They say you should never meet your heroes. Well, I've just met one of mine. He's a genuinely nice man, very articulate, very measured, with a genuine passion for football, and a genuine desire to do well for whoever he represents. He came across as nothing like the persona which the media portrays. I thanked him for the 3-0 at St James' and he seemed pleased that I'd mentioned it and said "eyyyyy, no problem!". When he was speaking later on (this was at a function for West Ham fans) he spoke with some affection about our fans.
That's great to hear. Thanks for posting it. Tough footballers are rarely like their on-field personas, Keane being an exception. I always had a lot of time for Di Canio. He came at the wrong time with Di Fanti there and he fell to player power. Great memories of that season he kept us up. He could have built something special here if circumstances hadn't conspired against him.
I've never heard anything other than good things about the guy as a person, he's sharp as a Stanley knife and has a naturally warm and exuberant character. I never looked forward to post match interviews as much as I did Paolo's, even my wife who's a Newcastle fan if anything thought he was great.
Liked Di Canio as our coach- manager, when he was here,but some of our older player's and those above,f..ck.d. up big time in bringing him down.
Last night he said that his attitude of 'in training, in the match, you do not laugh, you are serious, you give everything- afterwards, when you win, you can laugh, you can smile, you can celebrate' he learnt from Franco Baresi, Alessandro Costacurta, Paolo Maldini and players like that. Now, it doesn't matter how good Lee Cattermole has been for us this season, or how much John O'Shea won at Man Utd, I'd listen to the opinion that came from Baresi over what they thought about the subject.
Aye, not bad at all! He said them and Mauro Tassotti were the players he learnt most from about attitude and conduct. As he was talking you realise that he's played with some of the best players from the 80s and 90s. Makes you wonder why our bunch of no marks thought he couldn't teach them anything. He wasn't Billy big bollocks about it all though, just genuinely loves football. I only got to speak to him directly very briefly, but I'd love to be able to sit in a bar with him and chat about football!
You can’t buy character like that man has mate, you can’t learn it. I’d love that as well bet he’s got some sensational tales to tell.
Think they had Nesta too? The Milan defence was insane. I'd say Maldini was the best but it's hard to separate them.
It really is, they were all very different. Baresi was just a no ****ing about ballnor man type, incredible organiser. Costacurta, our and our defender. Maldini and Nesta, proper graceful, classy footballers. Maldini was spotless. Mind, Milan have a CB at the minute Romagnoli who is becoming exceptional, more central than Maldini but he’s got that effortless grace about him, good passer. If Milan don’t make CL I’d imagine he gets a massive move. Looking good for Milan mind, and the CL is better with them in it, such an iconic club, everything about it. Stadium, kits, history, players. Just a ****ing incredible club.
