Having a beer with Paulo Di Canio šŗ
2ļøā£1ļøā£ Over the next months I plan on running a couple of different series of posts to celebrate this Blogās recent 21st birthday.
As Chicago Addick came of drinking age, at least in the land of the free, I thought Iād run a series of 21 current or former Charlton players from the beginning of my time of supporting them that Iād love to go for a beer with, someone Iād be delighted to spend a couple of hours listening to Charlton and football anecdotes over a couple of pints or whatever takes their fancy.
Paulo Di Canio only spent one season with us, but he was another player that fell for the persuasive charms of Alan Curbishley, who lived around the corner from the Italian. Di Canio was said to have taken a huge pay cut to join us.
Di Canio was 35 when he signed and had enjoyed a storied career but by equal measure had often been a controversial figure. He found his home at West Ham and after they were relegated Curbs introduced him to the Blackwell Tunnel and the Italian charmed us all, and the feeling was mutual.
Di Canio played 31 games in our highest ever Premier League finish, 7th in the 2003/04 season. He scored 4 goals including the āPanenkaā against Arsenal, but I remember him just as well for inspiring a 2nd half comeback at Portsmouth.
Unfortunately our initial excitement after Di Canio signed a yearās contract extension soon soured as the Italian made his wishes clear that he wanted to re-join his boyhood club Lazio and his family, who were back in Rome.
Paulo and I would sit in a trattoria somewhere in Rome and share a bottle of Barolo, a bowl of olives and salame and Iād want to know all about his season at Charlton, as well as his time at Sheffield Wednesday and West Ham. Even Celtic where his time ended, surprise surprise, badly.
Iād have to ask him about that push, and Paul Alcockās fall. The catch at Goodison and why didnāt he ever win an Italian cap? His homecoming back in Lazio, his time as manager at Swindon and Sunderland, maybe even after a few glasses his political leanings and his love of Japan. He now works as a TV pundit in Italy.
1ļøā£ Paulo Di Canio š Rome š®š¹ š· Barolo Cannubi 2016
One of the most skilled players ever to pull on a Charlton shirt. Mad as a box of frogs though. š
This is typical Paulo story that made me š
When he first arrived to us he was in the changing room at Sparrows Lane and saw one of our players displaying a new arm tattoo to others….Paulo took off his shirt and said “you call that a tattoo?”…..and displayed his torso fully decorated with amazing tattoos that shut the player up !!!!
I was fortunate to be invited to a client dining event where we had both Stuart Pearce & Curbs at the table. Curbs tells a fantastic story on how he & Richard Murray wooed Di Canio with a video showing the history & Back to the Valley campaign, with Paolo repeatedly saying āI love this club!ā in a way that only a passionate Italian can.
And then when it came to the crunch & his agent spoke about the wages on offer Paolo got very animated in Italian & then turned to Curbs & said āI f**king love this club! But not that f**king much!ā
Curbs left dejected but by the time he had got home Murray had worked his magic & the rest they say, is ancient Roman history!
I remember the Pompey game, I think he came on as a sub, I remember him going to take a corner and rousing all of us in the then open away end, fortunately it was dry.
He came on with half hour left and we were one-down. He completely turned the game around single handedly. Fortune equalised and in the last minute Pauloās corner was headed in by Bartlett in front of the away end.
It was bedlam in that end wasnāt it š
He was awesome in that defeat of Chelsea…but I Imagine a half hour chat with him would leave you feeling exhausted.
Sometimes you sign older players who are past their prime and you get a Paolo di Canio, other times you get a Jimmy Floyd Haisselbaink who are there for the money and the top up for the pension fund.
He may have joined and taken a pay-cut, but he wanted to play and see out his career with his boots on rather than being sat in the stands collecting a few more K. And the reason why he never won an Italian cap? Who knows but he seems to have fallen out with just about every club he played for and upset quite a few Italian managers on the way and a few players. He may have been forgiven but those outbursts (eg telling Cappello to fuck off) clearly weren’t forgotten.
Absolute magic one of the best players who ever played for Charlton and he played with his heart and soul to win as he loved playing and not just for money!!! That’s why we all loved him.
Have to totally agree with you Mike…..he was totally committed to playing and was the first on and last off the training pitch.
I remember going to Leicester and Paulo scored an 85th minute penalty to equalise, we were so disappointed as we had beaten Liverpool the previous weekend 3-2, actually that’s how good we were but people still moaned, Paulo was brilliant though, and his masterpiece the boxing day demolition of Chelsea 4-2, ” go home you might as well go home” as the song went.
Those were the days eh.
Although he was only with us for one season, he is still one of my favourite players to have ever played for us.
For such a fiery character who played and behaved with his heart on his shirt there was a fantastic piece of spotsmanship he showed which unfortunately I canāt remember anything but the sentiment – anyone recall the details of this?!
Chris – the famous moment of sportsmanship occurred during a West Ham vs Everton match in December 2000.
Di Canio, playing for West Ham, had a clear goal-scoring opportunity late in the match.
However, Everton goalkeeper Paul Gerrard was injured and lying on the ground.
Instead of scoring, Di Canio caught the ball to stop play and allow the goalkeeper to receive treatment.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=30Iy7QKQimM
When he was with Wet Spam he picked up the ball when a QPR player was injured. Proper player; proper sportsmanship; proper professional; proper respect. Young ones should learn a lot from this!