Paolo Di Canio

Lore & Background

Di Canio came to London not as a finished product but as a player at the peak of his creative powers, fresh from a spell at Sheffield Wednesday where he had been the club's leading goal scorer for the 1997–98 season with 14 goals. The Boleyn Ground in early 1999 was a place of reinvention, and the Italian slotted into that narrative effortlessly. He scored his first goal for West Ham on 13 March 1999 against Blackburn Rovers in a 3-0 win. He helped the club achieve a 5th-place league finish in the 1998–99 season and qualify for the UEFA Cup via the Intertoto Cup that summer.

He scored the BBC Goal of the Season in March 2000 with a flying volley against Wimbledon, which is still considered among the best goals in Premiership history and was named as the Premiership's goal of the decade in a December 2009 Sky Sports News viewers' poll, scoring 30% of votes. In this season he was also voted Hammer of the Year by the club's fans. In December 2000, late in a game against Everton and with both sides vying for the winning goal, Di Canio shunned a goal-scoring opportunity and stopped play, grabbing the ball from a cross inside the box, as the Everton goalkeeper Paul Gerrard was lying injured on the ground after he twisted his knee attempting a clearance on the edge of the box.

The Goodison Park crowd reacted with a standing ovation. FIFA officially lauded Di Canio's gesture, describing it as "a special act of good sportsmanship," and awarded him next year the FIFA Fair Play Award. He remained in East London for another season before departing in August 2003.

Reader's Guide

By January 1999, West Ham United were in a transitional phase. The club had weathered the turbulence of the mid-nineties and was looking to rebuild a squad with character and creativity. The arrival of Paolo Di Canio from Sheffield Wednesday for £1.5 million was a statement of intent: the Hammers wanted a player who thought, who felt, and who could change a game with a single touch. He had not played football since his ban following his push on Paul Alcock. West Ham manager Harry Redknapp, on signing Di Canio, admitted he was taking a chance but said of the player "He can do things with the ball that people can only dream of." Di Canio said of his ban, "I made a mistake and I'm sorry. West Ham have given me a big chance and I'm very happy."

In those early seasons, Di Canio became the link between the defensive structure and the attacking players, the player who would turn a scrappy half-chance into a clear opportunity with a well-timed through ball or a flying volley. He scored his first goal for West Ham on 27 February 1999 in his fourth game, playing against Blackburn Rovers—making the first goal for Ian Pearce in the 27th minute and scoring the second in the 31st minute. He helped them achieve a high league position (5th) and qualify for the UEFA Cup through the Intertoto Cup.

He was also the OPTA player of the season 1998–99. Sir Alex Ferguson tried to sign him for Manchester United halfway through the 2001–02 season, but his attempts were unsuccessful and Di Canio remained in East London for another season and a half. Di Canio insisted that he would not have been able to leave West Ham, who had handed him a "lifeline" in the "worst moment" in his life. In 2003, with the Hammers struggling at the bottom of the league, Di Canio had a very public row with manager Glenn Roeder and was dropped from the first team.

However, he returned at the end of the season (after Roeder, stricken by a brain tumour, was replaced by Trevor Brooking) and scored a winner against Chelsea in the penultimate game of the season, a game that boosted West Ham's chances of staying in the Premiership. However, they were relegated on the final day of the season after a 2–2 draw away to Birmingham City, where Di Canio scored an 89th-minute equaliser. He was released on a free transfer and signed with Charlton Athletic for the start of the 2003–04 season.