'Victory' as Budget promises miners' pension cash
The chancellor announced former mineworkers will get extra payments from a £2.3bn reserve fund.
Nottingham Forest are determined to hold on to England midfielder Elliot Anderson, 23, and will reject any bids for him during the January transfer window. (Mail), external
Want more transfer stories? Read Thursday's full gossip column
Image source, Getty ImagesNottingham Forest winger Callum Hudson-Odoi feels connections in the team were "a bit scratched" before Sean Dyche's arrival and praised him for the "amazing job" he has done mending those.
After an impressive 2024-25 campaign in which they secured European football for the first time in nearly 30 years, it has been a difficult few months for the club as they struggled for results.
However, Dyche - the third person to take charge this season - has helped to steady the ship and the Reds are now on a four-match unbeaten run, including a 3-0 win over Liverpool at Anfield at the weekend.
They will be looking to extend that when they host Malmo in the Europa League on Thursday.
"Sean and his staff have come in and done an amazing job," Hudson-Odoi said.
"You can tell the energy around the group has changed and everybody's just working as hard as we can to get the best possible results.
"The bond and strength that we have had before will come back, and you can tell we are wanting to fight for every game we play in.
"A lot has changed. I think it was a bit scratched a while ago. The group has reconnected very well and everybody is just focusing on doing what we know best - which is playing football and enjoying football.
"It's just the connections that were a bit lost for a while, but now I think everything's connecting back nicely.
"Everybody's working hard to do the right things and hopefully keep getting good results."
Nicola Pearson
BBC Sport journalist
Nottingham Forest boss Sean Dyche has been speaking to the media before Thursday's Europa League game against Malmo at the City Ground (kick-off 20:00 GMT).
Here are the key lines from his news conference:
Morgan Gibbs-White will not be available for Thursday's match as they are "just settling an issue with him", but so far it is "nothing too serious". Ola Aina, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Dilane Bakwa are also still out.
Having been with the squad for a few weeks now, the Forest boss said he is "good with the general direction" they are going in but there is "still more to come from what we can do as a collective". He added: "They're taking in a lot of information with different managers and adapting to each different person as it comes. So far they've adapted to me and my staff, and they've been very accepting of the work that's getting done."
On if they can take confidence from Sunday's win at Anfield: "It just furthers the belief in the group and each other, which is important, and hopefully in ourselves. I've shared with them openly - we can only guide in what we think is the right direction. It's down to them and our trust in them to deliver. They're certainly doing that on a daily basis and in the games, and I've been very happy with that."
He added: "There was a real connection here. I think everyone knew that last season. When I got here it wasn't broken - I just said it was stretched is all and sometimes that happens. But I think there's a reconnection, and of course results help that massively."
Asked about balancing the Premier League and Europe, Dyche said it was "tougher" because it is the first year back, adding: "The beginning of this season should have been a reminder of how challenging it is [in the top flight]. The Premier League is still massively important to this football club, without a doubt. When you look at the Europa League just from the point of being in Europe again, it's brilliant for the history of the club and revisiting the history."
Despite noise around the club this season, Dyche feels "most Forest fans underneath that know the work that's been done by the ownership group since they came" and "you can't forget the whole journey" because of one difficult period.
On what his memory is of Forest's famous night against Malmo in 1979, when they won the European Cup: "I remember the goal - everyone remembers that one. My parents having it on TV and me watching it... But I think the club are doing proud - both sides are - for a remembrance of a big day for both clubs."
Long-serving commentator Clive Tyldesley joins this week's Sacked In The Morning podcast from BBC Radio Scotland and he recounts the first time he ever travelled with Brian Clough and Nottingham Forest.
You can hear a special tale about Clough so insisting Tyldesley wore a tie that he gave him cash to help him buy one.
Nottingham Forest have identified Brighton's 20-year-old English midfielder Jack Hinshelwood among a number of possible January transfer targets. (Mail), external
Meanwhile, Everton boss David Moyes wants to hang on to English midfielder James Garner amid interest from Forest, Manchester United and Aston Villa in the 24-year-old, who is out of contract at the end of the season. (Talksport), external
Want more transfer stories? Read Wednesday's full gossip column
Image source, Getty ImagesFormer Nottingham Forest winger and current assistant manager Ian Woan has been speaking about his history with the club's boss Sean Dyche.
Woan told the Shut Up And Show More Football podcast that their friendship is very close and "well outside the football realm", adding: "I first met him in 1990 [at Forest] when we were both in digs for six months. I then bought a house and the gaffer lived with me for five or six years. It was good times.
"Stoney [Steve Stone, fellow assistant to Dyche] also came to live with us for about a month but we couldn't have the three of us together - it was too much carnage!
"We have been best mates since then and I was his best man. It is an amazing kind of relationship. It is different now, but you never lose the fact of who the gaffer is. There is a lot of plusses and the trust there is incredible. He knows if he isn't around, he can delegate to me and Steve. The word is still getting out and he can trust it."
Want to hear more from Woan? Listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds
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Pat Riddell
Fan writer
Image source, Getty ImagesDefeating this season's Liverpool is not quite the same as defeating the 2024-25 all-conquering Liverpool. Although this season's Nottingham Forest are not quite last campaign's swashbuckling Nottingham Forest.
But still, back-to-back wins at Anfield for the first time since 1963. Our biggest ever win at Anfield. Our first clean sheet since April.
None of these things are to be sniffed at.
Sean Dyche was brought in to fix a broken club and the remit was clear: organise the defence, stop conceding from set pieces, start scoring from set pieces, win games, keep clean sheets, score goals… a pretty basic target, but Forest were failing at all of them.
Obviously it is still early days, but the confidence Saturday's historic win brings will make a big difference. The willingness to defend with all their might, to not even concede a yellow card, to stick to the gameplan and to comfortably attack at will is precisely where we need to be - the rest will follow.
There are clearly issues to resolve - which will start on Thursday in the Europa League reunion with Malmo - but balancing the squad in league and cup, getting the new players' form and understanding up to speed, and developing the tactics are things that will come with time.
For now, we can believe that Dyche will deliver results and we can start looking up the table, rather than over our shoulder. The bottom three might only be just behind us but, as I said last week, a few wins and other results going our way will dramatically affect the table.
It is just that nobody foresaw Liverpool sliding down while we picked up momentum.
The City Ground can be a fortress once again.
Find more from Pat Riddell at The Famous Club, external
