[JMDP]

Cracking result for Charlton yesterday, gutted I couldn't make it. Sounds like it was a backs to the wall job second half though. Good lead at the top of the table now.

[DJP]

Top Rant from Di Canio

If they want to send me off every game, no problem. I will win this league anyway because my team is a strong team.

http://news.bbc.co.u...ll/16670824.stm

[DJP]

God asks Lionel Messi, "What do you believe?" Messi says, "I believe in hard work, and in staying true to family and friends.” God can't help but see the goodness of Messi and offers him a seat to his left. Then God turns to Cristiano Ronaldo and says, "What do you believe?" Ronaldo says, "I believe in your total goodness, love and generosity and that you have given all to mankind.” God is greatly moved by Ronaldo’s eloquence, and offers him a seat to his right.
Finally, God turns to Paolo Di Canio: "And you, Paolo, what do you believe?" Di Canio replies, "I believe you're in my seat."

[highlandcowden]

JMDP, on 22 January 2012 - 14:43, said:

Cracking result for Charlton yesterday, gutted I couldn't make it. Sounds like it was a backs to the wall job second half though. Good lead at the top of the table now.

particularly upsetting that sheffield utd were knocked out of 2nd place by having a perfectly good goal disallowed following complete overprotection of the charlton keeper by the ref,being replaced by huddersfield who got there partly on the basis of a blatant foul on the brentford keeper

[DJP]

Typical fucking Oxford. Fuming. Will be most unhappy if I don't get a ticket. It's going to be a scramble between me and 5400 other season ticket holders for share of woeful 1200 tickets. We gave those c***s 3000 tickets for our place.

------------------

OXFORD United have decided not to have a fourth stand in place for when they host Swindon in March, citing that it would not be commercially viable.

With the U’s having already sold out their ticket allocation for the game back in November, discussions were held to see whether it would be possible for a temporary stand to be erected on the west end of the ground to house the travelling Town supporters.

But those discussions concluded with a decision not to have a fourth stand put in place and instead Swindon have been allocated just 1,252 tickets for the North Stand.

Oxford chairman Kelvin Thomas: “Everyone in the club would have loved to put a fourth stand up for this fixture.

“It’s something that hasn’t happened before and we all like to create history in some way.

“However, after spending a lot of time on the research and a tremendous amount of time discussing the positives and negatives, we think it is the right decision at this point.

“It could be a safety risk and a financial risk, on top of what is already a very high-profile fixture.”

Town interim chairman Jeremy Wray was disappointed that a large number Swindon fans will miss out on the game, but understood Oxford's reasoning for the decision.

"It is one of those things, they have done their sums and there is sadly nothing we can do about it," he said.

"This is a fixture that we have to hope will be played in front of 25,000 fans in the not-too-distant future, because it could easily sell that amount of tickets."

Meanwhile, Swindon have sold 3,469 tickets for the FA Cup fourth-round game at Leicester on Saturday.

[South Lanarkshire Jag]

DJP, on 26 January 2012 - 10:17, said:

Typical fucking Oxford. Fuming. Will be most unhappy if I don't get a ticket. It's going to be a scramble between me and 5400 other season ticket holders for share of woeful 1200 tickets. We gave those c***s 3000 tickets for our place.

------------------

OXFORD United have decided not to have a fourth stand in place for when they host Swindon in March, citing that it would not be commercially viable.

With the U's having already sold out their ticket allocation for the game back in November, discussions were held to see whether it would be possible for a temporary stand to be erected on the west end of the ground to house the travelling Town supporters.

But those discussions concluded with a decision not to have a fourth stand put in place and instead Swindon have been allocated just 1,252 tickets for the North Stand.

Oxford chairman Kelvin Thomas: "Everyone in the club would have loved to put a fourth stand up for this fixture.

"It's something that hasn't happened before and we all like to create history in some way.

"However, after spending a lot of time on the research and a tremendous amount of time discussing the positives and negatives, we think it is the right decision at this point.

