What a difference twelve months make. Mind you, in football, a week can seem a long time, and, if you’re of a Reds persuasion, the past twelve months in the beautiful game has certainly seen the highs and lows come Nottingham Forest’s way.

On 29 December 2024, Nuno Espirito Santo’s high-flying Reds found themselves in the heady heights of second place in the Premier League, eight points behind runaway leaders and eventual champions, Liverpool, following a 2-0 win at Goodison Park, Everton.

Fast-forward twelve months and the Reds, now led by Sean Dyche, their third manager of the past twelve months, fell to a 2-0 defeat at home to Everton, thanks to goals from James Garner and Thierno Barry.

It was a third straight defeat for Dyche’s side (1-0 away to Fulham Athletic, 2-1 at home to Manchester City, 2-0 at home to Everton), who finish the calendar year fourth bottom; stark contrast indeed to twelve months earlier.

The second half of last season, and the first half of 2025, would see Nuno’s side finish the 2024/25 campaign as beaten, FA Cup semi-finalists, having lost 2-0 to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City back in April, before finishing the league campaign with a European spot, for the first time since the mid-1990s.

Initially earning a place in the UEFA Conference League, Forest would see their European adventures upgraded to UEFA Europa League status following issues surrounding FA Cup winners, Crystal Palace.

It could have been so much better though, with Nuno’s side banging on the door of a UEFA Champions League spot for much of the campaign, before letting things slip in the closing stages, winning just four of their last ten league games.

Highlights in the first half of 2025 included a 7-0 home thrashing of Brighton & Hove Albion at the start of February, striker Chris Wood taking his tally for the season to seventeen with a hat-trick (including a penalty); Wood was joined on the score-sheet by Morgan Gibbs-White, Neco Williams, Jota Silva, and an own-goal;

Mid-March would see the Reds travel to East Anglia and enjoy a 4-2 win at Ipswich Town, an enjoyable game for Nuno’s fiftieth top-flight game in charge of the Reds former attacker, Anthony Elanga scored twice, Nikola Milenkovic and Gibbs-White also finding the back of the net.

On his way to a 20-goal season in the league, striker Chris Wood was also on-target in the 2-1 win away to Tottenham Hotspur in mid-April, as European Nights were being dreamed of Trentside.

Defeat on the final day though, at home to Chelsea, did prove costly, with the Reds finishing the season in seventh place, and a point of Newcastle United in fifth, who took the last Champions League spot.

A summer of change – you’d expect little else at the City Ground in recent years – and the 2025/26 season began a little crazily. And that’s putting it politely.

No win in their first ten league games, Nuno being replaced by Ange Postecoglou who in-turn was replaced by Dyche (after just 39 days at the helm), proved disastrous and, despite the heroics of the previous season, the first half of 2025/26 has been but a whimper.

There have been a few highlights, a 3-0 win at Anfield, against defending champions Liverpool, in late-November, thanks to goals from Murillo, Nicola Savona, and Gibbs-White, was part of a month that saw the Reds go unbeaten in five in all competitions.

Mid-December meanwhile saw that result replicated, when home to Tottenham, as Callum Hudson-Odoi bagged a brace, alongside an Ibrahim Sangare goal, but it’s been a half-season to forgot for the City Ground faithful – well, on British shores anyway.

The Europa League campaign has provided much respite for the players, and the fans, and have, on the main, enjoyed their continental football thus far; sitting eleventh in the Group Phase table, two points off automatic qualification for the next round, and with two games to go, Europe could be the Reds’ salvation.

Forest’s European adventures began with a 2-2 draw away to Real Betis, before a 3-2 home loss to Midtjylland was inflicted at the start of October; rallying though, the Reds have since beaten FC Porto 2-0 (penalties from Gibbs-White and Igor Jesus), Malmo FF 3-0 (Ryan Yates, Arnaud Kalimuendo and Milenkovic) and FC Utrecht 2-1 (Kalimuendo and Jesus), has set them up nicely going into the New Year.

Having finished 2025 with three straight losses, and languishing fourth bottom in the league, Dyche will hope his troops can reboot in 2026 with renewed optimism; it’s a trio of away days to start the year, at Aston Villa and West Ham United in the league, and Wrexham in the FA Cup Third Round, inside the first ten days of the year.

As for the European Adventure, that continues later in the month when the Reds travel to Portugal, and Sporting Braga, on 22 January, before hosting Hungarian side, Ferencvaros, a week later, on 29 January.

Overall, 2025 has been a year that promised much, but ultimately failed to deliver; for 2026, we’ll know more come the end of January as to what lies ahead because everything can change in a heartbeat.

*Article provided by Peter Mann (Senior Correspondent).

*Main image @NFFC  it was a turbulent year for Nottingham Forest.