Pierre van Hooijdonk has touched on Paolo Di Canio’s personality in an exclusive interview with the Guardian.
The pair were teammates at Parkhead between 1996 and 1997. Whilst van Hooijdonk arrived at the club in ’94, Di Canio signed in the summer of ’96. Despite only staying in Scotland for one year before a controversial end to his time in Glasgow, Di Canio still managed 15 goals in 37 appearances.
Di Canio would also end the season as the SPFA Player of the Year, showing what a remarkable talent he was.
But there’s no denying the fiery Italian has always had an explosive personality. A strong tenacity and determination to win is combined with a bit of greed. And that was proved by the subject of a meeting that van Hooijdonk revealed in his interview.
“Paolo was a funny guy – he once called a team meeting because Andreas had not passed the ball to him.
“Paolo also came round (to my house). At the ‘96 Olympics the volleyball final was between Holland and Italy. I said to him after training that he should come to my house to watch.
“It was my first time meeting him properly and I thought he was going to be relaxed, but he was on the floor, rolling around, screaming with passion at every point.”
A controversial figure, but a ridiculous talent
Di Canio has always had controversy shadow him. In a way, it’s the price clubs had to pay for the insane amount of talented the Italian provided.
Just a look down his CV tells you all you need to know about his playing career. Lazio, Juventus, Napoli, and AC Milan lead the table in big-name clubs he’s played for alongside the Hoops.
He’s most known in British football for his time at West Ham United, where he managed to win the Intertoto Cup back in ’99. That success added to a Serie A title with Milan, a UEFA Cup victory with Juventus, and a Champions League runner’s up medal with AC too.
But it’s fair to say he had a flair for the uncoventional, and not always in a bad way. He’s had his high-profile fallings out with managers in the past, but he also won the FIFA Fair Play award in 2001 for refusing to take a goal-scoring opportunity with Everton goalkeeper Paul Gerrard down injured.
His departure from Parkhead came after a high-profile argument with Fergus McCann. Whilst van Hooijdonk also revealed in his interview that he left due to a wage dispute, Di Canio left with an open letter to supporters that blamed something similar (The Independent).
It was a shame how Di Canio left Celtic, but an explosive personality such as his is difficult to tame. And his team-meeting for not getting a single pass from Andreas Thom suggests just that.
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