http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/sport/10235980.Di_Canio_resigns/ ...and whatever you think of him, that makes British football a very much duller place.
He may say/do some strange things, but there's no denying he's a talented manager. I wonder how long before the west ham rumours start, seeming they are stalling on giving big Sam a new contract.
If chrissy decided to leave for some reason, I'd have good ol' Paulo in an instant, he liked it when he was here and was sad to leave even though it was for his boyhood team, I think he would seriously consider looking at us if given a chance, But strange, my Coventry supporting flat mate wants him now as gaffa, bit of a step back if you ask me, but the West Ham shout is a good one
According to my source at Swindon, they're lining up Mike Newell as a replacement. Bet Sian Massey can hardly wait to get running down that line...
Think Paulo is oddly seen as a cult hero by most football fans. Growing up i thought he was the best player ever as my old man was a hammers fan. When we signed him i was over the moon, and was gutted to see him go. Seems to be quite clued up as a manager, given the right job i think he could become a great manager. People point out his obviously unique character, but he sticks to being himself and i like that about him. Dont want Powelly to go, but if he did i would welcome Paulo with welcome arms
The 5-0 win against Tranmere earlier this season was certainly one of the finest attacking displays I've ever seen - fast, incisive and absolutely relentless. That was the tenth game I've seen under DiCanio and with the amount of chances they create, it's a wonder more games don't go that way. Benson was a revelation when he played there as well, but I think we all suspected we'd never seen the best of him. But Benno shows another of DiCanio's strengths - a very SAF-like trait - once a player's fallen out of favour/dropped down the pecking order/p*ssed him off, he just gets rid. No unexpected comebacks, no working your way gradually back into contention, no cameo appearances, just gone. Bloody harsh regime, but you can bet your life it keeps everyone on their toes. Listening to several thousand people do 'Three Tenors' impressions is pretty inspiring, too. If Chrissy were ever poached, I'd have him down here like a shot.
Despite the fact that I pay a bit of attention to L1, I have no idea where Swindon are in the table. I know they're not at the top, and they're not one of the top form teams, and don't remember seeing them down the bottom with Pompey, but I don't know where Swindon are. Despite this, he seems to have been in the news every couple of weeks, like an attention seeker. And he always seems to be moaning about his own players. As mentioned before, I'm not following Swindon's season, so this is a genuine question. He's very eager to lay the blame on other people. Has he ever blamed himself for a poor result? It's not like it's very tough to get to the top of L1 - Yeovil have moved right up in a few weeks - but Swindon haven't been at the top, so they must have been getting poor results. Di Canio to blame for any of them?
For some reason I cannot see Paulo Di Canio coming to Charlton. Apparently he was interviewed for the job, though he didn't fit the image of the club (so I heard, could have been speculation), as he's been quite a controversial character.
6th in the League, only 3 points off automatic promotion - so pretty impressive for a newly promoted team! As for blaming himself. I'm pretty sure I've heard him blame himself a few times when they've lost, but I may be making that up. I do however, remember him blaming himself and apologising for signing a player who clearly wasn't up to League Two standard (Comazzi?). Something along the lines of him mis-judging the quality of League Two and the style of play etc. If Chris Powell were to leave, my top two choices would be Keith Peacock and Paolo Di Canio
6th in the league is good, but they're still behind Yeovil and Tranmere. Rochdale, Bournemouth, Peterborough, MK Dons, Stevenage all did well in their first L1 season. Maybe I'm letting it colour my judgement that Swindon were genuine contenders on the last day for automatic promotion to the Championship three years ago. I had a look now, and almost all the BBC reports for defeats are accompanied by an interview from him singling out one player or another for the team losing. Even your example sounds a bit like "I'm sorry that Comazzi is useless". Maybe I'm just being grumpy, but not for me.
