David Cameron Walker

Posts Tagged ‘The Robins’

PAOLO DI CANIOOOOO!

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012

On May 23rd 2011, the new Swindon Town manager Paolo Di Canio said he “was close to signed Lionel Messi”. In hindsight, he’s had the kind of season you can’t help but be impressed by – lighting up every game he’s been part of, appearing to be several steps ahead of the opposition and gained even more admirers than he already had.

And Lionel Messi has had quite a good season too.

Paolo Di Canio’s first season, not only as Swindon manager, but also as a manager full stop, has been little short of perfect. Many ‘experts’ wrote him off instantly and declared he would be out of the door at the first sign of trouble. Understandable, yet humorous with hindsight. What has transpired is a title-winning season, FA Cup giant-killings, a trip to Wembley and the bottom line of Di Canio still in charge of the club he joined a year ago.

The stats are the simplest way of describing the Robins’ path to glory – the best home record in the league, the most victories in the league, the best defensive record in the league. Cogito ergo sum; they’ve ended up as the best placed team. Curiously, they’ve lost ten away games, whereas a team like Crawley have lost just four. Yet, amazingly, in twenty-three home league games they’ve conceded just eight goals – seven of which came in three matches. Yes, that’s nineteen clean sheets at home, let alone including away games, all season.

Yet, when they lost at home to bitter rivals Oxford United on the 21st August, and then lost away at Shrewsbury Town, Swindon sat 21st in the league having lost four of their first five games. Doubt poured through the minds of Robins fans like cheap Italian wine at high-streets restaurants across Wiltshire. Had we paid untold fortunes to this man to see him leave before the first leaf fall of Autumn?

Arguably, the turning point came with Swindon’s televised victory over the team then top of the table, Rotherham United, but defeats still found themselves sown into the team’s form. The fact the team found themselves either winning or losing, and not dropping points in the form of draws proved vital as the season progressed (a stat they’ve maintained all season, drawing only one game throughout 2012). Yet as Paolo finally settled and players began to warm to his style of management, things back to bloom at the County Ground. But that’s not to say he’s always known who his best players are…

Before the season started, I wrote of the early flames of what would be Di Canio’s roaring season. Yet, the list of players he collected, and latterly disposed of is quite staggering for a level of football where money is tight. Alberto Comazzi and Ibrahim Atiku left the club after cancelling their contracts, Mehdi Kerrouche fell out with Di Canio and was shipped out on loan to of all clubs, Oxford United, and Mattia Lanzano’s contract was cancelled by the club, but curiously he later changed his mind and made his way back to the County Ground. These are just players who he had already bought in by mid-July, let alone other car-crash signings such as Leon Clarke and Lukas Magera. While he has freely acquired players left, right and centre, at a higher level where wages increase and the financial risks of failure are greater, this is something which cannot be risked from now onwards. His mistakes must be learnt with immediate effect.

That’s not to say there aren’t methods to his madness. Take Wes Foderingham in goal – pinched on loan from Crystal Palace and latterly signed permanently, he has been an incredible find and proved a constant rock, albeit a very agile one, in between the posts and surely not coincidental that Swindon have not only broken their club record for clean sheets during this season, but the fourth tier record has been rewritten.

Of course, far be it from me to reminisce just of the good times – thirty thousand Swindon fans rocked up at the Venue of Legends in March and were odds on favourites against Chesterfield in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy final. They promptly walked away empty handed with a performance devoid of anything which had been witnessed by fans in the recent months before the day at Wembley. At least the heavens didn’t open, which had magnified most supporters irritation when the club last appeared in HA9 back in May 2010 against Millwall in the League One play-off final. Big days out appear to be Di Canio’s Achilles heel, if indeed he does possess such a mythological weakness – Oxford fans will continue to remind Robins fans of both derby victories this season. However, I’m sure collecting the league trophy will numb the pain over knowing their rivals up the A420 will be spending another year behind Swindon in the standings.

