BOSS Mark Cooper has experienced a gamut of emotions since Forest Green’s promotion to the Football League.

May 14, 2017 will go down in the history books as the day Rovers ended 128 years in non-league football as Kaiyne Woolery’s brace and a Christian Doidge goal handed Cooper’s side a 3-1 victory over Tranmere Rovers at Wembley.

It wasn’t plain sailing though - a mid-season blip and dressing room disharmony prompted Cooper to shove old favourites out the door, but his unpopular decisions were vindicated as he delivered league football in his first season at the helm.

And a brave new world now awaits the smallest professional club in the land, starting with Barnet at the New Lawn on Saturday and the Carabao Cup clash against MK Dons next Tuesday.

Excitement is reaching fever pitch ahead of the league opener, and Cooper revealed his own feelings are running high.

He said: “I’m feeling a bit of everything – excited, anxious and apprehensive, because you never know how it will quite pan out on the first day, so we have done as much work as we can in terms of fitness and now it is about getting all the pieces in the right place.”

Rovers’ historic promotion to the Football League has certainly pricked the attention of the worldwide media, reaching 270 million people and the most improbable places – Azerbaijan, China, New Zealand and Norway.

From the Gazette to Japanese TV, every media outlet wants a vegan slice of left-field chairman Dale Vince’s quirky FGR.

More than twenty media organisations converged on the Football League Two newcomers on Monday.

“We have massive interest now in Forest Green,” said Cooper, who delivered promotion in his first season at the helm.

“Monday was a big media day and we had people coming from far-and-wide. We embrace it and this is very important to put the word out about Forest Green because everybody wants to know about us.”

Attention to detail is the name of the game for the Rovers’ boss and his assistant Scott Lindsey and with press business done, Cooper and his staff will pull the shutters down and focus on Barnet.

Cooper said: “We needed to spread the word and give our time to the press and we managed to get it all done in one day. We have to take a good look at Barnet and then really concentrate on Thursday and Friday on nailing down the team and how we go about Saturday.”

Cooper and chairman Dale Vince have big plans and are determined not to tread water and see League Two as the first step on a journey to the Championship.

“I said from day one I want to be competitive within the league and I think that is realistic and that is what we aim to do, but whether that competitiveness takes us to the top echelons of the league remains to be seen but we are going to go in and try to give it everything we’ve got and that’s certainly the aim.”

And, while more established Football League teams, like relegated League One outfits Swindon Town and Coventry City could have eager eyes on picking up victories over Forest Green, Cooper added: “It is about who performs on the day and who fights the hardest on the day. We play a little bit differently and have a lot of possession of the ball. That is something which is not going to change.

“We want to keep our exciting style of play. We are going to go into the league on the front foot and try and take teams on.

“The first thing (about going up) is you have to make sure you stay in and you have to make sure you are in a good position. If you are doing well, they you can add to your squad in January with a bit more quality and then you start looking at the other end of the table.”