"It could be a safety risk and a financial risk, on top of what is already a very high-profile fixture."

Town interim chairman Jeremy Wray was disappointed that a large number Swindon fans will miss out on the game, but understood Oxford's reasoning for the decision.

"It is one of those things, they have done their sums and there is sadly nothing we can do about it," he said.

"This is a fixture that we have to hope will be played in front of 25,000 fans in the not-too-distant future, because it could easily sell that amount of tickets."

Meanwhile, Swindon have sold 3,469 tickets for the FA Cup fourth-round game at Leicester on Saturday.

They're shiting it!

[Kris.]

DJP, on 26 January 2012 - 10:17, said:

Typical fucking Oxford. Fuming. Will be most unhappy if I don't get a ticket. It's going to be a scramble between me and 5400 other season ticket holders for share of woeful 1200 tickets. We gave those c***s 3000 tickets for our place.

You're fuming because another club won't put up another stand, just for you lot, just for one game? Get a grip.

Is it really typical of them as well? Do they often refuse to put up additional stands for a single game?

[DJP]

Kris., on 26 January 2012 - 11:31, said:

You're fuming because another club won't put up another stand, just for you lot, just for one game? Get a grip.

Is it really typical of them as well? Do they often refuse to put up additional stands for a single game?

No, Oxford away end holds more (normally allocated over 2000). They however reduced away end and sold more tickets to home fans, assuming they would get a 4th stand. Oxford however done a u-turn and not getting a 4th stand meaning we get shitty allocation. This is Oxfords cup final, c***s selling out in November when game in March.

This post has been edited by DJP: 26 January 2012 - 12:28

[DJP]

A two page spread on Di Canio in today's Daily Mail. Although not many folk on here read it, so for you...


Di Canio reveals all on being a 'barbarian', why Swindon is cool

'The first thing I had to do was to fight back the tears,' Paolo Di Canio admitted, 'even though it seemed that they would never stop. When I arrived at the stadium, I had a lump in my throat which I thought would choke me. I was overwhelmed. And so I wept. And I trembled.

'The pounding of my heart tormented me. I felt unable to control my thoughts or my actions. I lost the power of speech, I kept on crying like a baby. I am not a man accustomed to weeping. But here, everything was different.'

Strong words, perhaps, but who knows how a man will be affected when he first arrives at Swindon Town?

Actually those recollections come from Il Ritorno (The Return), Di Canio's wonderful but sadly untranslated 2005 memoir. They describe his homecoming, as a player, to his beloved Lazio; the team to which he has dedicated much of his life, both as a player and a member of the Irriducibili, the Roman club's notorious hardcore supporters.

No modern footballer - not even Eric Cantona - has polarised opinion quite so effectively as Paolo Di Canio. A prodigious talent as a player ('Paolo,' said Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp, 'did things with the ball that made you gasp. Other footballers would pay to watch him train'), he has been worshipped by supporters of the many clubs he's represented.

As well as the sky-blue of Lazio, he has worn the colours of AC Milan, Napoli, Celtic, Sheffield Wednesday and West Ham United. The length of that incomplete list is indicative of his often turbulent relationship with authority. His history has been punctuated by insurrection, verbal and physical, towards managers.

nd now, at 43, here at this modest League Two club in Wiltshire, he is in charge. In an age in which overpaid, badge-kissing footballers have found loyalty almost as easy to simulate as injury, Di Canio embodies the passion and commitment of another age.

In his playing days, he once kept a Lazio room-mate awake all night, on the eve of a derby against Roma, by playing the DVD of Braveheart over and over again.

Sir Alex Ferguson, I tell the Italian, once told me that he'd attempted to sign the headstrong striker on two occasions.

'I can't pretend that isn't flattering,' Di Canio replies. 'But there was no way I could ever have betrayed the fans at West Ham.'

In his life, he says, 'football has never been a business. Football is a passion.'

