Nuno, Wood and the European dream.

“Young man,” Brian Clough lectured the Bulgarian immigration official who had invaded the Nottingham Forest plane at Sofia airport. “We’re tired and we want to go home. You understand? Home.” Clough was pouring champagne as the plane, already delayed, waited to take off. The passport pen-pusher was demanding another, superfluous check of documents but realised he’d met a higher authority in Clough. “Now get off my plane,” Clough concluded. Which the chastened official duly did and Clough returned to dispensing bon mots and bubbly.

Chris Wood and Nuno Espirito Santo. Photo: Dan Istitene/Getty Images.

That was the last time Forest played an away game in Europe’s elite competition, 45 years ago, when they were champions of Europe. They drew CSKA Sofia in the first round of 80/81, lost the away leg, saw off the officious official, but lost at the City Ground, 1-0, and the European Cup reverie was over. Until now.

If Carlsberg did weekends, Forest’s would probably be the best in the world. First, they thrashed Brighton & Hove Albion at a raucous City Ground on Saturday lunchtime. 7-0 – even the vidiprinter had to spell it out for the hard of believing. Then they watched Newcastle United lose to Fulham in a 3pm kick-off. They relaxed further on Sunday and saw Manchester City succumb spectacularly at Arsenal. Forest remain third but are now six points clear of fourth-placed City and Newcastle in fifth. Nuno Espirito Santo organises them and motivates them. The keeper and defence are rock solid. The midfield tireless. Morgan Gibbs-White is the conductor of the orchestra, Anthony Elanga the creative zephyr out wide and Chris Wood utterly focused on transferring the ball into the net.

Champions League qualification is a distinct possibility. They’ve been in the Uefa Cup since but this is the Champions League, the modern European Cup, the competition they dominated for two seasons. If the excitement levels currently rise at the City Ground just imagine the noise if – possibly when given the likelihood of five spots - Handel’s Zadok the Priest comes calling.

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There are good owners in the Premier League but some who fans are understandably very wary of. It was only the swift, angry protests of supporters at Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and elsewhere that stopped the European Super League plotters, including owners of English clubs, and saved the Premier League in 2021. Continued suspicion of the intentions of certain owners, along with shameless hiking of ticket prices and assaults on concessions, are why fans back the Independent Regulator arriving later this year.

Fans need someone powerful to protect their interests and the game’s interests. The FA should be the guardians of the game but exist in the Premier League’s shadow and lack real power. The Premier League currently fights a rearguard action against the incoming Independent Regulator, arguing that the league is a huge success story that doesn’t need regulating, and that the Independent Regulator will be expensive.

The problem facing the Premier League is that fans simply don’t trust the executive to stand up to those owners whose only creed is greed when the crunch comes again. As it will. There are good people inside the Premier League – Richard Masters is not the villain depicted by many fans - and inside elite boardrooms who actually need the help of an Independent Regulator to safeguard the league against future breakaways. It would be naïve to think there won’t be a further threat.

Premier League executives need to accept the inevitability and usefulness of the Independent Regulator, and work in tandem and in harmony with whichever KC is appointed. If they care about English football, they will.

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Good to see Adam Wharton back playing for the first time since October. The Crystal Palace midfielder suffered a groin injury on England duty at the Euros that eventually required surgery. Wharton came on only for the last few minutes of Palace’s fine win at Old Trafford but still demonstrated his reading of the game and a neat pass or two. He replaced Will Hughes, who is quietly (as is his way) having the season of his life. Oliver Glasner will ease Wharton back but Palace’s head coach has an interesting decision to make: would the Wharton-Hughes midfield work in his 3-4-2-1 system or does Jefferson Lerma deserve continued involvement? Lerma’s played well alongside Hughes. At least Glasner has good options now with Wharton’s welcome return.

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Social media companies are so sophisticated at collecting data about accounts, and then using algorithms to bombard us with personalised advertising, that they surely have the technology to track down those posting abusive posts. Joe Willock was targeted on Instagram with what his club, Newcastle United, termed “appalling” racist abuse following Saturday’s 2-1 loss to Fulham. As well as reporting the offensive comments to Meta, the owners of Instagram, Newcastle contacted the police who are investigating. Police resources are finite, though.

Meta talks of its “commitment to expression” but emphasises it will “limit expression” in “service of the values’’ that “we expect that people will respect the dignity of others and not harass or degrade others”. Willock’s horrendous experiences fall into that category. Meta has the technology (especially with AI), the wealth and the duty to tackle such abuse. If that demands more complicated account verification (including mobile phone number), then so be it. The Metaverse will be the better for it.

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James Garner has such a ferocious work ethic and strong talent that it has been frustrating watching his career held back by injuries. He performed hungrily and successfully for David Moyes at the heart of Everton’s midfield, admittedly against a diffident Leicester City. If Garner can stay fit, and add some goals back into his game (as he did on loan at Forest from Manchester United) Everton have a real all-round midfield talent. And Garner’s still only 23.

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If voting was done for Footballer of the Year now, Mo Salah would win, ahead of Chris Wood and Arsenal’s Gabriel. Even when the Liverpool attacker’s not at full throttle, Salah’s a threat. He took his Premier League tally to 21 goals (along with 13 assists) with a clinical penalty against Bournemouth followed by a trademark dart in from the right, ball on to his left foot and finish. His Bournemouth marker, Milos Kerkez, is having a very good season and must have known what Salah intended. He surely should have known he had somehow to show Salah down the line, on to his right foot. Easier said than done. Salah controls such situations and others dance to his tune.

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Yesterday began with reports that police have examined 90 cases of hate crimes towards referees since the start of last season. So it was a relief to be at Arsenal and see a controlled performance by Peter Bankes. A few complaints were heard, and Arsenal’s captain Martin Odegaard was booked for dissent following his frustration over being pulled up over what looked a fair challenge. Gary Neville, on Sky, mentioned that Bankes might have obscured Phil Foden’s view of the lurking Thomas Partey when giving the ball away but that was hardly the referee’s fault. Foden should have been more careful. Bernardo Silva could have been booked for a foul on Leandro Trossard. But there were no howlers, no controversies. Bankes let a high-speed, high-stakes game flow, let the footballing stars be the story, and VAR behaved itself. More of this please.

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Manchester City had Scott Carson as their reserve keeper on the bench at the Emirates. Hugely popular because of his upbeat personality but aged 39 and not played in almost three years. Ederson, absent with a slight injury, was badly missed as Stefan Ortega lacks the Brazilian’s presence and range of distribution. James Trafford, who joined City at 12 and left two years ago for Burnley aged 20, extended his record of not conceding a Championship goal to almost 13 hours on Saturday. Wanting game-time, Trafford was rarely likely to stay at City, who received £15m rising to £19m potentially.

It seemed a good deal all round but Trafford’s continued excellence is worth noting and celebrating. He won the Under-21s Euros without conceding a goal in 2023, has already been called up to the senior England squad and recorded his 20^th clean sheet of the season against Portsmouth on Saturday. And he keeps saving penalties.

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Enjoy the week, regards, Henry.