in 2008 was only secured after Doncaster lost on the final day of the season, allowing Forest to leapfrog them after they appeared set for the play-offs again, having begun April nine points adrift of the South Yorkshire side.

Then came the controversial Fawaz Al Hasawi era, which was characterised by bold statements, broken promises, scattergun decisions, huge losses and fan unrest.

Shipping magnate Evangelos Marinakis, owner of famous Greek club Olympiakos, has presided over Forest’s resurgence, a controversial figure himself given investigations into allegations of match-fixing and drug-trafficking – none of which were proved.

Marinakis had to swallow the disappointment of 2020, when Forest missed out on a play-off place despite going into their final game against Stoke at home with a three-point lead and a six-goal advantage on a Swansea side managed by Steve Cooper.

“That night was brutal,” chairman Nick Randell told BBC Sport.

“With 20 minutes to go we were four points and three goals up and it just evaporated. It hit us hard.”

Super Cooper

Forest were bottom of the Championship, with one point from their first seven games, when the call went out to Cooper last September.

The Welshman, who led an England squad containing Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho to Under-17 World Cup glory in 2017, had resigned from his job at Swansea the previous July.

The transformation was miraculous.

“The thing about Brian Clough and Steve Cooper is that they didn’t need time. It was almost instant success,” said Forest’s European Cup-winning captain John McGovern, who is now a club ambassador.

“We are living on our past a little bit and it does make it more difficult for Steve, but he proved what he can do last season. He is the right man and he is being given the full backing from the owners.”

The City Ground could have been sold out many times over for West Ham’s visit on Sunday. The club has submitted plans to redevelop the main stand, which will take the capacity up to 38,000.

For the new season, the changing rooms have had to be expanded. The floodlights have had to be improved. The number of media outlets worldwide covering Sunday’s game far exceeds those present for Forest’s top-flight exit 23 years ago.

For Marples, it is a real step into the unknown.

“To be honest, a lot of us just wanted one day at Wembley,” he said.

“I saw so many opposition fans celebrate on our pitch. Just for one day, I wanted it to be us. And we had it.

“I had supported this ridiculous club for so many years. It was almost like the journey was just as pleasurable as the being here.

“What happens now? Can we have one season of Europe, or a League Cup final, even though we would probably get beaten 6-0 by Manchester City? That might be as good as we could hope for.

“Can we have two or three moments this season? That is what we are going to be clinging on to.”