Di Canio's ultimate allegiance has always been to Lazio; so much so that, one day in January 2005, while celebrating a goal in front of their right-wing fans, he was moved to raise his right arm to join them in their trademark Roman salute.

The gesture was an ancient practice, Di Canio claimed, even if, to the untrained eye, it was indistinguishable from a more recent, Germanic sign of allegiance. He repeated the salute twice more in Lazio colours, and as a result has been branded by some as a fully-fledged fascist.

When Swindon Town chairman Jeremy Wray showed the initiative (and, it has to be said, the courage) to appoint Di Canio, one of the club's sponsors, the GMB union, withdrew its support, reluctant to be associated with a man some still perceive, mistakenly, as a neo-Nazi.

I first met Paolo Di Canio five years ago at Cisco Roma (now Atletico Roma), a tiny lower league club where he was embarking on what promises to be a distinguished managerial career.

'When we first met,' I remind him, 'you were speaking about your dad in Italian; explaining how everything you ever learned, you owed to him. Then, suddenly, you said four words in English: "He was a brickie." You have a real bond with this country, don't you?'

'You remember how I told you then that my dream was to come back to Britain?' Di Canio asks. 'Swindon Town has given me my chance. I love England and I love the people. I just hope I can stay here for many years.'

'You get a sense of the atmosphere at a football club very quickly,' I say, 'from the people who work in the cafe and the souvenir shop; from the players and the office staff. Swindon Town has a very welcoming, yet highly professional feel about it. I'm sure a club acquires its character from the manager. And yet - with no disrespect to this town - there can't be many Italians who would have chosen it over the Eternal City.'

'I love Swindon. It's not a place where you can almost smell the history, like Rome or Florence. It's an industrial town. That may not seem "cool" to some people, but it only makes me love Swindon more.

'You know why? Because the people here are proper people; people who work hard, often for low wages. When Swindon people tell you something, you can trust them, because they mean it.

'They still have a lot of the values that we had in Italy back in the 1960s and 1970s. I still love my country. But I've cut the umbilical cord with Italy.'

England, in Di Canio's words, is 'the perfect place to play football. In Italy, you get a goal, then kill the game. In England, it's 90 minutes of battle'.He also believes that cheating, for instance with performance-enhancing drugs, is less prevalent here.

'Doping in English football,' he writes in Il Ritorno, 'is restricted to lager and baked beans with sausages.'

As a player, Di Canio scored arguably the best goal in the history of the Premier League: an exquisite volley for West Ham against Wimbledon in the 1999-2000 season.

In 2001 he won the FIFA Fair Play award following a game in which, seeing the Everton goalkeeper Paul Gerrard was badly injured, he caught the ball rather than put it into the unguarded net, so that his opponent could get immediate treatment.

He received slightly less praise for his decision, having just been shown a red card while playing for Sheffield Wednesday against Arsenal in 1998, to shove referee Paul Alcock in the chest. The official fell to the ground in a slow, spiralling movement.

'Even now, when I watch it, I can't believe the way he went down, like a drunken clown,' admits Di Canio.

'One moment,' Di Canio argues, 'can erase everything else you've accomplished in your career. I didn't kill anybody. I pushed a referee. We all know that's wrong. But it can happen. And if it happens, you take your punishment. I was banned for 11 games. But you remember the press. People said I was a barbarian...'

'And mad,' I remind him. 'And wretched. And "a man with a mind like a blast furnace". And a gypsy: your former manager David Pleat called you that.'

'I took "gypsy" as a compliment. Pleat made me laugh.'

It was the late Tony Banks, then Minister for Sport, who said 'Barbarian go home', according to Di Canio. 'Somebody wrote that what I'd done was worse than Hillsborough where 96 died. I still have the cutting.'

'Didn't that make you want to leave England?'

'No. Because there are people of low intelligence all over the world.'

As a manager, Di Canio appears to have harnessed a ferocious self-belief and rendered it contagious.

