Ruben rues rivals’ fortunes

COOPER ON RUN TO SAFETY DEAN’S RELEGATION WARNING

STEVE COOPER has turned into the running man to solve Nottingham Forest’s relegation woes.

The Welshman, 43, says he doesn’t want to get away from it all as he tries to find the solution that will keep his club in the Premier League.

With tomorrow’s huge match against bottom club Southampton coming over the horizon, Cooper relaxes by going for a jog.

He said: “I like to do a lot of

The former City Ground favourite said that Steve Cooper’s side cannot treat Saints with anything less than total respect tomorrow night

Saunders (right) has first-hand experience of staying in the top flight at his last professional club, Bradford City, when the chips were stacked against the Bantams back in 2000-01.

He believes that Ruben Selles and his team will be viewing a trip to Forest as a chance to kickstart their own push to safety.

He said: “I’ve got a different view on all of this – and that’s down to my time at Bradford City when they were in the Premier League.

“We needed to win our last three games to stay up. On the last day, we needed a win to stay up and we had Liverpool at home.

“They needed a win to qualify for the Champions League. On the face of it we had no chance. But we scrapped and fought, had a bit of luck and David Wetherall scored the winner.

“We’d given ourselves a shot because we’d won the previous two – and that’s what Southampton will be thinking.

“If they win three of their last four – and that’s not

Forest boss Steve Cooper

running. I enjoy it. I don’t take my phone with me.

“The two places I definitely don’t have it are out on the training pitch and if I want to go for a run.

“It’s somewhere you can clear your mind – working out where you have to be.

“I make a lot of decisions when I’m out. I think about a lot of things.

“It’s even good when you feel frustrated or stressed.” impossible by the way – that will take them to 33 points. It could be enough.” Saunders said that his bias was in favour of Cooper – Forest’s boss was a youth team coach at Wrexham when the former Wales striker was managing at the Racecourse Ground. But he said that common sense told him that his former protege should be staying put – even if the club is relegated. He added: “If he can keep them up this year, there’s no doubt in my mind he’ll have Forest halfway up the league next year.

“If I owned the club, I’d be leaving him to it, even if they go down.”

SOUTHAMPTON boss Ruben Selles insists his Premier League basement boys have been no worse than many of their relegation rivals.

The Spanish coach believes the reason they have remained bottom for the last couple of months – while others have moved in the other direction – is down to luck.

A six-match losing streak

By the others has not been that they have been better than us in some moments.

“It has been like a moment when they got the three points when they should not get it.”

Selles became Saints’ third coach of the season in February when he replaced sacked Nathan Jones, who had taken over from Ralph Hasenhuttl in November.

Yet, despite a decent initial return under his watch, Saints have nosedived back towards likely relegation to the Championship.

And experienced defender Jan Bednarek admits the managerial merry-go-round has hardly been conducive to stability at St Mary’s.

The Pole admitted: “We lost our philosophy and consistency because of the changes. We didn’t have one idea, one way of playing.”