Steve Cooper points blame at Blackburn Rovers as ex-Huddersfield Town man is left marooned by Nottingham Forest

The former Huddersfield Town player is facing months of watching from the stands after being left out of Forest’s 25-man squad for the remainder of the Premier League season. The 24-year-old joined the club from the Terriers in the summer.

He had been linked with Sheffield United and West Brom in the final days of the transfer window before almost joining Blackburn on deadline day. The move was not completed on time as the paperwork was submitted after the deadline.

On Thursday, the EFL rejected an application from Rovers to complete the move, a decision the club intend to appeal. It leaves O’Brien in limbo as Cooper claimed the decision to leave him out of the 25-man squad came because he expected the loan move to be completed.

“It wasn’t us, that’s for sure – even though we’ve ended up with the problem it wasn’t us. It won’t take a genius to work out what has happened. I hope some questions are getting asked over there in Lancashire,” said Cooper.

“We will look after him, we won’t let him down, and try and treat him like a pro footballer who works hard and cares about his career. Really frustrating, he’s a player we like, a player who works really hard and he’s a good guy.

“Through conversations we agreed he could go on loan and after making that decision two things happen, you let the player go and you hope he has a positive experience and then plan around his departure and a 25-man squad.

“So for that to happen when it was no fault of Nottingham Forest’s, we did everything in time and correct in the process. For him to be let down in the way he was, it’s a problem that’s ended up back in our training ground. I feel for the lad.

“We will find a solution for him, we’ll look after him and we won’t let him down. We look after our players better than that, we’ll find a solution because he deserves it.”