Filippo Giraldi - Sporting Director

[Salvatore Matrecano]

Where was the dig at our owners? When have I ever been less than complementary to EM? Feel free to search though my 4000+ posts.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

Read the last sentence of your post, how is that not a dig at our owners?

God forbid we have a owner who's only crime is to back his managers and coaches with millions and millions of pounds and who is also investing more millions to give us a stadium to be proud of.

How dare he!

[Salvatore Matrecano]

It isnt a dig. Its a fact when Cooper took over Marinakis had spent well over £100m and the club was heading for League 1. You said yourself he wanted out and I dont blame him. He was well intentioned but the people he put in charge of running the club were failing miserably.
Cooper didnt just happen to be head coach when we were promoted like he was some sort of passenger. He single handedly delivered victory from the jaws of a humiliating defeat for EM.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

He didn't single handedly deliver victory SM. Who delivered the player's and paid for them etc? It was a joint effort from everyone surely?

[Paplane]

He didn't single handedly deliver victory SM. Who delivered the player's and paid for them etc? It was a joint effort from everyone surely?

Yep, totally. Joint effort. Nothing in life is ever black or white. The decision by the board to not sell Brennan in January was one that led to our promotion. If he had been sold I don't think it would've happened. It took a lot of balls to plough on and turn down the offer from Brentford with his contract running down. Who knows where we were at the time with ffp. So there's one clearly identifiable decision made by the club that directly affected the success of last season. Another is the effectiveness of Keinan Davis for us last season. Again, had he not been in the squad from January I don't think we get promoted. Cooper said at the time of his arrival that Davis was a player who he wanted at Swansea but who had also been identified by the club as a target. So again, a positive decision by the club to get a decent player that made a crucial difference. I'm sure there are many more we can't identify.

[Paplane]

And re the position of a sprting director, I've been hugely critical of Cooper this week because he deserved criticism with the way the game played out the other night. We lacked basic organisation which was way more than a bit of unfamiliarity between new players. Madison had all the space in the world to damage us. No one picked him up at all. That was Cooper's job to identify that and sort it but he let it go and bang, we are 3 down. Same with Vardy. He was making runs into the box that were never tracked. They should have been. After a couple of these it should have been sorted but it wasn't. If the players aren't doing something you ask them to you take them off. You don't just let it happen over and over again. I couldn't believe what I was seeing from a Cooper side because we've only rarely seen it. Boro and Cardiff away last season probably. It highlighted to me that perhaps Cooper isn't this wonderful genius we think he is and he can get things wrong too. But when the same things happen over and over again and from game to game you have to start thinking something's wrong. So I hope that this sporting dorector is someone Cooper can go to discuss these issues. If Cooper doesnt have the players who can carry out basic instructions then the director goes and gets players who can. Or if he sees that Cooper isnt looking to address the problems in training then he takes a view on if the coach should remain. And crucially, despite all the stats and sports science and what not of the modern game, the two of them can develop a rationale for the playing staff. This guy is a football man, and like Cooper has experience of running an academy. Despite what Watford fans think, he sounds like he could be a good fit.

[Sausage Roll]

And re the position of a sprting director, I've been hugely critical of Cooper this week because he deserved criticism with the way the game played out the other night. We lacked basic organisation which was way more than a bit of unfamiliarity between new players. Madison had all the space in the world to damage us. No one picked him up at all. That was Cooper's job to identify that and sort it but he let it go and bang, we are 3 down. Same with Vardy. He was making runs into the box that were never tracked. They should have been. After a couple of these it should have been sorted but it wasn't. If the players aren't doing something you ask them to you take them off. You don't just let it happen over and over again. I couldn't believe what I was seeing from a Cooper side because we've only rarely seen it. Boro and Cardiff away last season probably. It highlighted to me that perhaps Cooper isn't this wonderful genius we think he is and he can get things wrong too. But when the same things happen over and over again and from game to game you have to start thinking something's wrong. So I hope that this sporting dorector is someone Cooper can go to discuss these issues. If Cooper doesnt have the players who can carry out basic instructions then the director goes and gets players who can. Or if he sees that Cooper isnt looking to address the problems in training then he takes a view on if the coach should remain. And crucially, despite all the stats and sports science and what not of the modern game, the two of them can develop a rationale for the playing staff. This guy is a football man, and like Cooper has experience of running an academy. Despite what Watford fans think, he sounds like he could be a good fit.