The past twelve months have actually been the most tumultuous and upsetting of Di Canio’s life with his father, Ignazio, and his mother, Pierina, passing away within months of one another during his time at the club. His father’s illness was actually something that stopped Di Canio becoming Newport County manager in March 2011, yet when the Swindon job arose, his father insisted on him pursuing his dream of becoming a football manager. Somewhere they’ve looked down on him and guided him through a period of his life when lesser men would have understandably walked away. The ability to separate such personal hardship and continue your fledging professional career can only stand him in good stead wherever the next few years take him.

Chairman Jeremy Wray has justifiably said that Di Canio was a “risk” – the biggest risk now however is keeping hold of the man. Di Canio has provided a catalyst of hope for Swindon Town the whole way through the club – from the Chairman to the fans – which many worried may not arrive with immediate effect after Paul Hart’s atrocious spell at the club which saw them consigned to relegation last season. Yes, they were early season favourites to bounce straight back, but so were Bristol Rovers, who have ended in mid-table, and Cheltenham Town were favourites for relegation yet ended up in the play-offs – nothing is certain in football, regardless of what level its played at.

The close season will now, inevitably, link Di Canio with various managerial positions as they become untenable and available. The enormous elephant in the room still remains West Ham United, although with Sam Allardyce on the verge of guiding them back to the Premier League via the play-offs, it could mean he receives a deserved stay of execution. Would Di Canio really want to go elsewhere other than West Ham? Although managers will come and go over the next three months, no job will arise that will honestly have Paolo bolting for the County Ground door – no Premier League team will risk going for him, and why would he leave for a Championship or League One club when his intention all along with Swindon was to get them back to the second tier of English football?

His commitment and professional to the Wiltshire club has surprised many at times, myself included. Although money inevitably talks louder than most things in these situations, he doesn’t appear swayed by moving on after one season at Swindon. He appears to have committed himself to launching Swindon onwards and upwards – not something that is a god-given right as Chesterfield have proven this season after walking away with League Two last season, but something that isn’t beyond the realms of possibility either if Di Canio stays at the club.

Players will come and go between now and the middle of August – players such as Matt Ritchie, Paul Caddis & Wes Foderingham must remain, and a proven striker must arrive. Season tickets will be sold, new fans will be found, and hype will be built. But as long as Jeremy Wray keeps hold of his Italian gaffer, Swindon Town have every hope of being the latest team to become part of the “double-bounce” phenomenon which the likes of Southampton, Norwich, Stevenage and Crawley have all enjoyed in recent years.

All together now – Paolo Di Caniooooo! Paolo Di Caniooooo!

Written by Carl McQueen – We Are Going Up! Podcast member and Swindon Town Blogger

Carl tweets at @mrcarlmcqueen

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Really, Really Hate to Say I Told You So…

Monday, October 3rd, 2011

So, after being too uninspired and apathetic about the mediocrity of Bristol City’s start to the season, I have now dropped into a black pit of despair over the course of this week. The problems that I highlighted in my first blog have all come true at the same time in the worst ways imaginable. Our lack of cover in defence has come back to haunt us – with Liam Fontaine out and Louis Carey looking less and less like a Championship player, our back four of Jordan Spence (21 years old), Lewin Nyatanga (23), James Wilson (22) and Ryan McGivern (21) lacks experience and leadership.

Our squad is paper thin too, with few senior players available to cover the defence. Our “world-class” goalkeeper David James has justified his nickname “calamity” this week (he was at fault for all three goals against Reading, spilling a cross straight to Jobi McAnuff, parrying one into the path of Adam le Fondre and he should have done better against Mathieu Manset’s flick). Our capitulation at the hands of Reading on Tuesday and to Blackpool on Saturday shows how much we lack confidence and belief in the team, because the fans at Ashton Gate are incredibly quick to turn against them; as soon as the opposition score, a number of fans around me say “right, that’s it, we’ve lost” and suchlike.

