Paolo Di Canio: Remembering the enigma wrapped in a conundrum that was West Ham’s Italian maestro
He was loved by the Upton Park faithful, as well as his former boss Harry Redknapp. But for all the controversy, his legacy lives on thanks to one moment of incredible sportsmanship and a goal of the season
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TEMPERAMENTAL and unpredictable on one hand, and breathtakingly brilliant on the other.
Paolo Di Canio was always the centre of attention when he was on the field – and often when he wasn’t too.
In a playing career of over 20 years, the Italian forward played for a host of big clubs, including Lazio, Juventus and AC Milan.
But he’ll be best remembered for his time at West Ham where he scored 47 goals in just 118 appearances for the Hammers.
But what was he like?
He was a moody so and so…
It’s February 2000 and West Ham have just edged out Bradford City 5-4 in a thriller at the Boleyn Ground, thanks largely to a hat trick from young Frank Lampard.
But it’s not just the scoreline everyone is talking about.
Having had three reasonable penalty appeals turned down by referee Neale Barry, Paolo Di Canio decides to stop playing.
He then demands that his manager Harry Redknapp substitutes him, but doesn’t get his way.
After the game, Redknapp has nothing but praise for maverick maestro. He insists: “He’s a smashing professional and a leader.
“He’s like Bobby Moore in that respect – though he wouldn’t have made it into Bobby’s drinking school.”
He had a gift for the incredible…
Just a month later, Di Canio showed just why the range of his talents often outweighed his attitude when he scored a jaw-dropping volley against Wimbledon.
It was a strike that would win the Goal of the Season Award.
Redknapp said: “Paolo did things with the ball that made you gasp.
“Other footballers would pay to watch him train.”
But not all managers loved him as much as ‘Arry…
When Italian national team manager Giovanni Trapattoni was asked if he was considering selecting him for the Azzurri, he didn’t sit on the fence.
Trapattoni said: "There would have to be a bubonic plague for me to pick Di Canio.”
He laughed in the face of authority…
It’s one of those moments that you can’t help but watch time and time again.
It’s September 1998 and as Sheffield Wednesday host Arsenal at Hillsborough, a spat between Di Canio and the Gunners’ Patrick Vieira escalates into an ugly brawl.
The late referee Paul Alcock gives the Italian his marching orders, but as Alcock brandishes the red card, Di Canio shoves the official in the chest, sending him to the turf.
He is banned for 11 games and fined £10,000.
“One moment can erase everything else you’ve accomplished in your career. I didn’t kill anybody. I pushed a referee. We all know that’s wrong.
"But it can happen ... Even now, when I watch it, I can’t believe the way he [Alcock] went down...”
He had a point, to be fair.
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He had a heart of gold really…
For all the criticism he’s received there is, undeniably, a real sportsman behind the angry, petulant, combustible exterior.
Take the Everton v West Ham game in December 2000.
With the score at 1-1 and time running out, Toffees keeper Paul Gerrard collapsed with what later transpired to be a dislocated knee.
With Gerrard injured and unable to get to his feet, West Ham played on.
But as the ball was crossed into the Everton area Di Canio simply caught it, rather than put it in the empty net, and ushered on the physios.
Gerrard explained: “When it happened, I was in that much pain that I didn’t really see what was happening behind me.
"And it was only afterwards when I got carried off and taken back to the medical room that I learned he’d caught the ball.”
Di Canio’s manager Harry Redknapp called it “sportsmanship of the highest merit” and it was hard to argue otherwise.
He could have been a contender…
In the 2000/01 Premier League season Di Canio was heavily linked with a move to Manchester United but the transfer never materialised.
For then United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, the Italian was always the one that got away.
Fergie revealed: “Di Canio would have been capable of becoming a truly great player at Manchester United ... we make heroes quickly here.
“Di Canio could have been in that category.”
His managerial career never really took off…
After a spell in charge of Swindon Town, Di Canio got another shot at management when he landed the job at struggling Sunderland in March 2013.
He said: “I know other Romans came 2,000 years ago...
“They conquered the North East and were here for 100 years. Maybe after two months it will be ‘Di Canio f*** off, bye bye Paolo.’
"It can happen but I’m sure it won’t.”
Wrong.
While he kept the Black Cats in the Premier League and secured the club’s first away win over Newcastle in 13 years, he found himself out of a job the following season.
He had been in charge for just 13 games.
He gave his players food for thought…
While he was at the Stadium of Light, Di Canio famously banned tomato ketchup and mayonnaise from the players’ diets.
He argued that the squad ate “too much of it” and that it was “not healthy”.
The Sunderland players weren’t impressed and took matters into their own hands, smuggling the condiments into the training ground instead.
His politics always preceded him…
Di Canio has described himself as “a fascist, not a racist”.
His political views have often got him into trouble, not least when he made a fascist salute to Lazio supporters during his time with the Rome club.
He’s also covered in tattoos, many of which feature fascist imagery.
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When he was appointed Sunderland manager the club’s vice-chairmen and Labour politician David Miliband even resigned in protest at the decision to hire him.
Swindon Town then lost the sponsorship of the GMB union when they took him on.
Bizarrely, Di Canio insists that he’s not at all political. “I don’t vote,” he says. “I haven’t voted for 14 years.”