European Cup legend makes shock City Ground claim and tells Nottingham Forest 'that's what you want'

European Cup hero Garry Birtles has made an extraordinary claim as Nottingham Forest bid to get their Champions League quest back on track.

Forest go to Spurs tonight (8pm) looking for a win to return to third place in the Premier League table after dropping to sixth over the Easter weekend.

But Birtles, a hero of Forest’s glory days under the great Brian Clough, claims the Reds have a not-so-secret weapon in their European qualification armoury - the City Ground crowd.

Previewing the Spurs clash on TalkSPORT, Birtles was questioned by host Troy Deeney about the “excellent” Forest crowd having been at the City Ground for the draw with champions-elect Liverpool earlier in the season.

And Birtles responded by telling listeners: “For anybody coming to the City Ground, it's just electric there. The atmosphere is second to none.

“And people ask if it was like that when we were in the European Cup, and we say no, it wasn’t. So what we're seeing now from the fans is just unbelievable, especially after last season and the struggle down at the bottom of the table.

“To be vying for a place in Europe, it's just staggering. It's like, you know, waking up from a dream.”

Forest still have home games against Brentford (May 1), Leicester City (May 11) and Chelsea (May 25) to come, but for now the focus is on their trip to Spurs, a former club of manager Nuno Espirito Santo.

Birtles added: “Nuno's done a magnificent job. Everybody at the club has, everybody's in the right positions. The owner's been brilliant. Everything has just gelled together, and it's still in their hands to get back in third place.

“That's what you want as a player, as a manager - you want it in your hands. You don't want to be looking at everybody else's results.”

Asked if there was added emotional pressure on Nuno to show Spurs what they had missed out on by sacking him in November 2021 after less than four months in charge, Birtles was clear.

“I can remember when I came back to Forest from Man United being desperate to do well against them, and Nuno will want that too.

“It will certainly be at the back of his mind, but he'll tell his players to forget it, that it’s not about him, not about Tottenham, it's about winning that football match this evening and going back into third place.

“Then you've got those home games - Brentford, Leiester, Chelsea - so it's still really in Forest's hands.”

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