Stability paramount at Nottingham Forest, says defender Matt Mills

Speaking ahead of the Reds’ home encounter against sixth-placed Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday, the defender still aims to finish the season as high up the table as possible.

But acknowledged the difficult circumstances Forest find themselves, this time around.

Mills said: “This season will be looked back on in three or four years and people will realise how well we have done, in the circumstances.

“If we can come out of the transfer embargo, it will be a huge help. We have had to work under huge constraints, but we have never shied away from that.

“If we can put together an incredible run and get into the play-offs, then great. But the most important thing is to let the club build some stability; to get out of this transfer embargo and build from there.

“We have a manager in place who can build the core of a squad to take us forward. In future, people will look back at this season and realise how well we have done pick up points, but also looking at the foundations we have built.

“We have overcome a lot of adversity. Not just the financial situation, but also the loss of players and the start we made to the season, which was not great. We battled really hard to put ourselves in a position of stability in the Championship, in terms of survival. What came with that was expectation, when it comes to the play-offs.

“We have slipped off the pace again since then, but it is up to us to edge ourselves closer again now.”

He added: “I would definitely have taken Championship survival after the first ten games.

“We were really thin, when it came to numbers in our squad. We lost Michail (Antonio), who was a top player, but it enabled us to bring three or four players in and, as a result, we looked stronger as a squad.

“I felt we were building, but then we got hit with injuries. Once we got on that unbeaten run, we did start to believe we could achieve something. But it is a long season. Championship survival was always important, with a view to coming out of the embargo stronger, with a base of players to move forwards with next season.

“The players all want to achieve success; to win promotion. We have come a little bit unstuck, but there is still time for us to finish the season as strongly as possible. The aim is to finish the season in as high a position as we can.”