'I changed the coaching methods (at Swindon) completely,' says Di Canio, who introduced double training sessions and scrutinises every aspect of a player's welfare, including diet. Lager, sausages and beans are things of the past.

'I can't praise the players enough,' he adds, 'because at the beginning it was very tough for them. In my first seven weeks they had just one day off.'

Every player has his failings; in the case of Di Canio, exaggerated deference towards managers has not been among them. In Il Ritorno, he confesses to an inability to shut up when on the substitutes' bench.

'I wasn't trying to manage the team,' he says. 'I was just shouting encouragement.'

Il Ritorno also describes a contretemps with the Lazio chairman Claudio Lotito, over dinner.

'Inside the restaurant, I feel my anger rising. I start to scream like a madman. I turn the buffet table over. I start throwing things. The room is full of flying objects: plates, bottles and forks. Everything is flying; anything I can lay my hands on, I throw. I go up to the coach's table and I start kicking it. They look at me as if I am mad.'

Now that Di Canio is in the position of exerting, rather than defying, authority, he displays scant tolerance for insolence from players. Last August there was a scuffle with his striker Leon Clarke following a defeat by Southampton.

'I saw Leon insulting my colleagues. So, as his manager, I put my arm round his shoulder and told him to go down the tunnel.

'He kept on swearing. I had to grab his shirt and put him up against the wall. It wasn't violent. But he'd been saying "**** off" repeatedly to people older than him. Imagine Sir Alex Ferguson in that situation. Eventually I had to say, "OK. Now, you **** off."

'The chairman was wonderful. I said, "Either he goes, or I go." He said, "The club is with you." In that moment, we gelled. I think I have shown that I have matured. I didn't lose my temper.'

'But aren't you the man who, as a player, told Fabio Capello (then of AC Milan) to go **** himself, then pushed him over?'

'Not on the field. I pushed him and he lost his balance. He fell over a bag. I'd been challenging his decisions. Capello was saying things to me like "Vaffanculo" (**** you). I understand his point of view better now. I was young.

'The conversation we're having now is unusual because we're talking about everything, which I believe is good for me. I also hope it will allow people to understand the way I really think. I have a family.' (He has two daughters, one of whom is at Southampton University, with his wife Betta.)

'I pay my taxes. My life speaks for me. I am,' Di Canio concludes, 'an ordinary man.'


Paolo Di Canio grew up in a working-class area of Rome. He shared a bed with Antonio, his oldest brother.

'When I needed to go to the bathroom, I simply wouldn't. Bed-wetting is something I had to deal with till I was 10 or 11.'

Such candour illuminates his autobiography, a remarkable book which broaches subjects many in football fear to address, such as the panic attacks he suffered as a young player, his fear of flying, and the help he has had from psychoanalysts, one of whom was - in Di Canio's words - a 'specialist in nervous breakdowns'.

As a small boy, he was addicted to cola and similar drinks. He was called 'Palloca', a slang term, meaning lard-ball.

I never hid. My response was to exercise; to try to become the kind of person I am.'

His father Ignazio, he says - struggling to control his emotion - got up at four in the morning and didn't come back till five in the afternoon.

'When I think of the sacrifices he made, I feel like crying.'

Even when recruited to Lazio's youth team, Di Canio was still hanging out with the Irriducibili.

'I've had bricks thrown at me by opposing fans. I've been tear-gassed and beaten by police.'

He'd been at Lazio for five years when they sold him to Juventus, at which point he first began to experience panic attacks.

'It was terrible. You feel that something goes dark. It's as if your eyes can't see any more.'

While Di Canio has previously declared his sympathy with the historical tradition of fascism, such pronouncements don't represent an area of his life he wishes to relive.

There is no denying the DVX tattoo on his shoulder (the Latin appellation for Benito Mussolini). It's the symbolic expression of an opinion expressed in his autobiography, in a passage which has frequently been misquoted so as to appear more incendiary than it actually is.

