Paolo di Canio
League Appearances - 118
Cup Appearances - 12
League Goals - 47
Cup Goals - 2
West Ham Career - 1999 - 2003
Born - 9th July 1968
What can you say about Paolo di Canio? The man was a genius! His skill was undoubted and his talent unquestionable but he must have been a managers nightmare.
Signed from Sheffield Wednesday for £1.7 million in January 1999 after the infamous Paul Alcock incident where di Canio pushed over the aforementioned referee in a game against Arsenal that resulted in an 11 match ban. Harry Redknapp managed to get the best from the mercurial Italian during his remaining time at West Ham but his successor Glen Roeder utterly failed to understand the Italian which resulted in a fallout between the pair and ultimately relegation for West Ham during a disatrous 2002/03 season.
During his time at West Ham Paolo scored some memorable goals, the goal of the season against Wimbledon in the 1999/ 00 season, the 30 yard screamer with his left foot against Chelsea and of course the goal against Manchester United in the 4th round of the FA Cup where he slotted the ball past the United 'keeper Barthez who was stood with his hand in the air trying to con di Canio into believing he was offside.
A true legend Paolo is met with a tremendous welcome whenever he returns to West Ham and he has gone on record as saying he wants to be the clubs manager at some point in his career. It might be a disaster if his dream ever comes true but equally it could be a huge success, the one certainty is that it would be incident packed along the way!