Di Canio at Upton Park, September 2010 |
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Paolo Di Canio | ||
| Date of birth | 9 July 1968 | ||
| Place of birth | Rome, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Swindon Town (manager) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Lazio | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1985–1990 | Lazio | 54 | (4) |
| 1986–1987 | → Ternana (loan) | 27 | (2) |
| 1990–1993 | Juventus | 78 | (6) |
| 1993–1994 | Napoli | 26 | (5) |
| 1994–1996 | Milan | 37 | (6) |
| 1996–1997 | Celtic | 24 | (12) |
| 1997–1999 | Sheffield Wednesday | 41 | (15) |
| 1999–2003 | West Ham United | 118 | (48) |
| 2003–2004 | Charlton Athletic | 31 | (4) |
| 2004–2006 | Lazio | 50 | (11) |
| 2006–2008 | Cisco Roma | 46 | (14) |
| Total | 532 | (127) | |
| National team | |||
| 1988–1990 | Italy U-21 | 9 | (2) |
| Teams managed | |||
| 2011– | Swindon Town | ||
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Paolo Di Canio (born 9 July 1968) is a Italian former professional footballer and current manager of League Two side Swindon Town. Di Canio made over 500 league appearances and scored over 100 league goals as a player.
As a player Di Canio played in Serie A for Lazio, Juventus, Napoli and AC Milan, before playing in the Scottish Premier League for Celtic and the English Premier League for Sheffield Wednesday, West Ham United and Charlton Athletic.
After his seasons in the Premier League he returned to Italy where he played for Lazio, Ternana and Cisco Roma before retiring in 2008.
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Di Canio was born in Rome, in the district of Quarticciolo. A working-class area of Rome , overwhelmingly populated by Roma fans, Di Canio was nevertheless drawn to Lazio. As a small boy he was addicted to Cola and similar drinks and called Palloca, a slang term meaning lard-ball. He was fat, and knock-kneed, and needed to wear orthopedic shoes - "But I never hid. My response was to exercise; to try to become the kind of person I am." [1] He signed for Lazio in 1985 and remained there until 1990, when he was sold to another of Italy's biggest clubs, Juventus. He left Juventus "after an animated exchange with then manager Giovanni Trapattoni" and spent the 1993-94 season with Napoli. Two seasons followed at A.C. Milan, culminating in a row with Capello.[2] In 1996 he joined Celtic in Scotland, and his successful season in Glasgow (scoring 15 goals in 37 appearances) saw him make a move to the English Premiership as he joined Sheffield Wednesday for a sum of around £4.2m. Whilst in Sheffield, Di Canio was the club's leading goal scorer for the 1997–98 season with 14 goals and he became a favourite of the fans.
In England, Di Canio is infamous for an incident on the pitch in September 1998 when he pushed referee Paul Alcock to the ground after being sent off while playing for Sheffield Wednesday against Arsenal at Hillsborough, which resulted in an extended ban of 11 matches[3] and him being fined £10,000.[4]
In January 1999, Di Canio signed for West Ham United for £1.7m and helped them to achieve a high league position (5th) and qualify for the UEFA Cup through the Intertoto Cup. He was also the OPTA player of the season 1998–99. He scored the BBC Goal of the Season in March 2000 with a volley against Wimbledon,[5] which is still considered among the best goals in Premiership history[6] and was named as the Premiership's goal of the decade in a December 2009 Sky Sports News viewers' poll, scoring 30% of votes.[7] In this season he was also voted Hammer of the Year by the club's fans.