“Playing a six foot three striker (Jon Stead) on the wing because you’re a tactical genius” was one of the pages that showed up on my Facebook page last week, and you can see why. The frustration at Ashton Gate is visible, even from the (usually docile) Dolman stand. Normally, I have a lot of time for our manager, due to his commitment to the club (Keith Millen has been at the club since 1999) and the fact that he has come in as caretaker-manager twice to stave off the threat of relegation (once from League Two, the horror). However, this was as caretaker-manager, and he has ruled himself out of the running for the full-time manager’s job both times. The last time was only a year ago, and who’s to say that he’s progressed – tactically and personally – enough to take on the job on a full-time basis? From what we’ve seen this season, he seems unable to.

Six hours without a goal is bad enough away, but it seems unthinkable at home, surely? Not for City, it ain’t. You could blame this on the players, and their lack of ability, but the amount of cash wasted on players that had previously been effective at this level is extortionate for their performances – Jon Stead was once tipped for future greatness with England, Nicky Hunt has made over a hundred appearances in the Premier League, Damion Stewart was a stalwart in a “#decent” (as a certain Mr Barton would say) QPR side… and yet our defence remains leaky. These players undoubtedly have the talent to be playing in such a good league, but they are being played in a style and a formation that doesn’t suit them. Jon Stead being played on the wing is just one of these mishaps, others being Nicky Maynard (who scored 20 goals two seasons ago, playing off another striker) being played up front on his own in a 4-5-1 formation, taking off Jamal Campbell-Ryce (who had our best chances in the Brighton match) and bringing on yet another over-elaborate winger with little end product, Martyn Woolford. Sadly, he’s another player who seems ineffective, but then again he is rarely given a chance.

I wish my tone in this blog could be more upbeat and able to take positives even from our losses, but I’m afraid that they are few and far between. I’m unsure that we’ll see the customary bouncing around the ground this season that is normally so endemic when the good times roll at the gate. We have already become mired in a relegation tussle, but I worry that we lack the squad strength and ability to escape it. Our ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory is a massive worry as well. I have a feeling that there is a long, hard season ahead of us.

Written by Joe Walford, We Are Going Up’s Bristol City Blogger

Joe tweets at @Joe_Walfs

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Posted in Bristol City, Championship | No Comments »

Rivalries, we’ve had a few. But then again, just one to mention.

Friday, August 19th, 2011

You big wigs can have your Manchester derby, your Merseyside derby, even your North London derby. League Two types don’t ‘do’ derbies named by hazy geographical designations. Instead, they stick to unappealing A-roads which mean nothing to the common man – welcome to the A420 derby – Swindon Town v Oxford United. Please drive carefully.

It doesn’t matter if you support Barcelona or Barnet; regardless of whichever club you cheer across the world, to fans of the teams concerned, it’s the fiercest rivalry known to man and the only one that matters. On Sunday that passion combusts into life once again for Robins and U’s fans.

Speaking of Barcelona, last year the football purists were saturated with El Clasico’s left, right and centre. Town and United fans have been starved of a match for nine years. Unimaginable if you cheer on Real Madrid or Barca, but something us Town fans have had to stubbornly put up with. Allow the knife to be stuck in early here and say the main reasoning behind this is Oxford’s plight that saw them enjoy a number of seasons in the Conference.

But now we sit on even terms. They have one of the world’s most renowned university’s, we have the Magic Roundabout. They have a cathedral dating back to the 1100’s, we have the Oasis Leisure Centre. They have Inspector Morse, we have Billie Piper. This is not an edition of Newsnight Review, this is an episode of Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps.

It’s conceivable a rivalry may have never ignited at all had Accrington Stanley not folded in 1962. Oxford United were granted league status in place of them and the rest is history. As fate may have it, Oxford’s departure from the Football League in 2006 resulted in them being replaced by none other than Accrington Stanley. I’ll allow you to say it’s a funny old game at this point in the article.

