Dan the Fan: Relax! says Don Paolo (From Swindon Advertiser)

Dan the Fan: Relax! says Don Paolo

1:30pm Thursday 23rd June 2011

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As eleven players leave the County Ground and only three come in, the manager had one message for the Town fans, ‘don’t be worried, relax!’ Not sure if the new managers comments have helped you relax but with 7 weeks till the opening fixture at home he has got time on his side.

Alan O’Brien, Thomas Dossevi, Michael Rose, David Prutton, Scott Cuthbert, Jakub Jesionkowski, Vincent Pericard, Alan Sheehan, Lescinel Jean-Francois, Elliot Benyon and Jon Paul McGovern are the players who have moved on since the end of last season.

Before today we just had Joe Devera and Jonathan Smith as new signings at the County Ground, but another new face has joined the team. Raffaele De Vita joins on a free from Scottish Division One side Livingston.

De Vita has an impressive scoring record since joining Livingston in 2008 scoring 41 goals in 67 games but I’m sure he’ll find life a little more difficult playing in England.

The most recent name being talked about is defender Alberto Comazzi joining from Spezia Calcio.

As Alberto has spent his entire career playing in Italy he isn’t a name we would instantly recognize but he has played in the Italian equivalent of the Championship at Verona for the majority of his career.

Having Paolo Di Canio as manager will bring benefits of players he knows from across the footballing world but of course having players come in from abroad could have its setbacks.

When playing in League Two, having someone at the heart of the defence who knows the league inside out will be important. Having players come in who don’t know the English game might harm the team but time will tell if he decides to move to Swindon.

Last Friday we finally got to see who Town would be playing at certain times over the season.

Opening the season at home is always a great fixture to have. The last time we played Crewe on the opening day we left the County Ground with a 2-0 win in 1997, the same again for Di Canio’s first league game would be the perfect start.

The new fixtures and Cup draw also handed us a very busy opening month in terms of renewing local rivalries.

In the opening month of the season we have Bristol City, Cheltenham and old rivals Oxford Utd. United will be coming to the County Ground for the first time since October 2000 and victory in all three will make Di Canio a fans favourite within a month at the County Ground.

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