'Forest can almost taste Champions League football'
Former Nottingham Forest defender Wes Morgan has said the atmosphere around the club is "buzzing" and he "can't see any reason why there would be any slip-ups" as Nuno Espirito Santo's side challenge for Champions League football.As the graphic below shows, Opta's 'supercomputer' now gives the Reds a 93.3% chance of qualifying for Europe's elite competition after Tuesday's 1-0 win over Manchester United."Everyone's buzzing - it's a really good feeling and things are just going from strength to strength," Morgan, who now works in the academy at the club, told 5 Live Breakfast."You can really see the togetherness in and around the place. We're not there yet, but if you look at the table, there's seven games and you can almost taste it."Looking at the fixtures ahead, there's not too many big challenges. The pathway is there and they just need to stay focused and not get carried away."It's completely surprised everyone that they're in this position - but deservedly so."
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Nottingham Forest write to Uefa over Crystal Palace Europa League concerns
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Glasgow Times
an hour ago
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South Wales Argus
an hour ago
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The 44-year-old from St Julians has a management CV that features a raft of Gwent clubs but now he is part of St Lucia's set-up, working as an assistant for former Premier League striker Stern John. The 'Piton Boyz' will go up against Advocaat's Curacao, who boast players from the Netherlands' Eredivisie, in the early hours of Saturday UK time and then face Barbados on Tuesday night. Morgan has had the job since the autumn of 2024 after accepting an invite from John, who played in England for Nottingham Forest, Birmingham, Coventry, Derby, Sunderland, Southampton, Bristol City and Crystal Palace. The pair met on a Football Association of Wales A licence course and that led to the Welshman jumping at a chance to experience international football. Morgan initially did that while managing Westfields in Hellenic League Premier Division but he has now left the Hereford club and will devote more of his time to St Lucia, alongside his full-time job as a project manager with energy company SSE. COACH: Nick Morgan in St Lucia (Image: Nick Morgan) 'I'm senior team coach but now I will also be a liaison for the players in the UK, which I couldn't do when I had games on Saturdays,' he said. 'I'll go and watch those who have already committed to us but also work on a big list of those who maybe could in the future. 'Stern came over in May and we went to watch some players because we have seven professionals in the English leagues – the likes of Terell Thomas at Carlisle, Arkell Jude-Boyd at Cheltenham, Chris Forino-Joseph at Bolton.' St Lucia are 165 in FIFA's rankings and the World Cup is not a realistic aim but they did have a good crack at qualification for this summer's Concacaf Gold Cup. They finished second to Curacao in the group stages, that after stunning Advocaat's side 2-1 in their opener. The big aim is to make progress as a nation with Morgan relishing the chance to be part of a professional football environment again. He did that with Newport County AFC under good friend Michael Flynn in 2017/18 – a season that featured the FA Cup games against Tottenham at Rodney Parade and Wembley – but it was a stretch. 'I remember that we had Lincoln away on a Tuesday night and I had to be in Exeter for work at 8am. We got back to the training ground at 3am,' said Morgan, who has a wife Lucy and children Cian and Kayleigh. 'I was committed to that season but it was tough, I've been offered opportunities in full-time football but, with the level that I would have to go in at, I couldn't risk my job in the outside.' Morgan has been part of the set-ups at Newport Corinthians, Newport YMCA, Chepstow, Monmouth, Cwmbran Celtic and Abergavenny, plus he also worked with the Exiles' academy before stepping up to help with the first team. 'I've been in semi-professional football for the last 15 years since I stopped playing and it's always been something running alongside my job, working with some very good Welsh teams before going over to England,' he said. 'Now I've got this opportunity to go over to the Caribbean and represent a country, and I love the togetherness that we have as a squad and staff. 'This gives me the chance to get that experience of a professional football environment with the camps three or four times a year. I love it.'