'I am fascinated by Mussolini,' Di Canio wrote. 'I think he was a deeply misunderstood individual. He was basically a very principled individual. Yet he turned against his sense of right and wrong. He compromised his ethics.'


The truth is that - today at least - Di Canio is not a demented fascista. While he was in Italy, his column in the national sport newspaper Corriere dello Sport routinely ranted against racism. He is a less volatile man now, Di Canio explains, partly through his study of Samurai culture.

'I have read a lot. I like the code they lived by. The loyalty. The honour,' he explains. 'When I see young people showing disrespect to their elders, I go mad. You must respect old people, because they teach you about the true meaning of life.'

Through studying ancient practices, Di Canio says: 'I am more peaceful these days.

'I believe in nature. I believe in earth, sun, fire and water. I believe in the circle of life. When a tree loses its leaves, you think it's dead. But the tree is only resting. It's born again, in the spring. I believe in energy. Positive energy.'

'Has the loss of your father (in October) helped you to bond with the club?'

'Definitely. I got the news after we'd played at Accrington. I was in Rome for the funeral; I came back straight away. I wanted to do something special in the next game, for his sake.

'We played Plymouth. We won, and the lads were just amazing. They led me up to our fans. What really touched me was that I knew they were doing it not because they felt obliged to, but because they felt my pain. And that's when I realised that, in this squad at Swindon, I don't just have skill and professionalism; I have decency and humanity.

'Because of that, they are very close to me. It was the same with the chairman and everybody else here. I felt I was in a family. They became close to me as a man. That was, and is, very important to me.'

'Some people have expressed a concern that - given your history - you're bound to lose your head sooner or later and punch a referee, or another manager.'

'People who talk that way don't know me. I am calm, and more mature and I am really happy. The board, the players and the fans are fantastic. They all have enthusiasm, commitment and a real bond with the town. I say again, we're like a family. Our ambition may take years to achieve, but I honestly believe that this club is capable, eventually, of promotion to the Premier League.'

[DJP]

Southend 1-4 Swindon. What a result

Cast of Towie, you're boys took one hell of a beating

[DJP]

Tickets for Oxford away on sale today to us season ticket holders. Been on hold on the phone lines since they opened at 9am, 10p a minute

-8 in Swindon, my mate went down to queue at 6am. The picture below is the queue (ticket office not opening till 9am). My mate text me a minute a go, stilll not near the front and a lot of people are buying more then 1 ticket (as they also have friends season ticket books)

Attached File(s)

•  ticketofficequeueforoxford.jpg (39.88K)
  Number of downloads: 7

[DJP]

Oxford sold out home end by november. Our tickets went on sale today at 9am. I wasted one hour on phone line with no joy at 10p a min (probably more as on my mobile), all sold out within 3 hours. I was not able to get a ticket, pretty gutted. Fair play to some of my mates heading down there at 6am (to join a queue).

[black and gold army]

Di Canio is a right c**t.

[DJP]

Swindon v Barnet in 2nd leg of JPT tonight. Pretty god dam excited if truth be known. Had a sleepless night Booked tomorrow morning off work as hopefully will be celebrating come full time that we are off to Wembley. Roll on 4pm when having my first pre-match pint. COYR!

[Nick_BCFC]

Watch out for Izale McLeod!

I might be coming down to your place at the end of this month.

This post has been edited by Nick_BCFC: 07 February 2012 - 19:06

[G_Man1985]

DJP, on 07 February 2012 - 09:35, said:

Swindon v Barnet in 2nd leg of JPT tonight. Pretty god dam excited if truth be known. Had a sleepless night Booked tomorrow morning off work as hopefully will be celebrating come full time that we are off to Wembley. Roll on 4pm when having my first pre-match pint. COYR!

Well done mate, enjoy wembley

[DJP]

Nick_BCFC, on 07 February 2012 - 19:03, said:

Watch out for Izale McLeod!

