Nottingham Forest have parted ways with sporting director Filippo Giraldi. The relegation candidate attracted thirty players this season, is in sporting distress and is now dismissing someone with an important administrative position for the third time this season. That needs some explanation.
How Nottingham Forest messed it up last year
At the end of May, Nottingham Forest finally returned to the Premier League after a 23-year absence. Under success coach Steve Cooper, the club won the decisive promotion game against Huddersfield Town 1-0. With that duel, the relegation candidate traditionally adds more than two hundred million euros, partly due to the enormous television money associated with it.
That was reason enough for the two-time winner of the European Cup to invest heavily in the selection last summer. The goal: to make the club completely Premier League-proof. The board did not hesitate to take a big hit on the wallet. Last summer, no less than 22 players came to Nottingham for a total of one hundred and fifty million euros.
Despite the many reinforcements, Cooper was unable to get his team up and running. At the beginning of October, Nottingham Forest were firmly at the bottom, to the disappointment of club owner Evangelos Marinakis. However, the Greek kept full confidence in the man who brought Nottingham to the Premier League and made a nice gesture. Despite the last place, he extended Cooper’s contract.
Club owner intervenes
Marinakis did feel compelled to intervene at an administrative level. Nottingham sacked head of recruitment George Syrianos and chief scout Andy Scott. This happened after an extensive evaluation of the summer transfer cases. Marinakis pleaded for a reorganization and brought in Giraldi as sporting director. He would be in charge of the club’s player policy.
Giraldi was in the past responsible for putting together Watford’s squad that scored a record number of points in the Premier League in the 2018-19 season and reached the FA Cup final in that season. Giraldi, however, was just as eager to buy as his predecessors. In the winter break he opened another can of players, bringing the total number of acquisitions this season to thirty.
New administrative intervention
After a strong start to 2023, Nottingham Forest has sunk deep again. The club has been waiting nine games for a win and is now below the relegation line. Reason enough for Marinakis to review the situation again. Once again, he expressed confidence in head coach Cooper, but intervened on a managerial level.
Nottingham Forest has now also dismissed Giraldi, meaning that the club is now thirty players and a handful of board members further. Forest is in sporting distress and it is not at all quiet at the club. But Marinakis still hopes Cooper pulls another rabbit out of the top hat.
