Deal Former Nottingham Forest manager defends January transfer business after being fired

“Taiwo Awoniyi’s injury meant we had to react. I know people wanted the best in the world, but in a relegation battle you have to go for what is available and what was very important for us was players used to these types of games.”

Addressing the criticism of Shelvey, he added: “His performance should have been better. I’m not hiding from that, but he got 200 games, including at Newcastle last year who were in the same position as Forest. So he was used to this type of game psychologically.”

Giraldi was instrumental in getting Brazilian Danilo to the City Ground, who came to the fore after the defeat at Villa. “I’d loved Danilo for a long time. He was too young to sign when I was at Watford, but it’s a market I have a strong connection with and have kept watching a lot of players since leaving.

“I worked so hard in January to make it happen. Despite the reservations of others, I was confident that it was the perfect time for him to spend six months adjusting.”

After Dean Henderson’s injury, Giraldi worked hard with the owner to bring in their first-choice goalkeeper target Keylor Navas from PSG. “It’s impossible to sign a player like Keylor without (the owner’s) love for the club.” I contacted (Navas), who was anxious to come even before the Manchester United cup game. ‘I have my stuff and I’m ready to come,’ he said. We tried everything since we couldn’t reach an arrangement with PSG, and with the salaries for players like this being so high, you need an agent owner to make the extra effort.”

Felipe’s expertise was also important, and it was yet another signing in which Giraldi’s connections played a role. “The sporting director at Atletico Madrid is Italian (Andrea Berta), and I’m Italian, so I had to push the deal hard and take personal responsibility at a certain point because we were struggling.”

“When you want to stay up, you want men like this: men who have played in Champions League finals, 200 games, and won the Spanish league.” You know what you’re going to get: a positive character who, even if they lose one or two games, doesn’t crumble and stays strong.”

Giraldi concedes that the final signing of Andre Ayew was “a special gift from the owner to the coach” because of their past connection at Swansea, but he is “happy because the reasoning behind the signing was correct.”