Inside Nottingham Forest’s formidable plan to recreate the golden period of Brian Clough, writes TOM COLLOMOSSE

On a wall of his first-floor office at Nottingham Forest‘s training ground, Nuno Espirito Santo has a giant planner listing every first-team assignment in the 2024-25 season.

Now, the entries relate exclusively to domestic football: Premier League, Carabao Cup, FA Cup. But this club is thinking bigger. Much bigger.

On the pitch, the ultimate target is the Champions League. Forest are fourth in the table and desperate to revive the spirit of 1979 and 1980, when Brian Clough led them to successive European Cups. Off it, they are attempting to conquer the world.

Premier League financial rules have made it extremely difficult for ambitious clubs to break into English football’s elite. Just ask Newcastle and Aston Villa, whose wealthy backers are permitted to spend only a fraction of what they have due to profitability and sustainability regulations.

Forest are no different. If they qualify for European competition and make another move for a player like Omar Marmoush, the impressive Eintracht Frankfurt forward, they may have to sell a key man to keep the books healthy.

That is why Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis, who made his fortune in the global shipping trade, is trying to deliver success differently. Arsenal‘s former sporting director Edu will almost certainly join next year to oversee a stable that includes Greek giants Olympiacos – Marinakis’ first love – as well as Rio Ave in Portugal and, eventually, a prominent club in Brazil. Marinakis has shown strong interest in Vasco Da Gama of Rio de Janeiro and, in recent days, there have been indications in Brazil that he is looking at Sao Paulo as a possible alternative.

Forest have paid close attention to the success of the City Football Group, whose flagship club is Manchester City but who also manage 12 others across five continents. Recent board level changes, including the arrival of the experienced Paul Tyrrell as chief operations officer, reflect Forest’s desire to adapt their own model accordingly.

City have put plenty of spadework into establishing themselves in the United States and Forest will attempt to do the same. It would be no surprise if Forest were to spend time in the States as part of their pre-season preparations next summer. All of it aimed at creating a more powerful brand that can boost revenue and make it easier to adapt to those pesky spending rules.

As Wrexham’s wild success across the Atlantic proves, American audiences love a compelling storyline, and what could be better than Forest’s? In a little more than four years they moved from 13th in Division Two to the summit of the European game – and stayed there. The tale is told brilliantly in the 2015 film ‘I Believe In Miracles’.

While the current Forest hierarchy rightly embrace the history, they do not want it to define them forever. The time has come to write new chapters.

They have every reason to be optimistic. Forest head into the weekend fourth in the Premier League and for anyone who believes they have had a lucky spread of fixtures, think again.

Forest have won at Anfield and Old Trafford in the same season for the first time. They drew at Chelsea and Brighton, beat Aston Villa at home and have been outclassed only twice, in 3-0 defeats at Arsenal and Manchester City.

Forest recruited haphazardly after they were promoted in 2022 yet they have been much smarter since the summer 2023 window when Anthony Elanga, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Murillo and Nicolas Dominguez arrived for a joint total of about £40million. They would not listen to offers below that for any of those individuals now.

Progress brings challenges, too. Top scorer Chris Wood is currently in discussions over a new deal and, as Mail Sport revealed on December 18, is seeking a contract of at least two years that would keep him near the top of Forest’s pay scale. Wood earns about £100,000 a week and the club’s initial offer was a one-year extension.

Unless they can find a way through before January 1, Wood will be free to sign a pre-contract with an overseas club for the 2025-26 campaign – though there is willingness on both sides to ensure the 33-year-old stays at the City Ground. Either way, expect Forest to move for another forward in January and if they can sign one, the club will likely listen to offers for Taiwo Awoniyi.

Mail Sport understands star playmaker Morgan Gibbs-White has also been in contract talks and is looking for a significant rise on the five-year deal he signed two-and-a-half years ago, worth about £60,000 a week.

Since then Gibbs-White has established himself as one of the top attacking midfielders outside the so-called ‘big six’ and attracted interest from Newcastle and Aston Villa last summer. He has also captained the side and become an England international. Forest believe Gibbs-White, who turns 25 in January, is capable of even more than the 13 goals and 20 assists he has produced in their colours.

Whereas Nuno and Gibbs-White did not see eye to eye at Wolves, their relationship has blossomed at Forest – and Nuno has rediscovered his mojo. In his early weeks at Forest, we saw the withdrawn character who lasted only 17 matches at Tottenham.

This season, the Wolves version has returned. During four years at Molineux, Nuno led his side to consecutive seventh-placed finishes in the Premier League as well as an FA Cup semi-final and a Europa League quarter-final.

Many Forest fans would be delighted if Nuno emulated that – but the ownership are looking for even more. A repeat of Nuno’s Wolves results would be merely a staging post on Forest’s journey, not the destination itself.

It is worth remembering that Forest thought twice about sacking Nuno last season as they fought relegation and had the stars aligned differently, Fulham boss Marco Silva – long admired – might now be in charge. For now at least, the decision to stick Nuno has paid off spectacularly.

He is working at a training base of which his predecessors could only have dreamed. About £2m was spent replacing the pitches there and at the City Ground. The number of data analysts has tripled, the dressing rooms have been enhanced and there is much greater focus on recovery and nutrition.

Nuno demands that players eat together and spend time in each other’s company and Forest have satisfied him with a huge upgrade of communal areas at the training ground.

Never one to make bold statements, it was striking that Nuno did nothing to play down Forest’s prospects after they beat Aston Villa 2-1 on December 14. Maybe even he is thinking about writing a few exotic names on that wall chart.