Where Nottingham Forest's best paid player from 10 years ago is right now | OneFootball

The lifelong misfit had a brief stint at the City Ground a decade ago, and raked in a pretty penny while doing so

In the days when Nottingham Forest are pushing for a top-four place in the Premier League, the trials and tribulations of their time in the Championship must feel like a lifetime ago.

The City Ground played host to EFL action for 23 years before the prestige club returned to the top flight, with a three-year stint in League One seeing them drop to their lowest ebb for over half a Century.

Heading back a decade ago and Forest were prime mid-table fodder in the Championship with managers seeming to come and go with each passing season, and results proving just as unpredictable as owner Fawaz Al-Hasawi’s choices in the boardroom.

With Stuart Pearce and Dougie Freedman both having stints in charge across the 2014/15 campaign, the bloated squad list proves just how many waifs and strays came and went during that period of time on the banks of the River Trent, while some memorable Championship names from past and present came through the doors at the City Ground.

There were some big hitters on the list, but according to Capology’s estimates, one player topped the wage bill that season, and is still playing his football in the second tier to this day.

Tom Ince tops Nottingham Forest wage bill in 2014/15 season

Tom Ince joined Nottingham Forest on loan during the 2014/15 campaign, with the playmaker playing six games while being borrowed from Hull City between October and December.

Having been tipped for a bright future after his start at Blackpool, the forward had failed to find his feet at the MKM Stadium, with stints at Forest and Derby County across the campaign proving he was still trying to find a place to call home at the age of 22.

The City Ground would not prove to be the right environment for Ince, who played just six times in the Garibaldi and failed to get his name on the scoresheet or contribute to anything meaningful during his time at the club.

With just two shots on target in his six matches, it was no surprise that Forest didn’t want to extend a loan deal for the player, who was said to be earning £24,000 a week at the time.

Four defeats and two draws later, the player was back on Humberside, before going on to net 11 times in 18 league games for rivals Derby in the second half of the season, to really rub salt into the wounds of the Tricky Trees.

In terms of permanent players, David Vaughan was racking up the most on a seven-day basis back in those days, with the Welshman said to be on £22,500 a week, while defenders Jack Hobbs and Danny Fox earned £20,000 between Monday and Sunday.

Tom Ince is now at Watford

Ince’s nomadic nature has carried on throughout his career, with a permanent move to Derby following in the summer of 2015, before moving on to Huddersfield Town just two years later.

A year with the Terriers was enough for Stoke City to be convinced to spend up to £12 million on his services back in 2018, and he would go on to rack up over 100 appearances for the Potters in the second tier, with loan spells at Luton Town and Reading coming in the latter half of his time at the bet365 Stadium.

While he would go on to sign for the Royals permanently in the summer of 2022, Ince then moved on to Watford a year later, making the Hornets the 11th EFL club of his career to date.

The forward has hardly caught fire during his time in Hertfordshire, with three goals and two assists summing up what has been an underwhelming spell at Vicarage Road.

In terms of salary, he is still taking home an estimated £30,000 a week, if there was anybody out there worried that he wasn’t earning a crust when times got tough on the field, while he still has another year left on his current deal.