Having finished third and lost in the Play-Off Final in the first season of Pozzo ownership, the second season was something of a damp squib.

The Hornets finished 13th, Gianfranco Zola left and sporting director Gian Luca Nani followed his compatriot out of the club in summer 2014.

At the time, Nani explained it was something he had been thinking about for some time and he was looking for a new challenge.

However, a decade later, he admits the on-pitch shortcomings of that second season influenced his decision.

“I felt bad about the results during that 2013/14 season,” he said.

“Zola had left, a new coach had come in, and at that time it was the right feeling for me to do something new.

“But I left still with very good feelings with everybody at the club. It was a very amicable split and I always had Watford in my heart, and I would come and watch them even after I had left.

“In my thinking, Watford was my team.

“When I think back on that first season, the things that happened with Troy Deeney, winning the semi-final, reaching the final, it left a great feeling with me.

“That is why I ended up living not far from Watford, and I always felt it was my club and the people here are my friends.”

Nani headed overseas and became sporting director at Al-Jazira in the Saudi League, but still held a fondness for the Hornets.

“I supported the club even though I wasn’t there, and when they got promoted I wrote to congratulate them and I felt part of the excitement,” he said.

“I didn’t ever know for sure that I would come back here to work again, but then again you never know in life.

“I went and got experiences in other places to add to my knowledge.

“Working at different places around the world has really helped me a lot. First of all, it helped me grow as a person, and then also in the job that I do.

“I have a lot of respect for all the different cultures. When I joined West Ham I was brought in to bring some of the continental culture, but I came to England with the intention to firstly understand and respect what happens in this country.

“You cannot maintain your expertise if you don’t understand the place where you are.

“Everywhere I have been, first of all I need to feel a part of the new culture and the new adventure.

“I really appreciate English football, which is very different from where I had come from in Italy.

“There are such unique players in England, such great quality. Italian football is very technical but perhaps also a little boring.

“In England you have greater intensity, even greater quality and club infrastructures are better.

“That is why I felt privileged to come and work in England. I was called to bring my expertise from Italy, but I was privileged to be here in England.

“I came to realise that once I understood the culture of the country I was working in, only then could I bring my knowledge and experience.

“Italy may have won four World Cups and the clubs have won a lot of European trophies, but that doesn’t mean that we are better.

“So when I went to Saudi Arabia that was in my mind, to understand their culture in order to be able to help bring my knowledge.

“We were second from the bottom of the league when I joined, and eventually we got to second from the top, we won the President’s Cup and we qualified for the Champions League.

“I travelled all over the place in Saudi Arabia, in Iran, in Uzbekistan – it was a great experience for me to encounter a completely different world.

“It was the same when I was at Brescia. I travelled all over the world, and every place I visited gave me more knowledge and experience.”

When our discussion moved to his return to Watford, the way Nani summed it up was touching.

“I have done all that travelling, but coming back to Watford was – for me – coming back home.

“When Gino called me it was really easy to come back. I like to think I was always a friend of Watford after I left, and when I visited I always took the time to say hello to all the staff.

“I would go to games or visit the training ground, but always with respect. I didn’t want to disturb anyone or anything, I was just visiting my friends.

“I cannot say I ever expected to come back, but now you understand why when Gino called me it was so easy to come back to Watford.

“The Watford I left in 2014 was a very good club, but the club I found when I returned a few weeks ago was a much better club still.

“I have found a club that is really at Premier League level everywhere except in the league table.

“The infrastructure, the stadium, the training ground – the progress has been unbelievable.

“Scott, Gino and all the employees of the club have done a great job, because the Watford I have returned to is like another club.”

• The third part of this interview will be on the website this afternoon.