I might be coming down to your place at the end of this month.

To watch Accrington?

G_Man1985, on 07 February 2012 - 22:28, said:

Well done mate, enjoy wembley

Cheers, will do

[Nick_BCFC]

Yeah for the Accrington game. The away game journey's are horrific from now on. Think there's Swindon, Cheltenham, Bristol Rovers, Southend, Dagenham & Torquay to go as well as a couple of more local ones.

[DJP]

Nick_BCFC, on 08 February 2012 - 17:45, said:

Yeah for the Accrington game. The away game journey's are horrific from now on. Think there's Swindon, Cheltenham, Bristol Rovers, Southend, Dagenham & Torquay to go as well as a couple of more local ones.

Swindon is a fair trek. Our away end £25 which turns away a lot of away fans. Morecombe only took 38 fans recently For a change for Swindon, a lot of close teams, shame I am now 70 miles from Swindon. I did sometimes quesiton my sanity at having season ticket still, especially as I live next to Northampton's ground and work by MK Don's ground

[G_Man1985]

DJP, on 08 February 2012 - 21:40, said:

Swindon is a fair trek. Our away end £25 which turns away a lot of away fans. Morecombe only took 38 fans recently For a change for Swindon, a lot of close teams, shame I am now 70 miles from Swindon. I did sometimes quesiton my sanity at having season ticket still, especially as I live next to Northampton's ground and work by MK Don's ground

Avoid the tubes in london at all costs, they really are shit. The area of Wembley also is shit. Just dont stay over night anywhere near wembley. Did that once and never again

[DJP]

G_Man1985, on 08 February 2012 - 23:58, said:

Avoid the tubes in london at all costs, they really are shit. The area of Wembley also is shit. Just dont stay over night anywhere near wembley. Did that once and never again

Was at the play off finals a couple of years ago, but well aware of London cheers for heads up. Got a mate in High Wycombe which has direct line to wembley, about 20mins. Wembley area of London a shit hole, so wouldn't stay. I am only 1 hour as it is by train if that, so no need for me to stay over. If Swindon do win, I will probably just get hammered in London. 2pm kick off on the sunday, so means an 8am start on the cider

[South Lanarkshire Jag]

DJP, on 09 February 2012 - 10:25, said:

I am only 1 hour as it is by train if that, so no need for me to stay over.
8am start on the cider

So if Swindon win you'll be staying in London then

[Nick_BCFC]

DJP, on 08 February 2012 - 21:40, said:

Swindon is a fair trek. Our away end £25 which turns away a lot of away fans. Morecombe only took 38 fans recently For a change for Swindon, a lot of close teams, shame I am now 70 miles from Swindon. I did sometimes quesiton my sanity at having season ticket still, especially as I live next to Northampton's ground and work by MK Don's ground

Jesus Christ. That's disgusting they charge so much to get in. I think it's £13/£14 at Accy.

I'm definately going to Torquay on the bank holiday in April making a weekend of it so looking forward to that one.

[DJP]

Nick_BCFC, on 09 February 2012 - 12:02, said:

Jesus Christ. That's disgusting they charge so much to get in. I think it's £13/£14 at Accy.

I'm definately going to Torquay on the bank holiday in April making a weekend of it so looking forward to that one.

My season ticket was 260. I sit at the back of the stand on the half way line. Tickets 25 pounds all over in two main stands. So as long as I make 11 games I break even. So season tickets are excellent value, but match day prices are a disgrace. Behind the goal is 20 pounds and without sounding rude, I don't think Accrington fans will be needing the overspill behind the goal.

Torquay will be one hell of a trek, fair play to you for making the effort. Nice you have them in the bank holiday weekend. Word of warning though, the traffic will be horrific heading down to the South West if you go down on the Friday. Bristol - Devon will be one big car park.

[South Lanarkshire Jag]

Another touchline ban for Di Canio

http://www.bbc.co.uk...otball/16761519