Ange Postecoglou can feel the buzz around Nottingham Forest as the two-time European Cup winners head to Real Betis for a “special” first European match in nearly 30 years.
Wednesday’s Europa League opener ends the Reds’ long wait for continental football, stretching back to a UEFA Cup quarter-final clash against Bayern Munich in March 1996.
Forest’s first European game in 10,781 days will be one for the history books and would be a memorable time for Postecoglou to oversee his first win since succeeding Nuno Espirito Santo as Forest boss earlier this month.
Put to the Australian that it feels like a big moment for the club, the head coach said: “Oh absolutely. Without a shadow of a doubt.
“Thirty years, a club that’s absolutely climbed to the peak of European football in the past and you can just imagine how the supporters are feeling.
“There’s probably a couple of generations in there who’ve heard the stories but not lived the experiences.
“Now they can live their own experiences. It’s special. I know everyone at the club’s super excited, the players are excited and hopefully it’s a successful campaign for us.”
Forest are among the bookmakers’ favourites to win the Europa League – a competition Postecoglou knows better than most having hoisted the trophy aloft as Tottenham boss just 18 weeks ago.
“I’m excited by it,” he said with a smile when asked about kicking off his trophy defence. “When I made the decision to accept the position, it was one of the most enticing bits.
“That the club is in Europe, obviously in the Europa League, which is a competition, as you said, I’ve got experience in.
“But just being in Europe is exciting. I’ve always enjoyed it. It challenges you and the players in different ways.
“And just as the fans have memorable experiences, it’s the same as a player and as a coach.”
Forest will be cheered on by 3,385 travelling fans at the cavernous La Cartuja in Seville, where thousands more ticketless supporters are said to have made the trip for this special occasion.
It is certainly a moment to cherish for a club who were bottom of the Championship just four years ago.
“Amazing,” Postecoglou said of that rise. “It’s brilliant, it’s kind of what football was always designed to be.
“If you dream and you do things well, you know that you can reach the absolute pinnacle of whatever endeavour you’re in.
“And especially for football clubs, I think that’s always been the aspirational side of the game.
“Maybe it’s dwindling a little bit but certainly those types of stories are the ones that resonate the most, I think, when you look at football’s history.”
Forest secured their place in Europe by finished seventh in the Premier League last season, with Crystal Palace’s punishment for breaking UEFA’s multi-club ownership rules then seeing them swap competitions.
The Reds were promoted from the Conference League to the Europa League, where ‘Angeball’ will be on full display when circumstances allow.
“It’s fair to say that the world is crying out for me to be pragmatic,” he added. “But I’m just not built that way.
“I’ve always said what I like to do and what I enjoy more than anything is winning, so whatever it takes we’ll do.
“We had a different campaign last year. Certainly in the final we had to play a certain way because of the availability of the players we had.
“I think you do have to approach the Europa League a little bit differently.
“Tactically, there’s some tweaks you need to make to allow the players to perform at their best. I still want to win every game. That’s never going to change.”