He was a talented and entertaining player, though not consistent enough to have been truly at the very top level (Zola, Baggio, etc). Unlike Irish I won't snipe at his achievements in Div One. They are in a play-off spot and only 3 points off an automatic place with a game in hand, and that is excellent considering they have sold arguably their best player and not spent much of the money. But the fact remains that he is a loose cannon and possibly has a screw loose. His political sympathies are odious. I agree that which political party a manager or player favours is none of our business, but when they colour his more general social views they could be disruptive. Playing and non-playing staffs these days contain all types, colours, nationalities and (probably) sexual orientations. No cause to mince around being overmuch politically correct, but a certain amount of diplomacy and common courtesy is called for. I think PdC is in short supply of both. I agree that some players and some boards need a rocket up their arses from time to time and that PdC is just the man to insert one and light the touchpaper, but if you want to build a club on sound foundations, as we all hope the Good Doctor is doing, you don't build it on top of an unexploded mine. One day PdC will explode and it won't be pretty.
Not at all a dig at you personally Eddie, but the constant references to Di Canio's fascist beliefs I find fairly ignorant at times. A lot of people seem to view fascism as synonymous with Nazi-ism, and its far from the case. There is no desire to eliminate members of the opposite race/colour/creed/sexuality etc, nor necessarily is there a hatred for them, to my knowledge true 'fascism' is more akin to national pride than it is to 'nazi-ism' (for want of a better term). Of course, by implication there are racist undertones to the ideology, but the same can be said of many apparently peaceful political ideologies. That said, his comments to that Orient lad (Tehoue?) were clearly more racist than anything else... As someone has said though, Di Canio's management style is very military-esque. He values players respect, hard-work and commitment, and yet is clearly unafraid to discipline players, to sent them on their way, or even to tarnish their name. It keeps everybody on their toes, and whilst its an unorthodox style in the English game, it clearly works just as well as the "work hard and you can regain your place"/"I wouldn't want to single out individuals - its a team-game" style used by most managers over here (to various degrees of success).
Who said anything about Nazis? Fascism pre-dated Nazism and is native to Italy. I agree that they are different even though the events of WWII caused them to overlap. I also know that Fascism in Italy today is more socially respectable and endorsed by many educated and middle-class people (as is Communism) unlike the extreme right-wing parties in the UK. But as you yourself state, there are racist undertones, and it is only "apparently" peaceful. If it comes to the crunch, violence will be resorted to. Hopefully it won't come to that, but the result of the imminent election and the progress (or otherwise) of the Italian economy will decide that. I agree that Di Canio's style is working for the time being. It is based on bullying. And bullying only succeeds for a while. Sooner or later it becomes counter-productive and his present supporters will rebel.
Like I said, it genuinely wasn't a dig at you! You seem to be well-informed on the matter which is fair enough. There's just an awful lot of football fans who will say things like "I hate Di Canio" and when asked why, refer to his fascism, almost as though a) its not a commonly known fact, and b) as though he's all for the annihilation of anyone different than him. Hating Paolo Di Canio because he's a self-proclaimed fascist is like hating Joel Ward because he's a devout Christian, and do I hate Ward? Yes...but only because he plays for Palace I agree in regards to Di Canio's style being akin to bullying. Though I guess that makes Leon Clarke some sort of freedom fighter . In all honesty though, I don't think the 'bullying style' matters too much to him, given the conveyor-belt of players he signed whenever one grew out of favour. Certainly not good for the clubs finances, or for any sense of creating 'club heroes' for the fans, unless players completely embrace the disciplinarian approach. Its interesting that Alan McCormack has seemingly been a near ever-present since he was signed by Di Canio. Nearly all Charlton fans shot him down for bottling out of challenges, and whilst I know Di Canio has shifted him to being a centre-back, I doubt many of us would have imagined he'd last two weeks in a PDC team.
That should make it easy for you to remember where they are in League 1 then, IA... My Swindon source says that's worth a bet (but as he appeared to be somewhat 'refreshed' after tonight's result, and didn't seem to be making too much sense, I wouldn't put too much store by that).
Paolo may have left the building but he was captured on CCTV in the middle of wednesday night going back in using his own keys. Swindon are considering taking legal action!
