Di Canio, keep it quiet (Video)

You hear it all the time, ‘Football needs characters like him’, and granted Paulo Di Canio falls into that category, and as a country have taken to our hearts, but sometimes he should keep his mouth shut!

As a player he’d go from the sublime to the ridiculous in the blink of an eye, and he is going some way to disproving the theory that he wouldn’t make it as a manager.

But this last week has seen Di Canio, not once but twice publicly slate one of his own players, which isn’t quite out of the managerial text book.

Wes Foderingham was the first to come under criticism. Granted he shouldn’t have reacted like he did; however as a goalkeeper to be substituted for a non-injury related reason inside 30 minutes, you’d be a little angry wouldn’t you!

“He’s the worst professional I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t only the mistake, which can happen to anyone. It was the arrogance later on when he started moaning to the others.” Di Canio said after Sunday’s 4-1 defeat away to Preston. That has to stay in house! The comments only provide insight into the cracks at the club, whilst going someway to demoralise the young lad himself.

He didn’t learn! Just four days later following defeat to their local rivals Oxford United, Di Canio solely placed the blame of the loss on Aden Flint. “He has to take responsibility. We lost because of him. It was like Sunday when we lost because of Wes (Foderingham).” Even if the defender was at fault for the goal, the last time I checked football is a team game and you simply can’t make them comments.

Di Canio guided Swindon to League One in his first year in charge of the club, and coupled with a decent cup run that saw them eliminate Wigan, made it a fantastic year for the club. But even in such a successful season, Di Canio never strayed far away from controversy, as clashed with Leon Clarke in a League Cup game. And during pre-season he sold club captain Paul Caddis to Birmingham City for a ‘change in attitude’.

Young managers make mistakes, be it tactically or how they deal with players, but Di Canio has to learn from them. Something he hasn’t. The way Di Canio is he is never going to get along with everyone, so he shouldn’t unnecessarily pick fights and as boring as it sounds, keep quiet!

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