One of Swindon Town’s leading supporter websites suggests the ignition pilot failed to light early on however, with six of the first ten games between the teams ending in 0-0. Results to hardly get the blood boiling. But it’s a fine wine of a footballing derby, complemented by a greasy curry Pukka half-time pie. Improving with history whilst being accompanied by the inevitable stress-induced heart attack that watching the lower league football team you support brings.

They’ve both won the League Cup once, but neither were allowed to compete in Europe despite to their success. Town were prohibited because they played in the third tier of English football at the time (1969) and United were denied because they won during a time when UEFA had banned English teams from European competitions following the Heysel disaster (1986). Both have effectively been prohibited from the dizzying heights of Borussia Monchengladbach away due to the stubborn nature of football bureaucracy. Even Robert Maxwell’s fraudulent millions couldn’t pay for Oxford’s way into the competition.

The two sides have met 53 times in the past, and Oxford have only won on 10 occasions. Were it a boxing match, the referee would have called this bout off around September 1990. But now it’s August 2011 and they’ve risen from the canvas. Neither side particularly wanted to meet in the fourth tier of English football, but evidently both sides float like a butterfly and sting like one too.

Despite the fact the two rivals last competitively met on the 8th December 2002 in the FA Cup – Oxford won 1-0 in the only game between the two teams to have been hosted at the Kassam Stadium; or “that ridiculous ground with three stands and a car park at one end” according to most Swindon fans – the hatred remains as strong as ever. During the witching hours of Friday night last week, Town ‘fans’ broke into Oxford’s ground and embossed “STFC” into the grass using petrol and lighters. It was there for all to see as the U’s took on Bradford City on Saturday afternoon…unfortunately the initials did appear as if a two-year-old had scrawled them across green crepe paper with a human-sized black crayon, but the intention lingered throughout the match – “oi, Oxford, we’re waiting…”

The unspoken taboo of players appearing for both sides has occurred on various occasions; in recent years Tommy Mooney, Adrian Viveash, Jimmy Glass (Yes Carlisle United fans, THAT Jimmy Glass) and Eric Sabin have all crossed the divide during their meandering careers. Most infamously however, Joey Beauchamp will go down in Swindon Town’s unwanted folklore as the player theoretically brought for a fiver and sold for a penny and morally became the A420 equivalent of Mo Johnston. It may not have made the list of “Football Transfers to Shock the World” but Mr Beauchamp will never be welcome in Wiltshire.

Now Swindon have the infamous Paolo Di Canio in charge, they have a backroom nonentity in Chris Wilder as manager. Swindon have a matured amphitheatre steeped in tradition and supporter passion, they have a car park with a field attached. Swindon have the spirit of Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s work strewn throughout our town, they have, well, quite a lot of impressive architectural work. But remember this isn’t about culture; this is about football, stupid.

Swindon have plenty of wannabe rivalries – this football fans census suggests they’re ranked thirteenth in the country when it comes to teams who define us as ‘the enemy’, joint level with Cardiff City and even ahead of former European champions Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa – the fans know how to ruffle the proverbial feathers.

So next time you’re quaffing on a Budweiser in your armchair while watching Manchester United versus Manchester City, or Liverpool, or Arsenal, or Chelsea, or whoever else wants to be their main rival this week according to Sky Sports, think of the Swindon fans, and even Oxford ones for that matter, kicking off at 1pm on Sunday afternoon due to the advice of police. Not because of TV scheduling. Oh no, the only cameras in attendance will be those filming fights on their iPhone, or the work experience kid at the BBC to provide any possible goals for the local Beeb amateur dramatics, sorry I mean news bulletin, at some point that evening. If it’s really on the advice of police, they’d have been better off playing at about 10.30am on a Tuesday morning – at 1pm on a Sunday afternoon Town fans will just keep drinking having been out all night on Saturday. Seriously. John Betjeman gained inspiration for ‘Slough’ by hanging out in Swindon.

