Nottinghamshire

Nick Mashiter
Football reporter

Image source, Nottingham Forest FC

Young striker Michael Noonan will join Nottingham Forest from Shamrock Rovers next year.

The 18-year-old has penned a pre-contract agreement and will officially move to the City Ground on 1 January.

Noonan has scored eight times for Shamrock this season, with Rovers second in the League of Ireland.

The forward also played in five of Shamrock's European games in the Champions League and Conference League qualifiers

His goal against Molde in February 2025 made him the youngest scorer in the Conference League's history and the second youngest in a Uefa club competition.

Chief Football Officer, George Syrianos, said: "Michael is a player we, along with a number of other clubs, have followed closely for some time, so we're delighted he has chosen Nottingham Forest.

"Recruiting high-potential young players is central to our long-term vision for the academy. We want the academy to be a genuine pathway to the first team, and that means bringing in the right talent early and giving them a clear, individual plan to get there.

"We look forward to welcoming Michael and his family to Forest and to supporting his development in the years ahead."

We asked you to send in your questions for football reporter Nick Mashiter to answer. In the first of a two-part Q&A on Wednesday, he addresses what success looks like at Nottingham Forest this campaign and what Oliver Glasner's team need to do to produce strong performances.

Will: What do you think represents success for Glasner this season? If we trend as we are into Christmas, do you think the owner will look to replace him, or will Glasner be given the full season regardless, assuming we're not close to relegation?

Nick: After last season, Forest desperately need stability, and it would be a huge surprise to see the manager leave, unless it is an irretrievable situation.

The investment in him would make it an expensive change anyway, but it is way too soon to be thinking about anything like that.

Glasner has rejected any suggestions of a quick fix, and he should. Promising easy solves to complicated issues is foolish.

In terms of a successful campaign, that could be subjective. Already out of the Carabao Cup, they only have the FA Cup to aim for if they want silverware, but a steady season, with clear progress both in terms of playing style and results, can still be considered a success.

Consistency has been in short supply, so I would love to see a stable and consistent Forest this season.

Image source, Getty Images

Tom: What do we need to do to make our City Ground strong again and make us hard to beat at home?

Nick: Forest only won four home games in the Premier League last term, and they have lost 28 out of 79 at the City Ground since returning to the top flight in 2022.

That is 35% of their games, while they have won 26 of 79 (32%), so it can be argued the City Ground has not been consistently strong recently - 2024-25 being the exception.

It's a hard question to answer because there is no single thing which can explain what they can do or what they have to do, but over the next few years we will see a huge change at the City Ground with the planned expansion and that will also change the dynamic at home.

The defeats by Leeds and Coventry, and the Tottenham draw, were frustrating, but perhaps a byproduct of Forest still learning and growing under Oliver Glasner.

The next three home games are against Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea, but looking at the results at Villa Park and Anfield, Forest can get results and time together can only help them improve.

Come back to this page later on Wednesday for part two of the Q&A, which will focus on whether Forest will survive this season and why Glasner keeps changing his side.

Pat Nevin
Former footballer and presenter

Image source, Getty Images

The Premier League has opened a Pandora's box of problems which cannot be closed. However well-intentioned, however morally upright they mean to be, the way the product is perceived around the planet by fans will be negatively affected.

This looks like a gigantic mess, but could also become a bit of a joke, especially if they attempt to rewrite history, and change the winners' names on the Premier League and cup trophies over these past 15 years. I wouldn't want the engraver's job.

I believe financial rules brought in to prioritise financial sustainability were also aimed at limiting the money being spent by the clubs, especially the staggering, ever-inflating sums spent on sometimes fairly average players. It could lead to a de facto salary cap, which many fans would approve of.

The long-term problem for the league is easy to see here: if the top players are then offered significantly more money to play elsewhere, they will be off before you can say 'man on'.

I always thought the Premier League had taken a huge risk going down this regulatory road. As with Manchester City's future, nobody knows what the real long-term ramifications will be.

I have a suspicion it could end up being the greatest own goal in the sport's entire history.

The big take: If City are cast out of England's top leagues, what might the owners do – hang around the lower reaches, or find something else? Wasn't there the idea of a Super League? Keep that thought in the back of your mind.

Pat Nevin writes weekly in the Football Extra newsletter. If you're outside the UK and would like to receive it, sign up here.

Pat Nevin
Former footballer and presenter

Image source, Getty Images

Most of the time it is not that big a deal if you go into the international break having just lost a club game if I am honest, as teams lose games frequently.

That is just the life of a professional footballer. You have to be able to cope with disappointment as an individual and as a team.

‌Admittedly, players will sometimes say that they want another domestic game quickly, but it is almost always specifically after a 'bad' defeat as opposed to just a run-of-the-mill loss.

‌However, if the team has genuinely played terribly, or lost a game they were expected to win comfortably, you will commonly hear the phrase "we want to have a chance to get back out there and put it right quickly".

