Proudlock found himself mostly relegated to the substitutes bench in the 2001–02 season after manager Dave Jones spent heavily in the close season on new attacking players. He scored a hat trick against Bradford City in October 2001, which earned praise from Jones, but these ended up his only goals of the season. A knee injury suffered in December 2001 that required surgery interrupted his season, a four-match suspension followed and having missed a lot of football, he joined Nottingham Forest on a one-month loan in March 2002.