Bristol Rovers, Reading and even Gillingham may officially categorise us as unwanted visitors, but all equate to mere cannon fodder in supporter’s eyes compared to that team in yellow who live about 30 miles away. As Prince and Sinéad O’Connor perhaps once (almost) realised while stuck in a traffic jam around Shrivenham on the A420, nothing compares…to the U’s.

Written by Carl McQueen – We Are Going Up! Podcast member and Swindon Town Blogger

Carl tweets at @mrcarlmcqueen

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Lets keep it simple

Wednesday, August 17th, 2011

So the dust has settled, the season is under way and already fans up and down the country are dreaming of title assaults or fearing a season of real struggle, such is the power of the opening few games.

Three rounds of Football League action, along with the 1st round of the Carling Cup, have been successfully negated and for Cheltenham Town fans the bag is of the mixed variety at present. 1 win and 3 losses on paper is a poor start, however through the eyes of the folk who have witnessed all 360 minutes the picture isn’t actually so bleak. I’m sure many of you are sick of reading the typically positive blogs, in which we all state our teams will “do well” or “defy the odds” (just like I did last time round) but after the 1-0 home win over Paulo Di Canio’s Swindon Town, fans around Whaddon Road have reason to smile again, despite last night’s gut wrenching last gasp defeat at home to Morecambe.

First and foremost it was only our 2nd home win of 2011, and our first Saturday home win since last winter so you can’t begrudge us that! Secondly, the manner of the win over Swindon was what pleased most. No it wasn’t free flowing, beautiful football; no the goal wasn’t a stunning 30 yarder, in fact it was the simplicity of it that we all loved. As a Cheltie, there is a long running joke of our inability to score from corners, it just never happens, no seriously, it really never does. Normally when a corner is awarded to us I’m more in fear of a counter attack from the defending team more than us scoring, so to see Steve Elliot thump an emphatic header past Paul Smith was greeted with a huge roar from the terrace, along with absolute shock!

The battling qualities the Rubies showed was imperative in victory that day, and could prove key throughout the season in the games where the hoof becomes more favourable than the more orthodox pass. We rode an early storm from the Wiltshire Robins who hammered in three early long rangers, one hitting the post, and De Vita was guilty of missing a pretty simple chance, however after this, the graft and grit shown all over the pitch was what won the day for Cheltenham. This quality was lacking last season – a youthful squad often became bullied in games and caved having gone behind. With this squad, you see leadership, you see determination, and although it wont always be pretty (when is it ever pretty in League Two anyway), it could well be effective in the points tally.

Last night Whaddon Road saw a totally different game, a game in which Cheltenham did produce some free flowing, lovely football. A game of real entertainment and quality at times, but one in which the Rubies just couldn’t score for love nor money. Low and behold, despite the quality of the football we came away with zilch (courtesy of what seemed a very dodgy referring decision which we shan’t dwell on or moan about)! Cheltenham passed the ball around comfortably, and had over 20 shots throughout the game, the midfield was bossed by Pack and Penn and the defence looked fairly comfortable during the whole 90 minutes. However, as is often the case when chances aren’t taken, the feeling of a sucker punch is rife on the terraces and after a skewed and scuffed by Jeff Goulding, Morecambe were gifted the chance of taking the lead, which they duly took. Despite Goulding atoning for his earlier error with a fine goal, Kevin Ellison chased down Russ Penn, robbed him (foul or no foul) and emphatically scored in the 92nd minute. Ouch.

So what have we learnt so far Town fans? Am I really justifying that we play more direct, “simple” football? Perhaps, however the balance of football we have witnessed in the opening four games has been pleasant; we’ve shown we can fight and graft out performances, as well as play some slick, “easy on the eye” football. Although they haven’t yet, if we continue in this vain the results will no doubt come. For now, let’s keep it simple and put the ball in the net when given the chance.

Written by Maxi Hobbs, We Are Going Up’s Cheltenham Town Blogger

Maxi tweets at @maxihobbs

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Ready to defy the odds?

