The former Lazio, Celtic, Sheffield Wednesday and West Ham United striker is perhaps a controversial choice for the Swindon job, given his allegiance to Italian fascism, but his CV alone is impressive and shouts out 'winner':
With Lazio, he won promotion to Serie A in 1987 aged only 19, and with Juventus he won Serie A and the Coppa Italia in 1992 and the UEFA Cup the following year. The honors continued at AC Milan in 1994, when he helped the Rosoneri win the Intercontinental Cup and European Super Cup, and further honors would follow in 1995 with victory in the UEFA Champions League final and in 1996 he would win his second Serie A Winners Medal.
Paolo then moved from his native Italy to Scotland, and in only his first season at Celtic he helped the Parkhead side to a second placed finish in the Scottish Premier League. This was the first season where he had scored more than six goals in a season, finishing with 15 in total from 37 appearances.
A move south to then Premier League side Sheffield Wednesday took place the following season, with The Owls paying £4.2m for Paolo. His stint at the Yorkshire club is probably best remembered for an infamous shove on referee Paul Alcock during a Sheffield Wednesday v Arsenal game in September 1998. Paolo was fined £10,000 and banned for 11 games. Despite this, Paolo became a Wednesday favourite during his two seasons, and scored 23 times in 41 appearances.
Moving to West Ham for a cut-price £1.7m, Paolo enjoyed his best years at Upton Park. He became a Hammers legend and played over 100 times for them, netting 48 goals in total for the East London side helping them beat Manchester United in the FA Cup in the 2000-01 season and later that season would win a special 'Fair Play' award from FIFA after handling a cross so that then Everton Goalkeeper Paul Gerrard could receive treatment after twisting his knee. FIFA described the incident as 'a moment of great sportsmanship'.
Following a row with then West Ham manager Glenn Roeder, Paolo moved to London rivals Charlton Athletic for the 2003-04 season. As an Addick, he featured 31 times and scored four goals.
Paolo returned to his childhood idols Lazio in 2004, and helped the financially stricken side with a return of 11 goals from 50 appearances. The highlight of his second spell at Lazio being a 3-1 win over city rivals AS Roma in January 2005, in which he scored a goal, however by 2005 he had fallen foul of many players and senior management at the club due to his fascist beliefs. Lazio owner Claudio Lotito severed Di Canio's contract in 2006, and after a spell with Cisco Roma he called time on his playing career.
Paolo was linked with the West Ham United manager's job in September 2008, following the sacking of Alan Curbishley, and spoke of his desire to become their manager one day. Paolo's love of West Ham United is well known, and last year a Director's Box was opened at the club in his honor.
On May 23rd 2010, Paolo officially took over from caretaker boss Paul Bodin as the new manager of Swindon Town Football Club. A bold move, but one that has caused controversy and also led to the loss of financial sponsorship from the left-wing GMB Union due to Paolo's beliefs.
The $64,000 question is how good a manager will he be for Swindon Town? Will he make more headlines off the field than on it, and is he the right man to lead the now ailing Wiltshire club back to League 1 at the first attempt?
Only time will tell, but it is certainly an exciting time to be a Robins fan!
As a Swindon Town fan, I welcome the appointment of Paolo Di Canio, irrespective of politics and personal beliefs.
ReplyDeleteToo much has been made about his fascist beliefs - whilst they may not be to everybody's taste we live in a democracy, and so he has the right to his beliefs.
Did it matter what the politics of Danny Wilson and Paul Hart were (although one can assume they were clearly Monster Raving Loony!)
Let's keep the focus on the football. Paolo is untried and untested, but clearly has a knack of winning. Lee Clark was untried and untested as was Gus Poyet - both managers have done exceptionally well with their respective clubs (Huddersfield Town and Brighton & Hove Albion) and maybe Paolo can follow their example?
The one thing the club desperately needs, maybe more so than promotion, is stability. We have suffered on the pitch last season, and we were at the risk of a financial battle involving a creditor (Mike Diamandis). We cannot afford any more problems like we have seen on and off the field in recent times - everybody has to knuckle down and work hard in order to take Swindon Town forward.