THE continued commitment of Swindon Town’s players under the fierce Lake Garda sun was the perfect present for Paolo Di Canio on the occasion of his 44th birthday yesterday.

For the Italian it was an emotionally charged day, his first birthday since the passing of both his mother and his father over the course of the last 12 months.

But he told the travelling media that, although his players may not have remembered to recognise the date, their efforts in training - which yesterday included a blitz of 12 consecutive 300m runs in near 35-degree heat with just 60 seconds rest between each - more than made up for their forgetfulness.

“This year is a bit sad because you know what has happened over the last year, and it is my first birthday without my mum and my dad but I received a lot of text messages from my friends, my family, my brothers so I’m happy anyway,” said Di Canio.

“They (the players) don’t have even the energy to think about it.

“At this moment I don’t presume they remember who they are, what family they’ve got so they don’t even know probably that it’s my birthday but it’s not important.

“The present is if they keep going working like they did today, even if it was very hard they’re still doing their job properly.

“That is the best gift that I can receive.”

Di Canio celebrated entering his 45th year with a small glass of champagne in the company of his squad last night, ending an eventful 24 hours for the Swindon coaching staff after the birth of fitness coach Claudio Donatelli’s second child on Sunday.

And Di Canio pushed to switch the focus away from him and onto the latest arrival in the Donatelli household.

“Today we celebrate more a new born – Claudio’s baby. We are waiting for him to arrive before dinner and we are waiting with some messages for his baby.

“That is more important. I have celebrated 44 times but there is a new kid that came into this world yesterday and it’s fair enough he deserved more than me.”