Modern day Sheffield Wednesday struggle makes Paolo Di Canio 'sad'
Sheffield Wednesday’s 25-year absence from the Premier League is one keenly felt by supporters on the blue side of the city - and by one of their foremost former players.
Italian forward Paolo Di Canio is a figure with a controversial past, but there’s no doubt he’s one of the most talented players in Wednesday’s rich history. His time with the Owls came towards the end of their Premier League years, during which he scored 15 goals in 41 league matches in just over a calendar year at Hillsborough.
Alongside the likes of fellow Italian Benito Carbone, the now 56-year-old brought a sense of glamour to the club not seen since and went on to achieve great things in the top tier with West Ham United. The Owls have not been able to make a return to the Premier League since their relegation in 2000 - less than 18 months on from Di Canio’s turbulent move to Upton Park.
On the club’s struggle to return to English football’s top level, he said: "It makes me sad. The supporters were always amazing to me, I think because I always gave them my best and maximum effort. They recognised that and respect me for it.”
The circumstances of Di Canio’s departure are entwined with Wednesday’s initial decline in the minds of many Owls supporters. An infamous ‘shove’ on referee Paul Alcock saw him slapped with an 11-match ban and the subject in front-page headlines. Then-Sports Minister Tony Banks encouraged the FA to impose a stringent ban and the Owls hierarchy themselves have come under retrospective criticism for their own handling of the problem. Di Canio’s moment of head loss occurred in September 1998 - in the January a cut-price £1.5m move to West Ham was sealed.
"When I left, and the way it happened, obviously they were happy at that time,” Di Canio continued in conversation with footballitalia.com. “This was because there was only one voice in the media telling the story. I tried to explain exactly what had happened because it wasn’t about anyone’s opinion. There was only one truth. The club scolded me and I said I understood this because I was banned for eleven matches. But after that, it was all in the newspapers and there were photographers outside my home everyday.
“I did my job as a professional because in any condition, I knew I needed to be fit and ready to come back. I felt it belonged to me and it had to be done right. Once someone called me, I would’ve been ready to show that I am a real professional. Nobody called… I used to call every week asking if I could come back to train. I used to ask my people to speak to them to help me get back. They always said it’s better if I waited some more. At the time, the chairman made an interview against me.”
Speaking to The Star in 2022, manager at the time Danny Wilson expressed a level of regret over the club’s handling of the disciplinary proceedings - though he claimed Di Canio had provided Wednesday with ‘medical records as to why he couldn’t come back in... he was in distress’. With the benefit of hindsight Wilson accepted that all involved - player included - could and should have taken different approaches to how things played out.
Not for the first time, Di Canio expressed a dissatisfaction at how Wednesday went about it: "I defended myself without club solicitors - they didn’t give me anything,” he said. “I had to bring in international solicitors. There is no other truth. Only one. And that is what happened.
“I loved to play for Sheffield Wednesday, I related myself to people I met every day, whether that was in the office or the dressing room. But I could not work next to them anymore. So unfortunately I had to leave otherwise I’d damage the club. I wouldn’t train happily, free and with maximum desire. It wouldn’t have been good for anyone."