This is a good point. There seems (on Twitter anyway) to be a lot of almost blind faith regarding Cooper because of how last season played out. Of course he's earned some of that and built up some credit but he's not above criticism when it's warranted and against Bournemouth and Leicester it most certainly was warranted.

I see so many fans (again on Twitter) saying "Give him time, he'll turn it round.' But how much time? And based on what evidence? Because based on the last three games (I'm not counting that ridiculous Man City team) we're going backwards.

[Salvatore Matrecano]

He didn't single handedly deliver victory SM. Who delivered the player's and paid for them etc? It was a joint effort from everyone surely?

So bearing in mind todays news maybe an apology if I was over the top.

I agree I should delete “single handedly” from my comment about Cooper and our success last season. He may have been the reason he turned it around but absolutely huge credit goes to Marinakis for staying the course, I have never pretended otherwise that we wouldnt exist without him.

Agree there was a team effort and also in my opinion the pivotal moment in last season was choosing to turn down the offer for Johnson that at the time was worth over a third of the value of the entire club. That took some nerve and I reckon very few owners would have made the same decision absolutely hats off to EM for that one.

I hope now that Cooper gets the opportunity to coach the squad and by that I mean the entire squad not just his favourites, thats his job. I am a little concerned about Giraldi and interference but as long as there is constructive input thats fine. To be fair you would assume now Cooper has signed he is on board with it.

[wassy04]

He didn't single handedly deliver victory SM. Who delivered the player's and paid for them etc? It was a joint effort from everyone surely?

So bearing in mind todays news maybe an apology if I was over the top.

I agree I should delete “single handedly” from my comment about Cooper and our success last season. He may have been the reason he turned it around but absolutely huge credit goes to Marinakis for staying the course, I have never pretended otherwise that we wouldnt exist without him.

Agree there was a team effort and also in my opinion the pivotal moment in last season was choosing to turn down the offer for Johnson that at the time was worth over a third of the value of the entire club. That took some nerve and I reckon very few owners would have made the same decision absolutely hats off to EM for that one.

I hope now that Cooper gets the opportunity to coach the squad and by that I mean the entire squad not just his favourites, thats his job. I am a little concerned about Giraldi and interference but as long as there is constructive input thats fine. To be fair you would assume now Cooper has signed he is on board with it.

Feels like Giraldi is at least some part why this deal was signed, so he's had a great start!

I think the way I'd look at it, if you're right allowed to complain about some of the mistakes Cooper has made this year (perhaps partly due to in house politics) then there are criticisms that apply to EM and co too. The one thing that EM has once again shown is a lack of stubbornness and willingness to admit mistakes. A surprising and admirable trait. He has also been patient with managers so far at Forest, more than is acknowledged. The leaks to the media were a bit worrying about sackings etc but hopefully we can leave that in the past and concentrate on the next three massive games.

[Salvatore Matrecano]

Think the media leaks about Benitez were actually very very clever Wassy. I think it was a sneaky yet laudable way to gauge supporter opinion.
To be honest who would have thought they cared much about supporter opinion, most clubs dont really its just lip service. Genuinly think our owners might have done on this.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

He didn't single handedly deliver victory SM. Who delivered the player's and paid for them etc? It was a joint effort from everyone surely?

So bearing in mind todays news maybe an apology if I was over the top.

I agree I should delete “single handedly” from my comment about Cooper and our success last season. He may have been the reason he turned it around but absolutely huge credit goes to Marinakis for staying the course, I have never pretended otherwise that we wouldnt exist without him.

Agree there was a team effort and also in my opinion the pivotal moment in last season was choosing to turn down the offer for Johnson that at the time was worth over a third of the value of the entire club. That took some nerve and I reckon very few owners would have made the same decision absolutely hats off to EM for that one.

I hope now that Cooper gets the opportunity to coach the squad and by that I mean the entire squad not just his favourites, thats his job. I am a little concerned about Giraldi and interference but as long as there is constructive input thats fine. To be fair you would assume now Cooper has signed he is on board with it.

No need to apologise SM.

I really enjoy debating with you and I always respect your opinion.

You always give as good as you get.

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

So it seems like Giraldi will now carry out some kind of internal investigation to see how we got into the position that we currently find ourselves in. At the end of the investigation there will probably be one or two sackings. Transfer window won't open again for almost 3 months so no rush but his findings will be very interesting though probably won't be made public.