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011

A quick glance at the bookies odds once again confirms one thing; Cheltenham Town are set for the drop. In fact if you’re a firm believer in the bookies Cheltenham would’ve been relegated season after season and to a certain extent they have a point. For five seasons in a row now Cheltenham have been fighting at the wrong end of the table, three of those in League One. The Robins (or if we’re being accurate the Rubies for this anniversary season) according to Coral are the favourites to go down with odds of 11/4 at the time of writing, and a look across other bookies confirms the same beliefs.

Last season was a bizarre one for the team; up until Christmas everything seemed to be going too well. The squad which was revamped radically in the Summer of 2010, gelled instantly and the likes of Wesley Thomas, Josh Low and Keith Lowe to name a few, were performing to a level no one expected and the Robins were lying in and around the play-offs and deservedly so. However, as the New Year came and went Cheltenham embarked on one of the most dramatic slides the Football League has seen, almost resulting in relegation from the Football League. Unthinkable. Luckily Town survived, a 2-0 win at hapless Lincoln City was key in the final weeks. Mark Yates could only mastermind one home win in 2011 – to hopeless Stockport County which was narrow enough in itself. The players seemed scared to play at Whaddon Road, the manager seemed clueless as to what the problem was, the pitch was getting ever worse, the fans groans became louder by the match and faith was fast being lost. The season’s close came at a good time for Cheltenham, we’d survived and that would do. Nevertheless this was an incredible anti-climax to a season that promised so much in December 2010. The pinnacle being a 4-0 home win against Bradford which catapulted Town into the play-offs once again.

Many fans questioned and even called for Yates head, a knee-jerk reaction perhaps but with the football being served up at home week after week you could see their point to an extent. Nonetheless, Yates and his staff have had the off season to prepare and after a quick start, signing up the brilliant Marlon Pack from Portsmouth who had a loan spell which yielded many high quality performances, he also signed up Russ Penn from Burton. Penn is a combative midfielder whose style suits Pack down to the ground and before we knew it we had a central midfield of high quality in the offing.

After a brief lull the rumour mill picked up again and Yates has added a further eight taking the squad past the 20 mark in numbers, somewhat a rarity here. Daryll Duffy is probably the biggest name there; a striker released by Bristol Rovers who has pedigree at a higher level than most Cheltenham players have ever had. Jimmy Spencer and Kaid Mohamed have also joined and will fight with Jeff Goulding and young prodigy Ethan Moore for two frontline spots. In fact every position at the time of writing has two players that could play in their said position. At last, we have some competition. Something that lacked majorly last season – players got cosy knowing their place was guaranteed and many fans blame this for the drastic slump than occurred.

Although most will set the Rubies aside for another season of struggle, the fans are quietly talking about, in fact just whispering, of better things to come this season. There’s even been crazy talk involving the “P word”. No not promotion, but the play-offs. It may sound crazy to an outsider but football’s a funny old game and when Cheltenham and the play-offs meet there’s only one end result…! You just never know.

Written by Maxi Hobbs, We Are Going Up’s Cheltenham Town Blogger

Maxi tweets at @maxihobbs

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In Hope, Not Expectation

Thursday, July 28th, 2011

After the promise and excitement of last year’s pre-season build up, this year’s has been decidedly muted.

Instead of a (supposedly) world – class goalkeeper fresh from the “Greatest Show on Earth ™”, we have signed another striker from League Two with a questionable scoring record. Instead of the big-name manager we’d been waiting for to take us one better than Gary Johnson did, we’ve struggled to sign players, being beaten to them by low level Premiership sides and even Championship sides who are at a similar level to The Robins. These factors have combined to keep my (and most city fans I know) feet planted firmly on the ground. The prospects for this season are in sharp contrast to those of last.

