For Nuno Espirito Santo, celebrations do not normally extend beyond brandishing a clenched fist or engaging in a warm group hug with his coaching staff on the touchline.
He is not normally one for indulging in more exuberant public displays of emotion. But these are far from normal times at Nottingham Forest.
After seeing Matz Sels dive decisively to his left to push away Jack Taylor’s shootout penalty to see off Ipswich and secure an FA Cup quarter-final tie away to Brighton at the end of this month, the beaming Portuguese raced from his technical area onto the City Ground pitch towards his players, tugging at the zip of his jacket as if desperate to find another way to release his pent-up joy.
As he rapidly caught up with defender Ola Aina, who had rampaged up and down the right flank relentlessly for more than 120 minutes on the night, the Nigeria international laughingly told his manager that he was feeling fatigued. Nuno’s response was simply to give his player a piggyback into the melee of celebrations.
“He said he was so tired, so I said, ‘Jump on’. He could not run,” said Nuno. “I am really happy; delighted. We have so many hopes, and in the FA Cup we want to go as far as we can. When it is decided on penalties, the emotions are always so very high.”
Nuno Espírito Santo 😅#ITVFootball | #EmiratesFACup. pic.twitter.com/t1m5w1bfFj
— ITV Football (@itvfootball) March 3, 2025
When he was appointed at Forest in December 2023, the former Wolves and Tottenham head coach had some significant shoes to fill.
As he led the club on a journey from the Championship’s relegation zone in late September 2021 into the Premier League at the end of that same season, his predecessor Steve Cooper had forged a strong bond with the supporters. Cooper’s fist-pumping celebrations after victories as his side plotted a course to the play-off final — and then to top-flight survival the following season — quickly became both his trademark and a symbol of a remarkable rise.
Nuno has generally been a more reserved character; a man who prefers to focus on what Forest can achieve together as a group. It is rarely about him. What matters are his coaching staff and his players — and the sense of unity they share.
This time last year, Forest were about to be hit with a four-point deduction for breaching profitability and sustainability regulations (PSR). They were in 17th place and fighting to stay out of the bottom three in the Premier League. An 89th-minute goal from Casimero at the City Ground had given eventual FA Cup winners Manchester United a 1-0 victory and ended Forest’s participation at this same last-16 stage.
A tide of controversial refereeing decisions were followed by the appointment of ex-match official Mark Clattenburg in an advisory role at Forest and a fine of £750,000 ($953,000 at the current exchange rate) after the club posted an outraged message on X following a trio of penalty calls that did not go their way in a match against Everton.
Nuno was fighting fires that were out of his control — and often wore the look of a man who had a hole in his water bucket while doing so.
Twelve months on, the mood is transformed. There is still pressure but it is of a different kind. The burden of expectation is a very different one to carry in contrast to the weight of potential failure.
Nuno’s smile is a more regular feature, even if his approach behind the scenes, the manner in which he interacts with his players, has not changed at all. He remains a man with a sense of fun and a sense of humour, but also a fiercely demanding character; a man who is not shy about telling his players when he believes their standards have dropped.
He has worked hard to engineer the current atmosphere of team spirit and togetherness, as well as a sense of identity that has provided the platform on which Forest have taken themselves on another memorable footballing journey.
Nuno Espirito Santo runs onto the pitch to celebrate his team’s penalty shootout victory (Molly Darlington/Getty Images)
Forest have gone from back-to-back seasons fighting relegation to being 90 minutes away from their first return to Wembley since that Championship play-off final three years ago — this time for an FA Cup semi-final in April — while simultaneously pushing for Champions League qualification via their current third-place in the league with 11 matches to go.
With complete respect to Cooper, who will retain hero status in these parts for what he inspired, if you were not aware before, there is a new sheriff in town. He even likes to ride a horse.
Monday’s win over an Ipswich side struggling in the league, with the teams locked at 1-1 following the 90 regulation minutes and 30 more of extra time, was not a straightforward victory. For the first 45 minutes, it was not a convincing performance from Forest. They were the better side but struggled to carve out chances until Nuno introduced Morgan Gibbs-White and Elliot Anderson off the bench after an hour.
It needed a header from Ryan Yates — the only man in the squad who has been on Forest’s entire journey from the depths of the second tier — on 68 minutes to cancel out George Hirst’s 53rd-minute opening goal.
When Forest could not find another, the intensive work done on the training ground to practise penalties paid off. Wood, Gibbs-White, Anderson, Neco Williams and Callum Hundson-Odoi all executed almost perfect spot kicks before Sels brilliantly denied Taylor and secured a 5-4 shootout victory.
Historically, Forest have now won all four of their FA Cup penalty shootouts. Like the one that earned them victory in the previous round at third-tier Exeter, this one was perfectly executed.
The physical and emotional energy expended last night will not have been ideal ahead of the visit of fourth-placed outgoing champions Manchester City for Saturday’s early kick-off, a game that could hold huge sway in Forest’s hopes of a top-five finish, but this side do not know when they are beaten at the City Ground — a venue that quietly continues to be one of their biggest assets.
Matz Sels is mobbed by his team-mates after his decisive penalty save (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Way back in the third match of their season, Forest lost here on penalties to now-finalists Newcastle in the Carabao Cup but in the Premier League, they have only been beaten at home twice since. In 13 league games on their own pitch, they have earned 25 points while conceding only 10 goals, which is the league’s joint-lowest home tally, along with Liverpool and Bournemouth.
Whatever happens, they will not play another FA Cup tie here this season but, with six of those 11 remaining league games coming at home, this place — and the fans that provided noise when it was needed most against Ipswich — will remain vital.
He will not have known it at the time but some of Nuno’s words in his pre-match press conference only felt more pertinent after the drama ended.
“Pressure is always there but the difference is a big one,” Nuno said, when asked about the contrast between this season and last. “It’s still pressure, depending on how you deal with that. There is also a lot of expectation that is different to last season. It’s much better this way, no?”
Forest fans would surely agree as they wait to see how many more celebratory moments their head coach will get to enjoy in the coming months.
GO DEEPER
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(Top photo: Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
