Paolo - Sale would unify club (From Swindon Advertiser)

SWINDON TOWN: Paolo - Sale would unify club

6:00am Monday 21st January 2013 in STFC News Exclusive By Sam Morshead

Town boss Paolo Di Canio

PAOLO Di Canio says the fact that Swindon Town is for sale should help all aspects of the club work together with a single unified goal.

The Robins manager had stated in the weeks before Town officially confirmed they are on the lookout for a new owner that he did not know why further funds were not forthcoming from the board, as he tries to steer his side to promotion from League One.

However, after majority shareholder Andrew Black openly revealed he is keen to hand over the reins at the County Ground, Di Canio believes everyone has a clearer understanding of the issues hanging around the club and what needs to be done in the near future.

The Italian stressed that he is disappointed Black wants to walk away, saying he would like the Betfair co-founder to stay for another 20 years, but he understands his reasoning and is grateful that everything is now out in the open.

“I always take the positives from the news,” he said. “The fact that we didn’t have a clear picture was worse. Now we know that the club is for sale, it’s public and Andrew Black did well until today. He paid a lot of money. I can’t blame Andrew Black because he gave me the opportunity to come in here. He gave a lot of money in the last few years.

“Maybe it could have come out a bit earlier because the situation started in September with the embargo and we weren’t sure what they were doing. Now it is better later than never and it is clear. Now I’m positive because it’s clear and when something is clear you can work in one direction.

“It’s more than positive, not because he wants to sell the club because that is negative. I want to have him for 20 years spending money for this club, but he doesn’t want to do this anymore. Never mind, we have to work.

“Now we have one direction. If we work together in one direction we can do a very good job for this club.”

The Adver understands that one of the parties originally involved in discussions to buy up the bulk of Black’s 98 per cent holding in the club has now withdrawn that interest.

There remain several potential new owners currently assessing the state of play at the County Ground. Meanwhile, it is understood that reports suggesting Di Canio’s agent, Phil Spencer, is heading one interested consortium are wide of the mark.