Swindon supporters can't make up their minds about manager Paolo Di Canio, but Hereford supporters found him mildly amusing yesterday at the County Ground.
Jeremy Alexandra watched the game for the Guardian. Here's part of his report.
Paolo Di Canio is made for Swindon Town and vice versa. Harry Redknapp, when they were together at West Ham United, called him "absolutely mad". The Italian had every right to be on Saturday after his side failed to nail a home victory over Hereford United they twice had in their hands before drawing 3-3. They led 2-0 beyond the hour and 3-2 at 90 minutes. "It's good in a way," he said, "because we didn't deserve to win." Jeremy Wray, interim chairman of the League Two side, called him "infectious" when appointing him in May. He did not say "predictable".
Fans have no idea what to expect but, as fans do, believe they deserve better. At present they are divided. This is Di Canio's first managerial role. His politics have not been infectious, "fascist but not racist"; the GMB trade union ended its sponsorship with the club. His passion is more persuasive.
At 2-0 the crowd sang his name to the Rigoletto aria La donna รจ mobile. The PA blasted out other Italian operatic favourites before each half. The club is anxious to make him feel at home in the face of scepticism at his inexperience.
In return he will not fail for lack of commitment. He has said he wants "100 Paolo Di Canios" training seven days a week with him. Funds have not stretched to that but he has given the squad an Italian injection and himself selection problems. Hereford, last but one in the division and set on improving their ground before their squad, could barely fill their bench, though produced two of their scorers from it.
On Saturday Di Canio lived every second in front of the dugout, lean as a whippet in a dark suit. After their last league match at Macclesfield, a 2-0 defeat, he had turned to canine metaphor himself. "With some players," he said, "if he has a chihuahua character, I can't make a chihuahua into a rottweiler. He could be a proud chihuahua but he remains a chihuahua. So many players at the moment are chihuahuas away from home. This is the truth."
Back on their own patch they were eager and honest as labradors before lapsing into lapdogs over the last half-hour. "We're not nasty," Di Canio said, as if it were a virtue. "We're very sad because we failed to jump into a different position." Another two points would have taken them up three places to 10th in the table, two points off the play-off zone with three-quarters of the season to run.
Asked before the match how it was under Di Canio, one supporter said: "Entertaining." He meant the manager, who has banned laughter, but it went for the team too. Rafaelle De Vita, born in Rome but signed from Livingston, put them ahead early on with a skimming header to a left-sided free-kick from Mehdi Kerrouche, who added the second before half-time, receiving from Matt Ritchie and converting with a turn and cross-shot. Hereford were as loose in distribution as marking.
Though they raised the tempo after the interval they hardly threatened until Tom Barkhuizen chipped in from the right over another Italian, Mattia Lanzano. Ten minutes later they were level, Yoann Arquin converting with a replica in open play of De Vita's goal. A crisp move in keeping with Swindon's first-half play put them back ahead through Simon Ferry but Sam Winnall's free-kick set up a third identical unopposed goal, this time by Harry Pell.
Di Canio followed all this at the front of the technical area, often turning to his dugout to convey animated feelings. His default position was hands on hips but then he was down on the haunches of despair or expressing himself with the shrugs and gestures of a man who might have knocked over a referee. When a penalty was refused (he had said last week "I'll tell my players to dive; it's the only way to receive something" and no doubt he could show them how) he was beside himself and the fourth official in supplication. Entertaining it certainly was.
Swindon have shown daring before in their managers, giving first chances to Lou Macari, Ossie Ardiles and Glenn Hoddle, and been rewarded. They have also ridden a rollercoaster for 20 years, rising to the Premier League before becoming the first such side to sink to the fourth tier, in 2006. Historically they have changed their colours like a chameleon and their crest with regularity. No wonder their fans cannot make up their minds. They have not always behaved well. Over the last 40 years they have one of the worst hooligan records in the league. In 1978 they pelted Wrexham's goalkeeper with carrots.
At half-time Di Canio said he "didn't like the atmosphere; it was too quiet". The answer is clear: eat up their zucchinis and get behind him with more voice and more than a half-full ground. They could be on to a marriage made in madness. It might even be a laugh.
Text at top (next game etc)
Next Game: Rushall At Home In The League On Saturday 30th November At 3.00pm