Albert Adomah was one of the few star performers in an otherwise ordinary team last season, and so far it seems like we’ll retain him. By the end of the season, he had a reputation as a danger man and as a result, had more than one person marking him in the final few games. This would be no problem at all if we had someone who was able to make use of the spare man and stretch the play. However, last season we were sadly lacking. The recruitment of Yannick Bolasie from Plymouth Argyle could well be the remedy for this. It also helps that he is mates with Albert Adomah’s, having played together at Barnet. They even devised their own goal celebration, which you can watch here.  Here’s hoping we see that many times this season.

Speaking of goals and celebrations, goals were a commodity in short supply last time around, with only Brett Pitman reaching double figures in the league. We desperately rely on Nicky Maynard to be in some sort of form, and in some sort of fitness. His fortunes mirror that of the team’s, most obviously when he was injured for the majority of the season and we struggled. Unsurprisingly, when he came back, he scored 6 goals in 11 starts, no mean feat in the championship. He has been the target of several clubs recently, including Steve McClaren’s Nottingham Forest and Sven Göran Erikson’s Leicester City.

The fact that two former England managers are after him just shows how highly rated he is at this level. I think many fans are resigned to losing him, but if we lose him we should receive a decent sum; however this needs to be invested into the defence. We only have one natural left back, and Nicky Hunt and Louis Carey just couldn’t deal with pace at right back. We relied on our nineteen-year-old loan signing Steven Caulker to provide some defensive stability at centre back, but he’s been sent to Swansea for next season. He was always going to go on to bigger things, and I think I speak for the majority of city fans in wishing him good luck in the future.

The one place in our team that is no cause for concern is our central midfield – Marvin Elliot, Cole Skuse, Lee Johnson and new signing Neil Kilkenny would make most championship sides – creative, all action, box to box midfielders that can pass and tackle. This is a good spine upon which to build upon, but more needs to be done to strengthen in other parts of the team.

I think that the current situation and mentality is probably better for the side than the unrelenting optimism that surrounded them last season. There are fewer expectations for us to do well, having last effectively challenged for the playoffs in our first season back in the division, in 2007-2008, four years ago. There can be no excuses of a “managerial shake-up” rocking the team (unless Keith Millen does something drastically wrong, which I highly doubt). A better start than last season is crucial, as we spent most of last season mired in the relegation battle, until the return of Nicky Maynard put us back on track.

With a few new additions to the squad, and some luck with injuries, we should be looking at a top half finish. And if we’re really lucky, we might just be in with a shout for the playoffs!

Written by Joe Walford, We Are Going Up’s Bristol City Blogger

Joe tweets at @Joe_Walfs

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Posted in Bristol City, Championship | No Comments »

We are close to signing Lionel Messi

Sunday, July 24th, 2011

“We are close to signing Lionel Messi.”
Paolo Di Canio, 23rd May 2011.

Swindon is a typical English town – famed for a roundabout, trains and Melinda Messenger; renovated in the 1970s into an aesthetically appalling concrete jungle with no redeemable features and where teenage conception rates are more similar to the levels found in Rwanda than Royal Tunbridge Wells. But one thing has always remained apparent – its football team have never done things by the book.

Osvaldo Ardilles, Glenn Hoddle, Lou Macari and Steve McMahon all began their managerial careers at the County Ground – all having won copious football trophies during their playing career – Ardilles even rocked up in Wiltshire in 1989 just over ten years after winning the Jules Rimet. The equivalent would be Xavi Hernandez joining the club in 2022. The Robins don’t do conventional managerial appointments. Di Canio fits that bill. Just ask Paul Alcock.

Within 24 hours of his arrival back in May, the GMB union pulled its sponsorship deal with the club following Di Canio’s contentious decision in the past to voice his admiration for Benito Mussolini. And as he’s proclaimed in previous years; “I am a fascist, not a racist.” Oh, well that’s alright then…

Players have naturally departed over the summer months – one significant factor to the clubs relegation last season was the departure of Gordon Greer, Billy Paynter and latterly Charlie Austin in January, and the complete failure to adequately replace them. Added to that list you can now include Jonathan Douglas, Jon-Paul McGovern, David Lucas, Scott Cuthbert, Alan Sheehan and Lecsinel Jean-François – all of whom started the 2010 League One Playoff final against Millwall and who are now plying their trade elsewhere having been relegated just a couple of months ago.

