The longest wait for a return to the premier league was over.
The last time top-flight football was played on the banks of the River Trent was 23 years ago.
The Championship play-off final victory against Huddersfield Town was the last time Forest played a game in the top flight.
They've played 1,069 league and play-off games trying to get back.
It has taken them more than 100,000 miles to get to those matches and back.
Two banners were unfurled by fans just before the start of the game, which read "far have we traveled" and "many have we seen"
A total of 20 different managers have been at the wheel on the long road back, with Steve Cooper the man to drive them all the way to English football.
The captain of the club is aware of the long journey the club has taken supporters on.
He thanked the fans after the win.
It has been a tough football club at times, and all that has been repaid today. Forest are back in the top flight.
The idea that Forest would spend the next two decades outside of the premier league seemed impossible back in the last century.
The two continental triumphs, an English top-flight title and four League Cup successes that the club achieved under Brian Clough were not what people of the time thought was important to the club's future.
Twice in the previous five years, they came back up.
When Frank Clark replaced Clough at the City Ground in 1993 he got them back a year later. They finished third in the league and qualified for the Uefa Cup.
They won the second division title in the 1998-99 season after being demoted in 1997.
Colin Fray, who has been commentating on Forest matches for 31 years, said that what you had was a yo-yo club.
When they got back into Europe, you thought normal service had resumed. There was another blip after that. When they were demoted in 1999 you felt like they would bounce back.
It would take another 23 years to get back, so never would anyone have thought that at that point.
After six seasons in the second tier, they became the first European Cup-winning club to drop to the third tier of a domestic league.
Being demoted to League One was sort of a "hang on" for those who have always felt that Forest is a premier league club.
It was unbelievable that Forest were playing in the LDV Vans Trophy after being demoted to the third tier.
After climbing to the top of European football for two years in a row, it was a wake-up call to be demoted to League One.
The second season in League One turned into a third after Forest lost to Yeovil Town in the play-offs.
Fray feels that Forest found stability in the third division thanks to the ownership and management of the club.
Fray said that you are not going to be right on the pitch unless you are off it.
For a long time, something was wrong at Forest.
The most stable part of the structure they had in the intervening period was when they were out of League One.
It's hard to pick out their period in League One as being anywhere near a successful period in the club's history, but they had the structure in place behind the scenes to get the club back on its feet.
Billy Davies was in charge at the City Ground for the first time in 2008 and lasted four months.
The Reds had back-to-back play-off campaigns. The first in 2010 was settled by a chaotic 4-3 win for Blackpool at the City Ground, while the second in 2012 ended in a 2-0 loss forSwansea.
The departure of Davies was followed by a period of upheaval. In the next 10 seasons, the Reds would finish inside the top 10 just three times.
After 10 games, Steve McClaren left Forest just a point above the drop zone after he lasted 112 days.
After admitting he made a poor decision in hiring the former Manchester United assistant manager, Doughty stepped down as chairman.
The club was left in an urgent search for a new owner after Doughty passed away.
Fray said that the forest really spiralled.
The controlling stake in the East Midlands side was bought by a businessman from Kuwait.
Steve Cotterill was relieved of his duties within two days.
Billy Sharp was brought in on loan by Sean O'Driscoll, who was also backed with a number of high-profile signings.
After leading Forest to a 4-2 win against Leeds at the City Ground that lifted the Reds to eighth place on Boxing Day in 2012 O'Driscoll was sacked.
Forest turned towards Alex McLeish. He only worked 40 days in the job.
In his five years as club custodian, Al Hasawi went through eight managers, with Davies in a second spell and club legend Stuart Pearce all having a go at the managerial merry-go-round.
There were eight different managers in the dressing room at one point.
Fawaz spent too much and got Forest into a transfer embargo for violating FFP rules.
Managers were later coming in, like Dougie Freedman, who couldn't do anything in the transfer market.
They relied on loan deals and free transfers for 18 months.
The club was bought by a Greek shipping magnate just days after the Reds escaped the drop with a win on the final day of the season.
Success did not come quickly under the new regime.
Mark Warburton was moved on in December and replaced by Aitor Karanka, who had been the manager of Middlesbrough.
Sabri Lamouchi became the next club great, but was quickly deemed another unsuccessful blast from the past.
The Frenchman was close to reaching the play-offs after the season was halted because of the Covid-19 epidemic, but lost out in the final day of the season.
The Swans moved above the Reds on goal difference after their 4-1 win against Reading and a 4-1 home defeat by the Potters.
Lamouchi lost his job after four defeats to start the 2020-21 season.
Chris Hughton, a manager with promotion experience, guided Forest to a 17th-place finish, despite the fact that football behind closed doors was boring. They finished as high as they did despite scoring less goals.
At the start of this campaign, worse was still to come.
They had their worst start to a season in over 100 years, with just one point from their first seven games.
It was enough to end Hughton's reign in September, which paved the way for the appointment of Cooper.
In eight months, the Welshman took Forest from the bottom of the table to a top-six finish and their first ever play-off final.
It was in their first appearance at Wembley in 30 years that he ended their league exile.
John McGovern, the Forest captain who hoisted the European Cup aloft in Munich in 1979 and Madrid in 1980, concluded that returning to the top flight would bring back memories of when we brought history to the club.
We are a small city club, but we shook Europe up at one time and now Steve Cooper has the side together to shake the league.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
