Enzo Maresca hailed his Chelsea youngsters for sealing a Champions League return before saying “eff off” to their critics.
Levi Colwill secured their fourth-place finish while consigning to the Conference League with a coming of age performance at the City Ground.
And asked to describe how proud he was of the youngest squad in history Maresca, who had brought his young daughter into the press conference, used the opportunity to fire back at those who have been less enthused by his style of play.
“I didn’t have any doubt about the players,” said Maresca, who now has a tight turnaround to Wednesday's Conference League final against Real Betis in Poland.
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“The doubt was from outside. All the ones that have the answers or the ones that have the truth, they were saying that we are too young, we are not good enough, they were waiting for to drop points for us to achieve the .
“They were saying that we were not able to win on this pitch because we are too young, because we are not experienced.
“Unfortunately for them, they have all been wrong. All the ones that have the truth and have the answer to everything.
“So in English, how do you say? Eff off to all of them, because the players deserve that. The effort they have been doing is fantastic.”
Forest appeared deflated to have fallen short of the Champions League places but a return to Europe for the first time since 1995-96.
And goalkeeper Matz Sels, who was given the Golden Glove for most clean sheets, said: "It's a big achievement so I'm really happy but not only for me but for the team. “It means we had a great season, almost the whole season on a Champions League spot.
“Sadly we couldn't finish it but we need to be proud of the season we've had. We will play in Europe.”
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