‌Players who have had a stinker, even if their team won, might also want to get out again as soon as possible to put it right in front of their fans, or 'reset'. The 'reset' argument is just current football jargon to say, "we will try to get it right next time, and we blew it this week, sorry".

‌The international break can also have the beneficial effect of taking your mind away from a bad defeat. This is not to say that you don't care, it is just that you must compartmentalise your thoughts and feelings. Footballers are among the best at this.

‌You simply cannot go to play for your national team and spend the time brooding about what happened against Brentford last week. That way lies madness and another poor performance, only this time in front of the entire nation.

Pat Nevin writes weekly in the Football Extra newsletter. If you're outside the UK and would like to receive it, sign up here.

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City have responded to the Premier League's confirmation that the club has been found guilty of breaching 115 financial rules.

City have until Friday to appeal the decision but in a statement said: "Manchester City FC is both disappointed and surprised by the opinion of the Premier League Commission, that has been published today.

"The club is innocent of the accusations made by the Premier League and a comprehensive body of irrefutable evidence exists in support of all of its positions, relating to this case. The club will therefore be relentless, and where necessary proactive, in any and all appropriate regulatory and legal forums.

"The Premier League process remains ongoing, with significant elements uncompleted. Manchester City FC will now pursue the appeal avenues open to it, on the basis that the opinion contains clear material errors, of law, principle and fact, and is unsafe.

"The club has diligently respected due process for eight years on the basis that the Premier League Board and Executive would behave as an independent, impartial and fair-minded regulator, free from partisan influence.

"The club is obviously restricted in what it can say further until all future proceedings are complete."

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Image source, Getty Images

Manchester City arranged "sham contracts" with a number of its commercial partners as part of a scheme to disguise secret funding of more than £830m, the Premier League says.

The League confirmed that City have been found guilty of all charges related to breaches of Premier League financial rules between the 2009-10 and 2017-18 seasons.

An independent commission found that, during that time period, the club arranged the "sham contracts" as well as "relying on sham agreements to artificially inflate the club's revenues and reduce its costs".

The club continues to deny any wrongdoing and has until Friday to appeal.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters said: "The core decision establishes the facts of what happened at Manchester City during this period. It details how the club systematically broke Premier League Rules for nearly a decade.

"It also vindicates the Premier League's decision to pursue this case against Manchester City. While the process to date has been both long and difficult, the League has remained determined that the facts be established independently.

"It is a key responsibility of the Premier League to ensure that the Rules, approved by the clubs themselves, are upheld to protect the integrity of the competition. It is paramount that the League remains competitive and fair for all clubs and for the fans. We take that role extremely seriously.

"This disciplinary case, and this decision, are the most significant in Premier League history. There are elements of the case that remain to be decided, including, importantly, what sanction must follow for these breaches. Now we have the Commission's decision, we are committed to moving swiftly through the remainder of the process, to provide certainty for the League, our clubs and fans."

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Pat Nevin
Former footballer and presenter

Image source, Getty Images

Unbelievably, sensible and well-informed people are seriously discussing Manchester City getting a huge points deduction or being demoted or kicked out of the English leagues completely.

‌There is also reasonable talk about them being sued by just about every other major club in the domestic game, and a few beyond that. That is before you get to the concept of titles being stripped and trophies retrospectively re-awarded to others.

There is still an appeal to be heard, but they have been found guilty already. Serious consequences must be considered. Following the draconian punishments handed to Everton and Nottingham Forest, among others, City might find they don't just have the book thrown at them, it is the entire British Library lobbed in their general direction.

Those other clubs cooperated in the process. City have faced more charges and they involve larger sums and over a longer time period. In short, things are not looking good for the club that dominated English football for almost a decade.

This may be the biggest story in the Premier League's history and it is going to run and run.

Other serious considerations will follow hard on the heels of the Blues' dilemmas – specifically what long-term effects will this have on the Premier League? They will not all be good ones.

Some reasonably argue that the financial rules City have been found to have broken shouldn't have been put there in the first place. They were brought in to safeguard the financial security of the clubs and the league, but try telling that to many City, Everton and Nottingham Forest fans just now.

Newcastle and Aston Villa have plenty of financial backing, but these rules have hurt their ability to grow and stay competitive with the legacy clubs. This all feels unfair if you are a supporter of those two.

The money that will now be frittered away by the English game on lawyers and legal fees is eye-watering, and it will grow exponentially as the litigation increases.

Pat Nevin writes weekly in the Football Extra newsletter. If you're outside the UK and would like to receive it, sign up here.

Oliver Glasner's reign at Nottingham Forest is now well underway, with his side picking up five points from the opening five games of the 2026-27 Premier League season.

And with the international break in full flow, what better time than now to ask BBC Sport football reporter Nick Mashiter your burning questions on the Reds.

They could be on the squad, injury concerns, Glasner's tactics, the boardroom or a topic of your choice.

Nick will be on hand to answer a selection next week.

Get in touch with your question here