Nottingham Forest entered the summer of the 2014/15 campaign on the back of an 11th place finish the year before, with new manager Stuart Pearce hoping to start his career in the dugout improving on that position.

It was a summer of change at the City Ground with Pearce in charge and running the rule over the squad he inherited while also looking to make the necessary additions to get Forest challenging the top six.

Eight permanent players arrived in Nottingham with a further five loans confirmed, totalling 13 players coming into the club under the new boss’ regime.

Five players arrived on free transfers with one receiving positive fanfare upon the confirmation of his arrival.

Having left Birmingham City in the summer of 2014, Chris Burke was unveiled as a Forest player, signing a two-year deal with the club.

Burke described the move as a ‘no-brainer’ and was realising playing for the former European champions.

And the signing produced a positive reaction from the club’s supporters.

The move to the club for the then 30-year-old could not have started any better.

In the opening games of the 2014/15 campaign, Forest were at home to Blackpool with the winger scoring five minutes after Michail Antonio opened the scoring to give the hosts a commanding lead with a curling effort from the edge of the box.

He would start the club’s first eight league matches and looked to have consolidated his position in the starting XI under Pearce. 

And that was indeed the case as he featured in 44 matches that season scoring six times and registering four assists in what was a pretty impressive debut season by Forest’s standards.

The club would finish in 14th position having gone through two managers.

Having featured heavily that season before and extensively under Pearce’s successor Dougie Freedman, the following season was all too different.

After nine appearances in the 2015/16 campaign, Burke left the club on a temporary basis, joining Championship rivals Rotherham United until the end of the season.

The departure came with Forest fans saluting the move and thankful he had left the club after what looked to be an impressive debut season.

Having failed to score in the nine matches she played for the Tricky Trees in his second season; you can understand the negativity with the club struggling in mid-table in the league.

The move did not go to plan with five different managers over the two years, there was no continuity, and that changed once again while Burke was out on loan at the Millers.

Freedman was sacked with Paul Williams in caretaker charge for two months before Philippe Montanier was named the club’s newest permanent boss.

After making five appearances for Rotherham, scoring twice to help the Millers survive relegation, he went back to Forest.

But Burke’s time at the City Ground would come to an end when after his two-years, he was one of three players released in the summer of 2016. 

The positive reaction to his signing soon dissipated and what bloomed in its place was disdain and joy to his temporary exit before a permanent departure was confirmed.