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Nottingham Forest 'banish' duo including captain from training and transfer list them
Nottingham Forest have reportedly 'banished' two players from first-team training.
Nottingham Forest have reportedly ‘banished’ club captain Joe Worrall and fellow defender Scott McKenna from first-team training, it has been claimed. The long-serving duo have reportedly been told to arrive for training at a different time to their senior colleagues and will undergo their duties away from their team-mates.
Worrall and McKenna were key players during Forest’s promotion campaign in 2021-22. They featured prominently in the club’s first season back in the Premier League in two decades.
However, Worrall has made just six appearances this season while McKenna has appeared only five times. A spate of new signings have seen them demoted to back-up roles.
It is reported that no reason has been given for the centre-back pair being told to stay away from the first-team squad. According to the Daily Mail, there is no behavioural issue involved in the decision to make them train away from Steve Cooper’s squad.
Both players will reportedly be made available for transfer in the January window. It is believed that they have no future at the club.
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Worrall, 26, came through the club’s academy and has been a key part of Forest’s progression over the last five years - aside from a season-long loan spell at Rangers in 2018-19. McKenna, 27, was signed from Aberdeen in 2020 and has become a regular starter for Scotland since moving to the City Ground.
It comes with manager Cooper facing mounting pressure to save his job after a tough run of results. Wednesday’s 5-0 thumping at Fulham means Forest have won just one of their last 11 Premier League matches.
Asked if he worries about his job, Cooper, who guided the club to promotion and subsequently Premier League safety last season, said: "I do not think like that, I think that is not a good way to think.
"It is like saying to a player you have to play well in the next game, or you will not play for the club again. So it is just not a thought process I believe in using.
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"Of course we are disappointed with the results, particularly [Wednesday night] and the performance. But more than ever you have to show belief and character in what you want to be and who you are and what you stand for and obviously what the football club and supporters want to see as well.
"So that is my thought more than ever. Of course there are going to be a lot of questions, stories and whatever else, and rightly so, and I respect that and that is the life of a manager and I do not think it should be any other way.
"But at the same time you have to stay honed in on your day's work and where you are at in terms of preparations for the next game, which is Saturday and really if I let anything else creep into my thoughts, then that means I am not giving 100 per cent to the job and that is exactly what I want to do."