THE PAOLO DI CANIO COLUMN: My players have the right desire (From Swindon Advertiser)

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THE PAOLO DI CANIO COLUMN: My players have the right desire

6:00am Thursday 16th February 2012 in Local By Paolo Di Canio

We showed that we have the mental strength to cope with every situation on Tuesday night.

Maybe Steve Evans feels he can steal some points if he tries to be insulting or saying some words to make the opponents nervous, but this is not my way because I choose to always try and stimulate my own players.

Crawley will challenge for the title.

They have a lot of experience having brought in players who have played at a high level and are now 30 or 31 years old, and maybe he knows that it is enough to challenge for the title.

But we proved we are more intelligent and professional. We are already more mature than lots of the players they have, who are 30 or 31, because we did not fall in a trap, we took advantage of their weaknesses and they got nervous.

I saw Luke Rooney and Paul Caddis were the targets many times in the first half and even at points in the second half, but they did not fall into a trap and that makes me happy because they are more mature than the age they are.

It was good to win again and all the points we can get will give us the chance to go on the top of the table and it would be good if soon we we could be looking at all the others behind us.

This moment of the season is early but not so early that if we go above everyone in the next two games then we have a big chance to challenge for the title.

I said 10 or so games ago, when we about seven games off the top three, that we wanted to stay close until the end of January and try to give our best for the final push.

The fact that this situation has come a few games earlier than we first expected is better for us because the confidence and belief is higher at this moment.

So right now I am happy because unless we go mad we have a big chance to go up straight away in the top three. I don’t want to say just top but second and third also.

There are clubs at this moment who are suffering a little bit, we have energy, desire and quality and we will play to win his league until the end of the season.

Paolo on...Luis Suarez. It would be a shame if was to leave just because of something silly he did.

He was put under a pressure that he did not deserve to be in my opinion because he had already paid his price. I could not imagine his time at Liverpool ending because of this.

Thinking about his eight-game ban he may feel that was unfair because in football there can be worse things, and that maybe makes him feel sad about the whole situation and maybe make him want to leave the country.

When I received an 11-match ban for pushing the referee everybody called me a barbarian and called for me to be banned for every game.

I said ‘I am not a barbarian, I am strong and I want to play in England’. I wanted to prove myself and prove that I had done nothing wrong. I was not violent, my behaviour was just unsporting.

I am too big to fall at the first bit of criticism, even if it is heavy, but we are all different.

Suarez knows that his name will be made dirty because of what has happened, that is not fair, but maybe for this reason he might feel he has to leave.

I hope that is not the case but if he does want to leave then it would suggest he feels the pressure and he does not feel happy with the system in English football.

My advice to him is that if he does enjoy being at Liverpool and staying at the top level then he has to forget what happened because while there will always be some criticism of him, but many people can see that he made a mistake, he paid his price and that there are worse things than this situation.

Paolo on...Rangers going into administration. Obviously I support Celtic because I played for them, but it is a shame to see Rangers like they are.

In Scotland there is only really Celtic and Rangers who challenge for the title and it would be impossible to imagine that such an institution like Rangers could go into administration and maybe even finish.

It is the same whenever there is anything that has a big history and tradition is almost to finish.

It makes me feel sad because I want to see every club full of life and happy and be able to play every season, like Rangers have for 130 years. I hope for them they can survive in some way.

In Rome, normally fans celebrate if their rival team goes through a bad situation but I don’t think the real fans ever wish that on their rival teams.

Everyone wants to see the derby matches, the fans want to see the Old Firm and they want to be able to sing songs against the opposition fans.

It would be poor for the history of Scottish football if Rangers disappeared.

There is no celebration for Celtic to win the title this way.

For this reason whenever there is a club who has big historic rivalry with another – Celtic/Rangers or Swindon/Oxford then I always hope the teams can survive.

We need the adrenaline of the derbies.

I heard my name being sung on Tuesday night but I didn’t distract myself from the game because I was focused on doing my job.

However when there were a few minutes to go and everyone was chanting ‘Paolo, give us a wave’, I answered because we were 3-0 up and I wanted to celebrate with the fans and say thanks.

I also hear them sing ‘there is one Paul Caddis’ or ‘one Simon Ferry’ sometimes but obviously it is difficult to sing every single players’ name, so maybe when they chant my name it is for the whole team.

Therefore when they sing my name it is more than just saying Paolo Di Canio, it has a more united meaning and it is more for everybody and the whole squad.

I am not a liar, it makes me happy of course but I am sure that when they sing it is meant for the whole squad and that is what I want because they are the protagonists and they deserve all the credit.

Comments(63)

TOWNEND-D.ROMAIN says...
6:13am Thu 16 Feb 12

PLEASE GIVE PDC a new contract be4 any other club comes sniffing around...
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