Despite battling hard to keep hold of Paul McKenna, Billy Davies's determination to be re-united with his former Preston player won the day and McKenna has played a key role in Forest's season to date.
Irvine told the Lancashire Evening Post: "I hope he gets a good reception because he was a terrific player for Preston for many years and a great lad as well.
"He conducted himself absolutely brilliantly in the lead up to his transfer to Forest in the summer. It went on for quite a long time and we turned down several offers but at no point did Paul cause problems.
"Unfortunately for us Forest came up with that amount of money and he went. It was impossible for us to prevent McKenna going and earning himself a lot more money in the latter part of his career."