When you work in and around professional football, you have to accept you will encounter some huge egos and personalities who take themselves very seriously.

Watford sporting director Gian Luca Nani is quite definitely neither of those.

A jolly man with a refreshingly genuine sense of humour, the 61-year-old Italian first worked at Vicarage Road when the Pozzos purchased the club in 2012 before departing after two seasons.

The exit of Cristiano Giaretta opened the door for Nani to return, and he has been back at London Colney since early December.

It was there that I went to meet him, and when he bound across the room arm outstretched to shake hands he said: “Sorry I kept you waiting – but let’s be honest, 15 minutes is quite good for an Italian.”

There followed a hearty laugh from someone who was clearly keen to break the ice and show a human side that many senior football officials tend not to disclose.

As we sat down in his office he leant towards me and said: “Andrew, there is just one thing I must ask before we start…”

Had I misjudged him and I was about to see the more corporate side of Nani?

“Please don’t use those old pictures of me when I was fat. I’ve lost two stone,” he laughed, before adding: “I have a fanbase you know.”

With my willingness to put people at ease when interviewing them using the medium of self-deprecation, it is the first time an interviewee has kicked things off with a couple of wisecracks that confirmed interviewing Signore Nani would be as fun as it would be interesting.

That isn’t to say he’s not serious about his work. Far from it. Had time allowed he could have chatted all day about football, databases of players, coaches he has worked with and countries his career has taken him to.

He is also very serious about Watford. His first stint with the Hornets may have only been for two years but clearly the club left a positive imprint on him such was the fondness and warmth with which he spoke about it.

And this from a man who had worked with some true footballing giants long before arriving in Hertfordshire.

“I had a great start to my career, something that was really unbelievable,” he said.

“I had the chance to work with a chairman at Brescia who gave me an unbelievable feeling by telling me ‘listen, you can do what you want’. But he also said ‘just don’t let me spend any money!’

“We had a great scouting network which allowed me to set up a system that enabled me to find very good players.

“And we had great seasons at Brescia as we had players like Roberto Baggio, Pep Guardiola, Andrea Pirlo and Luca Toni.

“We were able to bring through younger players and they had excellent senior players around them.

“Pirlo was 16 years old when he started with us. It was really great times, something to enjoy, watching younger players like Pirlo growing up around more senior players like Baggio and Guardiola.

“We qualified for the Intertoto Cup and then reached the final. We drew twice with Paris St Germain in the final and lost on away goals.

“It wasn’t the Paris St Germain you see today, but they were already very established as a strong European club.

“So it was a great, great time and we had a good spell in Serie A, developing young players and selling them.”

Nani left his homeland in June 2008 and headed to east London, becoming technical director at West Ham.

“When I was offered the chance to join West Ham, I was one of the first – if the not the first – technical director in this country,” he said, modestly but proudly.

“It was a great experience for me and I had a chance to meet great people there, while also myself growing up around the wonderful English football.

“Then, when West Ham was sold, I was called by Gino Pozzo, who I knew at that time was looking to buy a club in England.

“So I was involved with Watford from the beginning, in the research into the club along with Scott Duxbury who I had worked with at West Ham.

“Gino decided to buy Watford, and that started one of the greatest experiences of my life.”

Sitting back in his chair and taking a long sip of his coffee – “I’m Italian, I like it strong” – Nani unpacked what seemed heartfelt feelings about the Hornets.

“I really feel Watford is my home. I love all my experiences at Watford, and I love all the time I had here and the people I worked with.

“Brescia is where I started and I spent 10 great years there, and West Ham was also wonderful as it is a great club with a tremendous history in English football.

“But then I came to Watford, and Watford to me was family. What I found at Watford was such great people in all areas of the club.

“From the bottom to the top, every person I really enjoyed working with.

“The first season was a difficult situation as we didn’t have a super group of players, but still we reached the Play-Off Final.”

Of course, discuss the 2013 Championship Play-Off Final, and you have to talk about that semi-final second leg…

“The semi-final second leg against Leicester is one of the most exciting moments of football ever, I think,” Nani enthused.

“That game is something that I always keep in my mind. That is the greatest single moment of my football career.

“I had some friends come to visit me from Italy during this Christmas period, and they came to a home game at Vicarage Road.

“Afterwards I told them about the Leicester semi-final, and I put the highlights of that game on the TV. They got so excited, jumping around.

“The emotions of that day I never will forget. I remember when Knockaert got the penalty and I remember saying ‘come on, this isn’t right, he’s cheating’. It wasn’t a penalty.

“But then I remember when Almunia saved the penalty and the ball was still loose and thinking ‘what a pity, we saved the penalty and now he’s going to score the rebound’.

“Then Almunia saved again and I was still thinking ‘oh my God’ when after eight seconds we scored at the other end.

“I remember just going mad, throwing myself at my partner, at Gino, at everyone around me. And then there were all my friends back in Italy watching the game on TV too.

“They remembered how I had started my career as a football coach with a friend in the lowest of leagues. Myself and my friend were paying £10 each to hire a pitch for our team to train on in those days.

“That is where I started from. I remember one of the first training sessions I took, I stood with a blackboard explaining my tactics and the players – who were friends of mine – were laughing and joking.

“I said that they had to be serious, because one day I was going to reach the Champions League. They all laughed and thought I was mad!

“But I said to them that if you don’t think big and have big ambitions, then you will never be successful.

“And you know, that season we won the league! I mean, it was something like the 15th Division! But we won the league.

“Many years later, when I was working at West Ham and Watford, many of them came to visit me and they said ‘Gian Luca, we remember what you told us. Look now, you are in the Premier League.’

“Those are lifelong friends and now they support the team I am working for, and during that semi-final against Leicester they were all supporting Watford.

“Unfortunately all of them then went to the Play-Off Final which was a sad day, but even that day cannot destroy all the great memories and emotions of the day against Leicester, or the many happy feelings I had while working at Watford.

“I remember things like the club’s Open Day, when I met so many people and realised Watford really is the family club.

“I have always kept this special feeling with Watford. Working at Watford was a great pleasure for me, and I learned a lot.”

• Part two of this exclusive interview with Gian Luca Nani will be on the website tomorrow morning.