Di Canio has been in touch with AC Milan to ask if they’ll loan him any players. Presumably he was laughed out of the San Siro. Instead he looked at archetypal journeymen such as Leon Knight – a man who the day before he was told he wouldn’t be required at Swindon after a short trial said he had ‘nothing to prove’; something that fans of Chelsea, QPR, Huddersfield Town, Sheffield Wednesday, Brighton, Swansea City, Barnsley, MK Dons, Wycombe Wanderers, Rushden & Diamonds, Thrasyvoulos Filis (who?!), Hamilton Academicals, Queen of the South and Coleraine can all question along with Swindon fans.

In all seriousness, Leon Knight aside, Di Canio has been frantically bringing in players from all across the globe…Joe Devera, Alberto Comazzi, Raffaele De Vita, Oliver Risser, Jonathan Smith, Mattia Lanzano, Alessandro Cibocchi, Ibrahim Atiku, Mehdi Kerrouche, Alan Connell, Etienne Esajas and Alan McCormack are no fewer than twelve new names now gracing the squad list for 2011. How many have played in the Football League before? Three. Yes, those are alarm bells you can hear ringing in the distance. The new captain for the year, Oliver Risser, is a regular member of the Namibian national team, don’t you know!

Being a ‘big’ team in a league featuring clubs formed less than a decade ago and clubs immortalised by milk adverts, could have it’s downfalls. Employing a man such as Di Canio systematically means he’ll be drawn to a bigger club within months. This happened when Dennis Wise & Gus Poyet arrived at the County Ground as recently as 2006…thankfully they left their mark instantly and the club gained automatic promotion after such a strong start. That team included a full squad of players who had Football League experience. Were Di Canio to depart before Christmas and leave a team full of Italians, a Namibian, an Algerian, a Ghanaian and a Dutchmen who have never stepped foot in England before, let alone played on a cold, wet Tuesday night away at Morecambe, then the consequences could be dire.

A pocket of fans will never accept Di Canio due to his acknowledgement of a very right-wing view of society – it’s important to indicate the County Ground was a prisoner-of-war camp during the Second World War. Were results to come immediately and Di Canio were to weave the same magic he did as a player, that section of supporters will join the celebrating bandwagon on it’s merry march. Should Di Canio still be winless come around 3pm on Sunday 21st August then the vitriol towards him may increase to unassailable levels. The reason for such a specific time and date? The final whistle in the match between Swindon and Oxford will have just been blown. To heavily paraphrase Vince Lombardi for a moment, show me a rivalry that claims to be bigger in League Two than that of Swindon and Oxford and I’ll show you a rivalry.

In four months time you may find me describing Di Canio as an inevitable traitor for leaving the Robins high and dry in search of a bigger managerial role while we languish in the bottom half, or waxing lyrically as he’s performed the kind of transformation that would make Midas’ touch appear quite rusty. That’s what defines the enigma of Paolo Di Canio – you never know what you’re going to get. Swindon have risked it all before on these Forrest Gump-style managers – a big name who could make or break the club…and yet the Robins are still standing. Just.

“This is my destiny,” proclaimed Paolo upon arrival at the County Ground, and then charmed the awaiting media with witticisms of signing Lionel Messi. Rather than recite a passage from the works of Prus or a quote from Aristotle to describe his ambitions in a place such as Swindon; he remembered he was no longer strolling through the streets of Rome, and merely declared he wanted players “with two big bollocks”.

Welcome to the world of Paolo, Swindon… What was that about never doing things by the book?

Written by Carl McQueen – We Are Going Up! Podcast member and Swindon Town Blogger

Carl tweets at @mrcarlmcqueen

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