Paolo Di Canio, Do Two Wrongs Make a Right?

If you haven't heard, you either don't follow football or you've been living under a rock for the last month. Paolo Di Canio has been appointed manager of my beloved Swindon Town FC.

If you don't know who Paolo Di Canio is, you don't follow football or you've been living under a rock for the last 13 or so years.

Di Canio made over 500 league appearances and scored over 100 league goals over a professional footballing career that spanned his home country of Italy, Scotland and England. Clubs he's served include Lazio, Juventus, AC Milan, Roma, Celtic, Sheffield Wednesday, West Ham and Charlton.

Despite an impressive career, Di Canio is shrouded in controversy. Following a successful 97-98 Premiership season with Sheffield Wednesday, which saw Di Canio as the club's leading goal scorer and a firm fan favourite, we of course had the infamous "Ref Push". Di Canio pushed referee Paul Alcock over after being red-carded in a match against Arsenal at Hillsborough. This act saw the Italian's name splashed across British tabloids, along with an 11 match ban and £10,000 fine.

Rumour has it that Di Canio was then forced out of the club in an attempt reduce the effect on their reputation. He made a knock-down £1.7m move to West Ham in the January transfer window, even though Wednesday had paid £4.2m just a couple of seasons earlier.

At West Ham, he was a part of the team that achieved an impressive 5th placed finish and qualification for the UEFA Cup via the Intertoto Cup. He was voted Player of the Season for the 98-99 season and his volley against Wimbledon in March 2000 is still noted as one of the best in Premier League history.

As if his achievements in our own top flight weren’t enough, 2001 saw Paolo pick up the FIFA Fair Play Award for what was described by FIFA as "a special act of good sportsmanship". During a game against Everton, despite being in a clear goal-scoring opportunity, Di Canio caught the ball from a cross rather than heading home as Everton 'keeper Paul Gerrard lay injured on the floor. (Though admittedly, anything slightly tied to FIFA these days has been tarnished).

However, Di Canio would soon be in the press once more, following his return to Italy to play for Lazio. Many pictures and videos exist of Paolo Di Canio performing the "Roman Salute" as a goal celebration (if it doesn't ring any bells, think Nazi Germany). This coupled with his self-proclamation of being of fascist belief and a keen admiration of Benito Mussolini, the former leader of the National Fascist Party, has English Football Fans split right down the middle on his return to the English game.

But why shouldn't Paolo Di Canio have a crack at football management in our beloved country? The man is one of a long list of great footballers to have graced our English Premiership, but is unfortunately remembered instead for a loss of temper here or a controversial interview there. Paolo has a raw passion for football and winning, and as an STFC supporter, I think this is just what we need following our disastrous last season.

No, this doesn't mean I have fascist beliefs, far from it. But apart from the saluting in Lazio, Di Canio's right-wing views haven't otherwise influenced his footballing game. I might add, Italian football has a huge right-wing following, including the infamous "Ultras". These top Italian clubs are not stopped from participating in European competitions and Italian footballers are not stopped from representing their nation at International tournaments, so why shouldn’t Paolo Di Canio manage Swindon?

Sure, the English game has long pushed the message of “Let’s kick racism out of Football”, but until Di Canio walks out of the Swindon boardroom, sacks everybody that doesn’t agree with his beliefs and turns Swindon Town Football Club into some sort of right-wing fascist movement or propaganda machine, English football has no right to kick him out. After all, we shouldn’t hate on others because of their race, belief or colour of their skin right? Or do two wrongs make a right now?

Let the man do his job, yeah there’ll be controversy along the way, the press will talk, but he may just be the man to get Swindon moving in the right direction and back to the Championship where we belong.

Forza STFC!

Expecting a call...

Waiting with baited breath for a phone call that you know will arrive is a bizarre feeling. This morning that is what I have been doing. I know Mark is doing all he can, and that by constantly checking my phone, if anything, I'm prolonging the process. That's how it feels anyway. Yet I still do it. I'm sure if I just got on as normal, the call would come.

It's not even a life or death situation. Simple Minds;

You only sing when you're winning...

I haven't blogged for 10 months. Go on say it: "You only sing when you're winning".

The last time I let my mind wander onto the World Wide Web was close season, during World Cup 2010. Oh how much has changed since then! And truth be told, I have been singing when we definitely haven't been winning! Luckily, I've managed to put a poor World Cup and even worse League 1 season to the bottom of my list of things to worry about and it's definitely for the best.

The 2009/2010 season was one I'll never forget, and the current season sits at the complete opposite end of the spectrum. I spent most of last year ranting and raving about how good Swindon are and will be this season, only to be completely humbled. Now, I've spent many an hour arguing about why I didn't just have to have a slice, but the whole damn humble pie chucked in my face. Whether it was the manager, a rift between the players or failing to replace the lads that last season's success has catapulted to new levels is a conversation that we could talk about for hours. Don't worry, that's not going to happen.

Instead, this post marks a change in direction for "The Robins' Nest". Though still massively football focused, its going to be more a Molotov Cocktail, an explosive mixture of the things that make me, me. Music, Technology, Film, Friends and Life. If you don't want to read, then don't, it's that simple. In all honesty, I've only ever used The Robins' Nest as a way of channelling everything that's floating around in my head into something logical. I think way too much, on and off, due to all sorts of different stimuli. And my ol' chap once told me "Don't go to bed worrying about something because you'll lose sleep. Instead, write it down and allow it to leave your head, then worry about it tomorrow".

Yes, this season hasn't been ideal for STFC, but if you can accept that without pain, we couldn't have pleasure, suddenly the pint becomes half-full. From a broader perspective, since June 2010 I've had my fair share of good and bad. Admittedly, when these things happen, its bloody difficult to keep this mind-set. But the way I see it you've got two options, sit and dwell or try what I've just said and the world becomes much brighter.

I've got to credit this blog post to the amazing new album "Punk and Poetry" by The King Blues. Since I got home from work at 17:30 this evening, I've been listening to every verb, adjective, simile and metaphor that Itch utilizes to explain what's floating around in his head. Check the album out on Spotify via the link at the end, I can guarantee you will find at least one song you can relate to on there. And remember:

"Time don't wait, like the changing of the season. Sometimes it makes no sense, but it happens for a reason. Everything happens for a reason".

http://open.spotify.com/album/2bLbzMRDHQsbicDwE6Oxy5