Filippo Giraldi’s six months at Nottingham Forest: ‘Of course I’m angry’
In a restaurant on the Piazza della Repubblica in Florence — Filippo Giraldi’s home city — the former Nottingham Forest sporting director is ready to talk for the first time about his six months at the club. “I prefer to work, then talk,” he tells The Athletic.
The club devoted just 46 words to his dismissal statement in April. Two months on, he’s still wrestling with their decision. “Of course I’m angry, of course I would have liked to have finished the season and I don’t understand why.
“I accept it though and I’m thankful. I’m not a person who has a bad feeling. I’ve been given a great opportunity. I played my part and did my best, that’s for sure. It still hurt me and I still don’t understand, but it’s life.”
The 49-year-old was sacked in the aftermath of the 2-0 defeat at Aston Villa which — after losing to relegation rivals Leeds four days earlier — left Forest in the relegation zone for the first time since January. It seemed that someone had to carry the can.
“I should be more angry with (the club’s ownership) because it feels undeserved about how it finished, but I’ve loved them because they love the club and they are extremely generous in the way they make themselves available for the club.”
Giraldi says of Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis and his son Miltiadis: “From a working point of view, it has been fantastic. No interference at all. Of course, I have a daily relation with the owner and Miltiadis, a different type of relation and we talk about different subjects.
“With the owner, it is about the general workings of the club, where we want to go and what we want to achieve. With Miltos, it was more about players. But they haven’t interfered once and more than that, they have helped. The perception sometimes is wrong.”
Emotions ran high in the run-up to Giraldi’s sacking. Leaks suggested Steve Cooper was on the verge of being sacked. “It came out that if we lose (against Leeds) that Patrick Vieira would become our coach,” says Giraldi.
“I phoned the owner because also with the previous game something similar came out. I said to him we can’t have that coming out all the time before the games because it’s the wrong message to the players and to everyone. We are in this together and we have to stick together.”
Between the Leeds and Villa games, Marinakis released a statement backing Cooper but said “results and performances must improve immediately” to arrest the slide.
“I was extremely happy that the owner put out that statement because it was the right way to defend your club and your people, and I think it was a brilliant move,” says Giraldi. “But sometimes, owners, in general, always look at the next result, not just at Nottingham Forest.”
Giraldi had put his neck on the line by defending Cooper. “I’m proud I fought a lot. There was a moment, and it’s normal when you go into losing games, that the owner can also think about looking at something else because you need to prepare it. You cannot avoid that. You have to do it.”
It meant when the defeat arrived against Villa, Forest’s sixth in nine games, the immediate upturn that the statement demanded had not arrived. “At that time, he (the owner) had to make some change because he wanted to change something. I know it’s difficult to listen to that, but I prefer it to be me than to be the coaching staff because, in that moment, I was far less important than the coaching staff.”
Giraldi’s stance on Cooper came with recent history attached. While Giraldi was Watford’s technical director, the club sacked head coach Javi Gracia just four games into the 2019-20 season. They went on to have two further permanent head coaches that season — Quique Sanchez Flores and Nigel Pearson — before being relegated from the Premier League.
“It’s been like the closure of a circle because one of the very few regrets I have in football is that I didn’t fight enough to keep Javi that season. I’ve always looked at myself and I didn’t want to repeat the same mistake. This year, I said whatever it cost me — and it cost me a lot — I will not allow that to happen.
Giraldi would always fight Cooper’s corner when asked by those above him, even if things hadn’t gone to plan in matches. “It’s part of the job. It’s why we are in that position and what we’re paid for. Sometimes the frustration and the anger of the owner is right and they’ve got a point most of the time. I also understand why they are not always as patient as I am.
“Sometimes the owner can see the team sheet and say: ‘Why is he playing this player or that player? Tell him this or that’, or whatever and they get angry and it happens with all the owners.”
While Giraldi was having to manage up with a combustible owner, he was also managing down. “If someone thinks their words are more important than the owner, he’s wrong. You have to accept who you are and what you represent for the club.
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Former Spurs defender Serge Aurier nets incredible own goal from 25 YARDS during Ivory Coast game, with goalkeeper adding to calamity with dreadful effort at save
- Aurier scored the opening goal in bizarre fashion past his own goalkeeper
- Ivory Coast went on to lose 3-0 to Zambia on Saturday in a qualifying match
Former Tottenham Hotspur defender Serge Aurier netted a bizarre own goal for Ivory Coast in their latest Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match.
His side fell to a 3-0 defeat to Zambia, their first of the qualifying group, with Aurier netting an own goal to start things off.
On the 31st minute, the Nottingham Forest full-back slid to intercept a pass, sending the ball towards his own goal in the air.
Unfortunately for Aurier, his goalkeeper Charles Folly Ayayi could not stop the ball going into the back of the net as it slipped through his hands.
Leicester forward Patson Daka doubled Zambia’s lead on the 48th minute before Kings Kangwa netted a third to see Zambia come out victorious.
Aurier’s own goal gathered attention on social media as Tottenham fan account The Spurs Web tweeted: ‘This was some own goal from Serge Aurier’.
This was added to by Spurs fans in the replies, with many sticking up for their former defender.
One user said: ‘What on earth is that keeper doing?’ while another added: ‘The keeper is more to blaame than Aurier here… woeful keeping!’.
However, other fans were not as defensive as one Tottenham supporter laughed at the idea of Spurs re-signing the defender as they wrote: ‘And there were people saying we should get this guy back’.
Aurier and his side know that they will finish at least second in their group as they face Lesotho in the final qualifying match in September.
They will be hoping that Comoros can do them a favour and beat Zambia to give them the chance to top Group H.