In 2001, he won the FIFA Fair Play Award. The previous December, in a match against Everton, in a noteworthy display of sportsmanship, Di Canio shunned a goal scoring opportunity and caught the ball from a cross instead as the Everton goalkeeper Paul Gerrard was lying injured on the ground after he twisted his knee attempting a clearance on the edge of the box. FIFA described the act as "a special act of good sportsmanship."[8]
Sir Alex Ferguson tried to sign him for Manchester United halfway through the 2001-02 season, but his attempts were unsuccessful and Di Canio would remain in East London for another season and a half.[9]
He remained a key figure at West Ham until 2003 when, with the Hammers struggling at the bottom of the league, he had a very public row with manager Glenn Roeder and was dropped from the first team. However, he returned at the end of the season (after Roeder, stricken by a brain tumour, was replaced by Trevor Brooking) and scored a winner against Chelsea in the penultimate game of the season that looked to have preserved West Ham's Premiership status.[10] However, it proved to be irrelevant and they were relegated on the final day of the season after a 2–2 draw away to Birmingham City, where he scored an 89th minute equaliser.[11] He was released on a free transfer and after turning down Leeds United he signed a contract with Charlton Athletic for the start of 2003–04. Whilst at The Valley he helped the club secure its highest league finish since the 1950s. However, he only scored four goals for the Addicks, all of them from the penalty spot (one of them scored from a rebound).
Even though he had already signed an extension to his Charlton contract, in August 2004 he returned to his home team of Lazio taking a massive paycut in order to return to the economically stretched Roman team. Lazio fans were happy to have a Rome-bred Lazio supporter in the team again, something missing since the departure of Alessandro Nesta in 2002. He scored in the Rome derby, just as he had in 1989, leading the team to a 3–1 victory over A.S. Roma in January (6 January 2005). However the negative publicity that Di Canio generated for Lazio, including his intimate relationship with club's ultras and their increased influence thanks to his presence in the team, coupled with problems with some teammates and coaches, exasperated club president and majority shareholder, Claudio Lotito, with whom he already had a difficult relationship. As a result, Di Canio's contract was not renewed in the summer of 2006. During several of his games for Lazio, Di Canio made a fascist salute to their right-wing fans. He subsequently signed with Cisco Roma of Serie C2 on a free transfer. In his first season with Cisco Roma, his team failed promotion to playoffs, despite a runners-up position in the regular season. He subsequently agreed to stay with Cisco for another season, in a second attempt to win promotion to Serie C1 with the Roman side.
On March 10, 2008, Di Canio announced his retirement from football, ending his 23-year playing career before the end of the season due to physical issues. It is his intention to begin coaching lessons at Coverciano to gain a coaching position.[12] In an interview he revealed that his dream would be to manage former club West Ham, and applied for the position after the resignation of Alan Curbishley in September 2008.[13] On 5 May 2010, Di Canio played in Tony Carr's testimonial game at Upton Park which featured a West Ham team against West Ham Academy old boys. He played for both sides during the match. The West Ham team won 5-1.[14] In July 2010, in honour of Di Canio, West Ham announced the opening of the 'Paolo Di Canio Lounge', within the West Stand, at their Upton Park ground,[15] which was formally launched by the unveiling of a plaque by Di Canio himself, on 11 September 2010.[16]
Di Canio has a UEFA Pro Licence for coaching. On 20 May 2011 Di Canio was appointed manager of Swindon Town, following the club's relegation to League Two. Di Canio began his career as a manager with a emphatic 3-0 win over Crewe on the 6 August 2011.[17] On 30 August 2011, Di Canio was involved in a pitch-side altercation with Swindon striker Leon Clarke, after their defeat in the League Cup to Southampton.[18]
Since a very early age Di Canio has been a self-proclaimed fascista and has been photographed and videotaped several times giving the controversial Roman salute to Lazio supporters while playing for Lazio.[19]
