Paolo putting his money where his mouth is

Paolo di Canio, Swindon Town’s eccentric Italian manager, has recently spoken to the BBC about many issues in what appears to be a new column of his. Amongst the things he said which interested me, one of those things being that he saw the winter solstice in at Stonehenge (Paolo the pagan, who knew?), the thing I most enjoyed hearing about was how he would happily invest his own money in the club to keep his players there.  

He also spoke about Luis Suarez saying how the “incident” involving him during the FA Cup third round is indicative of how sportsmanship is vanishing from the modern game (a lot like I did the other day), but I’d hate to get drawn into all of that again…

Football is a passionate pursuit but not many people in the game are willing to put their money where their mouth is. Whatever you may think of Mr di Canio you have to respect his will and desire to succeed. He is hoping to use his funds to continue the loan spells of John Bostock from Tottenham, Chris Martin from Norwich and Danny Hollands from Charlton.  

Swindon Town are currently fifth in League One and after winning League Two last year are pushing hard for back-to-back promotions. I enjoyed Paolo di Canio’s ability as a player although I did think he was mostly mad and I am really enjoying him as a manager. Maybe maverick players can make it in management after all. 

Peter Stickney

Follow @peterstickney