Fan Talk with Mark Dennison: Cooper effect at Forest is Tree-mendous

Nottingham Forest stadium announcer Mark Dennison believes much of his beloved club's recent success is down to the brilliance, flexibility and honesty of manager Steve Cooper.

Cooper is the man

It is such a cliche, but the Premier League is in a league of its own so when you get promoted it takes time to adapt.

And I think one of the great things with Cooper at Forest is that he was not afraid to change things last season.

I like Steve in so many ways, he is very humble and admitted the Premier League is new to him as well and he is learning, just like most of the players.

When a match has not gone particularly well, he does not sugar-coat it or lie. If we are not good enough, he will say. 

Since Steve came in, the whole atmosphere around the stadium — the feeling and energy — has been different class.

Awoniyi's time

Every team wants a great striker who can score goals — and Taiwo Awoniyi is Forest's main man at the moment.

He was injured at a crucial time last season but keep him fully fit and he just makes things happen.

Awoniyi is big, powerful and is quite an unselfish striker.

In pre-season, he has not been afraid to drop back and feed players like Morgan Gibbs-White, Brennan Johnson and new-boy Anthony Elanga.

Exciting Elanga

This time around, there has been a more measured approach to Forest's recruitment and Elanga is an exciting signing.

I have watched him play for Manchester United and it is perhaps an area where we lacked a little last season.

We have Johnson on the right, Gibbs-White in the middle and Awoniyi up top, but we have not really had anyone on that left wing, which is Elanga's favourite position.

So it is going to be exciting, because Elanga is obviously hungry for a new start and seems really keen to play for Cooper as well.

Again, it is that Cooper effect!

Squad goals

Last season the trophy signing among the 23 new faces brought in by Forest was Jesse Lingard.

It did not really work out and injury played a huge role in that, but from where I sit on match day, you could still see him right in the thick of it on the bench.

Lingard was regularly handing out instructions and shouting encouragement, so even though he did not play a big part on the pitch I feel he was very much involved off it.

Then you have Serge Aurier, who came to us and has been brilliant and has played in various different positions as well.

So I cannot think of many signings from last summer that did not have any positives.

Progress required

Last season was about survival and we finished 17th, so anything above that will be good.

What I would like to see from Forest in the next couple of years is progression, a bit like what Brighton have done.

I want Forest to keep steadily rising over the next four to five years and there is a lot to learn from Brighton in that respect. 

Mark Dennison was speaking to Danny Ryan