He created controversy by twice using the gesture to salute Lazio fans, first in a match against arch rivals A.S. Roma and then against A.S. Livorno Calcio, a club inclined to leftist politics.[20] Di Canio received a one match game ban after the second event and was fined €7,000,[21] after which he was quoted as saying "I will always salute as I did because it gives me a sense of belonging to my people..I saluted my people with what for me is a sign of belonging to a group that holds true values, values of civility against the standardisation that this society imposes upon us."[22] His salute has been featured on unofficial merchandise sold outside Stadio Olimpico after the ban.[20] Di Canio has also expressed admiration for Mussolini.[23][24] On the day of his appointment as manager of Swindon Town, the GMB union terminated their financial backing of around £4,000-per-season of the club due to Di Canio's fascist views.[25]
One source, quoted in a 2011 article, who knows Di Canio well has said; " Paolo is not, and has never been [-] an ideological fascist. Certain things he has done -like the salute with the Lazio fans-have to do with his psychological history, particularly his former compulsive tendencies and pronounced mood swings." While in Italy , his column in the Corriere del Sport often took the form of writing against the idiocy of racism. Di Canio has many Italian friends who are Socialists and he has said; "I don't vote, I haven't voted for 14 years. Italian politicians-all of them- think only about themselves, and making money." [26]
The journalist Robert Chalmers noted in a 2011 article that Di Canio spoke of the growing influence in his life of Samurai culture, and of the "Japanese spiritual mentality" from reading Mishima, and the teachings in the traditions of Hagakure and Bushido.[27]
Di Canio has several tattoos including, on his right biceps, the Latin word "DUX", meaning "leader", or Il Duce in Italian, an antonomasia for Benito Mussolini.[28] He also has a West Ham United tattoo on his left upper arm.[29]
Di Canio has stated that he will get a Swindon tattoo if he guides Swindon to win the League in his first season in charge. [30]
| Club performance | League | Cup | League Cup | Continental | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Italy | League | Coppa Italia | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 1985–86 | Lazio | Serie B | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 1986–87 | Ternana | Serie C2 | 27 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1987–88 | Lazio | Serie B | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| 1988–89 | Serie A | 30 | 1 | |||||||||
| 1989–90 | 24 | 3 | ||||||||||
| 1990–91 | Juventus | Serie A | 23 | 3 | ||||||||
| 1991–92 | 24 | 0 | ||||||||||
| 1992–93 | 31 | 3 | ||||||||||
| 1993–94 | Napoli | Serie A | 26 | 5 | ||||||||
| 1994–95 | Milan | Serie A | 15 | 1 | ||||||||
| 1995–96 | 22 | 5 | ||||||||||
| Scotland | League | Scottish Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 1996–97 | Celtic | Premier Division | 24 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | – | 31 | 15 | |
| England | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 1997–98 | Sheffield Wednesday | Premier League | 35 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | – | 40 | 14 | |
| 1998–99 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 8 | 3 | |||
| 1998–99 | West Ham United | Premier League | 13 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 13 | 5 | |
| 1999–00 | 30 | 16 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 45 | 18 | ||
| 2000–01 | 31 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | – | 37 | 11 | |||
| 2001–02 | 26 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 27 | 9 | |||
| 2002–03 | 18 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 19 | 9 | |||
| 2003–04 | Charlton Athletic | Premier League | 31 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | 33 | 5 | |
| Italy | League | Coppa Italia | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
| 2004–05 | Lazio | Serie A | 23 | 6 | ||||||||
| 2005–06 | 27 | 5 | ||||||||||
| 2006–07 | Cisco Roma | Serie C2 | 28 | 7 | ||||||||
| 2007–08 | 18 | 7 | ||||||||||
| Total | Italy | 318 | 48 | |||||||||
| Scotland | 24 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | – | 31 | 15 | |||
| England | 190 | 67 | 9 | 1 | 13 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 222 | 74 | ||
| Career total | 532 | 127 | ||||||||||
| Team | From | To | Record | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | |||
| Swindon Town | 11 May 2011 | Present | 31 | 18 | 5 | 8 | 58.06 |
| Total | 31 | 18 | 5 | 8 | 58.06 | ||
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Lucas Radebe |
FIFA Fair Play Award Winner 2001 |
Succeeded by Football communities of Japan and Korea Republic |
| Preceded by Paul Gascoigne |
SPFA Players' Player of the Year 1996 - 97 season |
Succeeded by Jackie McNamara |
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