Newly-appointed Nottingham Forest sporting director Filippo Giraldi looks set to become a regular watcher of head coach Steve Cooper's training sessions if previous comments while at Watford are anything to go by.
The 48-year-old worked at Watford for eight years, first as their chief scout and then became the club's technical director before leaving in November 2020. Giraldi is now returning to football, after just one month shy of two years out of the game, at the City Ground.
Before that extended spell in Hertfordshire, Giraldi worked in his homeland, Italy, in various non-coaching capacities at AC Prato and Brescia. He held positions as the head of academy, chief scout and director of football and is now set to come on board in a similar capacity to the former with the Reds.
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The announcement comes at a stage when Cooper 's position at the club seems far from guaranteed beyond Monday's match against Aston Villa. Three months after leaving Watford, their departed technical director gave an extensive interview to The Athletic, and this gives the Forest boss an idea of what to expect over the coming days.
Speaking in February last year, Giraldi said about paying close attention to team training: “If you see a coach work properly, you can go through a defeat without any problem because you can see that things will change and results are coming. If then you see there is no direction, where you work all week with one system and then play another system in the match, it’s a signal of maybe of disorganisation or desperation.
"You have to support the coach, speak with them more before than after you do an analysis. But if you really want to be a support, you have to discuss playing style."
What do you make of Giraldi's words? Have your say in the comments...
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