Nottingham Forest CEO Dane Murphy has claimed the club will look to keep the main core of the team together this summer.

The Reds earned promotion to the Premier League with a 1-0 play-off final victory over Huddersfield Town at the weekend.

An own goal from Levi Colwill was the difference between the two sides, with Steve Cooper now preparing his side for life in the top flight.

This will be Forest’s first campaign in the Premier League since their 1999 relegation.

The club relied on a number of loan deals for key players in the squad this season, but Murphy is hoping that they will be able to keep this year’s team intact going into the top flight.

The likes of James Garner, Djed Spence, Philip Zinckernagel and Keinan Davis all played crucial roles in the team while on temporary deals at the City Ground.

Speaking to US radio station Sirius XM, the club’s chief executive confirmed that Forest’s aims for this summer.

“We have a very strong owner [Evangelos Marinakis] who is not afraid to invest in the club and make sure it becomes the Premier League club it should be, in all facets of the business,” said Murphy, via Nottinghamshire Live.

“At the same time, there have been a few clubs who have gone up and spent an inordinate amount of money and then gone back down, and it hasn’t worked.

“I go back to the execution - find the balance of ‘okay, let’s invest but also, let’s keep the core chemistry and camaraderie’. 

“It became a band of brothers at the end of the year, because it’s a young team with a few veteran leaders. 

“To break that up now, to me, doesn’t make a whole tonne of sense.

“You have to secure your base - whether that’s the players, the staff, the backroom staff - you have to build on the blocks you already have and the base that’s already in place. We plan to do that.”

 

 

Cooper took over the side from Chris Hughton in September and led the team to rise to 4th in the Championship table by the end of the regular season.

A penalty shootout victory in the semi-finals against Sheffield United earned the Reds a place in the Wembley final.

Now the club will be preparing for life in the top flight, with fighting against relegation the most likely objective for the team.

The Verdict

It will be expensive and difficult to secure all of the loan players that came in on a permanent basis.

It may also not be the best use of resources either, with Forest now seriously needing to manage the money they do have available to spend.

Forest face a long summer ahead with many deals both in and out all still possible.

The current crop have shown their competitiveness against top flight sides in this year’s FA Cup run, but sustaining that over 38 games will be a huge test of Cooper’s managerial credentials.