PAOLO Di Canio has ripped up the old footballing cliche of ‘one game at a time’ by revealing that next week’s clash with Aston Villa, rather than tomorrow’s visit to Stevenage, is his highest priority.

The Swindon Town manager appears to have taken it upon himself to lift the transfer embargo currently hanging over the club by masterminding a Capital One Cup fourth-round upset against the Premier League side.

With the answers and action he wants from the County Ground board not forthcoming, the Italian believes the best chance he has of restoring his transfer-making powers is by securing progress to the quarter-finals and another high-profile tie.

That would create the unbudgeted revenue necessary to lift the Robins out of embargo and, in Di Canio’s own words, turn the season around.

“In this moment, as a manager, I have to change some of my pillars like the next game being the most important one. I have to be honest, this is not the case,” he said.

“Even if we prepare for the Stevenage game as a Champions League final we have to be honest that straight away there is Aston Villa.

“It is a bad message but the more important game for us is Aston Villa. I don’t want to lose the Stevenage game but it’s not the end of the world.

“We have to think that close there is Aston Villa, which we have to think is a crossroads that can turn the season in the way that we want.

“Probably, if I go through this game, not only will we give satisfaction to all the Swindon environment but we can draw something important that means we can get out of financial trouble ourselves.

“Then we can make a miracle and thanks to ourselves we can be out of financial problems and maybe turn the season a different way.

“We can then thank ourselves for taking ourselves out of the embargo and make history for the football club.

“I have to be honest, Aston Villa is the priority, not Stevenage. At Stevenage we will do our job professionally but I have to think about selection.

“If I have injuries now I don’t have a chance to do a miracle with Aston Villa and for the future I can have a bigger problem.”