Last updated at 11:05, Saturday, 15 September 2012

Maverick. Monster. Managerial genius. Mad man. They’re just some of the labels which have been attached to League One’s most irascible manager this season.

When Swindon Town arrive at Brunton Park on Saturday, there will be as much attention paid to the technical area as the pitch in anticipation of Paolo Di Canio hitting the headlines once again.

Di Canio has emerged as one of the most interesting managerial prospects in England since his shock appointment at the County Ground 15 months ago.

Controversy has never been far away and the intrigue is set to grow now that his team has lost three matches in a row, leaving the rookie manager facing the biggest challenge of his colourful reign.

Di Canio reluctantly agreed to granting his players one day off – Sunday – after three matches in six days in preparation for Saturday’s League One clash with Carlisle, in the hope the break can help to revitalise them.

“After an empty performance they say they need a day off and I say ‘OK, if that is the magic potion to help us win at Carlisle next week, you can have it.’ But that is also a sign of a weak mentality,” he said.

“I would also like a day off but I work 24 hours a day to get better. I analyse myself and they need to analyse themselves too. Maybe I overestimated them after our good start to the season.”

The flamboyant Italian has led a mini-revolution in the West Country, with his team dubbed the Barcelona of League One, but the fireworks have not been confined to the pitch with Di Canio clashing with players and publicly lambasting them for every goal conceded, every chance missed and every game lost.

First he humiliated young goalkeeper Wes Foderingham by hooking him after just 21 minutes and blamed him for Preston’s opening goal in a 4-1 League One defeat to Preston.

When the 21-year-old keeper reacted angrily to being substituted by kicking a bottle of water on his way up the tunnel to the dressing-room instead of sitting on the bench with his team-mates, Di Canio denounced him as “arrogant” and “ignorant” and demanded that he openly apologise or be dropped.

Following the game, Di Canio launched into a stinging criticism of the goalkeeper, who had previously kept 28 clean sheets in 47 appearances for Swindon, saying: “He was one of the worst players I have ever seen. He’s another player like the others, why can’t we change the goalkeeper? Because the goalkeeper has a different coloured shirt?

“I know my players, I know Wes – he was the worst player against Stoke in the cup in midweek – he was far away the worst player, he made a rubbish performance.

“But I covered for him because we won 4-3.”

Then sparks flew again after their 1-0 Johnstone’s Paint Trophy first round derby defeat by Oxford when he held Aden Flint responsible for the result.

The 23-year-old had just come on as a substitute when his collision with team-mate Darren Ward led to Alfie Potter's 88th-minute winner.

“Flint came in tonight as if he was on holiday and this is not acceptable,” said Di Canio, who was once banned for 11 games while playing for Sheffield Wednesday for pushing referee Paul Alcock.

“He has to take the responsibility. We lost because of him.”

Quite what could happen if Swindon’s deteriorating form continues with a fourth successive defeat when they face Carlisle is anyone’s guess – which only adds to the intrigue over Saturday’s otherwise anonymous mid-table game.

However, Di Canio is bewildered by personal criticism of his brash style of management and autocratic regime.

He insists Foderingham – since reinstated in the side – was not substituted as a punishment, but because the player had continued arguing with his team-mates.

“His head was blurry,” said Di Canio. “That is why he came off. Otherwise we would have lost the game 8-0 and I would have been called a donkey manager of a donkey team.”

Yet Di Canio’s own playing career was far from blemish free. As well as the push on Alcock, there were fascist salutes to Lazio fans.

His arrival in the dug-out had at one point seemed like a dream introduction to management for the 44-year-old former West Ham, Charlton, Juventus, Napoli and Lazio star. They won promotion last season with 93 points and reached Wembley in the final of the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy.

The surge to the League Two title began after he branded his players as “Chihuahuas” following a meek start to the campaign, so perhaps Di Canio is a master motivator after all.

Before their dip in form this season, they had stayed on the magic carpet ride after promotion by winning four of their first five matches, the most recent victory, just three weeks ago, being a 4-3 triumph over Stoke City in the League Cup.

“A high-wire act, but worthwhile”, is how Swindon chairman Jeremy Wray describes his relationship with Di Canio, whom he appointed after the club’s relegation to League Two.

As soon as the results turned this season, Di Canio turned on his players.

And it’s not the first time his challenging behaviour has led to a fall-out in his dressing-room.

Striker Leon Clarke left within two weeks of joining last season following a fight with the manager, and captain Paul Caddis was loaned out to Birmingham after a dispute with Di Canio in the summer.

Di Canio models himself on his former West Ham boss Harry Redknapp and Fabio Capello, who used to shout at him on the touchline at AC Milan, where he played alongside the likes of Paolo Maldini and Marco van Basten.

He admits he finds it hard having played in Serie A and the Premier League when Swindon players don’t grasp easy drills in training, and believes he is destined to one day manage at the highest level.

He revealed the importance he places on being the best when he picked up his League Two manager of the year award last May, with the immortal line: “Winning is better than sex with Madonna.”

He also admits be being “obsessed” with the job as he chases a second successive promotion.

“I am not like many people who think it’s enough to do 90 minutes in training and then switch off,” he said. “I’ll be in Waitrose shopping for pasta and tomatoes and my mind is thinking about the next day’s session. People think I can’t find the right food because I stand there staring, thinking about football.”

Another defeat for his side on Saturday – and his players had better duck.

ALittle@cngroup.co.uk

First published at 11:31, Thursday, 13 September 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk