Sportsnet soccer commentator Craig Forrest played with a number of high profile players during his career in England, including Paolo Di Canio.
A standout goalkeeper for Canada’s national team, Forrest spent five years at West Ham United and was already at the club when the Hammers signed Di Canio from Sheffield Wednesday in 1999.
In light of the controversy surrounding Di Canio’s recent hiring as Sunderland manager, sportsnet.ca spoke with Forrest to get his take on his former West Ham United teammate.
You played with Di Canio. What was he like as a player on the field, both in games and in training sessions?
Oh man, he was fantastic. He was one of the best players I ever played with. In and out of training, he was just amazing. I wish we had cameras on him all the time because some of the goals he scored were just off the charts. I remember one he scored in particular, it was similar to the Premier League goal of the year he scored in 2000 against Wimbledon – he did that with a small, two-by-two feet goal in training from 20 yards out. Some of the stuff he did was just phenomenal. He really was a genius on the field.
What kind of a teammate was he?
He was fiery if things didn’t go his way. He challenged teammates, opponents, referees, his own manager. He had a few blow ups with (then West Ham manager) Harry Redknapp at times. Both of them were strong characters, but Harry loved him. I remember when we brought Paolo to West Ham, it wasn’t long after the Paul Alcock incident (Di Canio, who was at Sheffield Wednesday at the time, shoved Alcock after he showed the Italian a red card) and nobody wanted to touch him because nobody wanted to deal with him. We got him cheap and I remember in the first training session that when Redknapp saw what he could do, Harry said, "I got myself a bargain." And he did. So, he was great.
Paolo was terrific with everyone, and just a terrific teammate. When I went through my cancer treatment, he was a top class gentleman. He lent me support and phoned me all the time. At one of the games that West Ham played away to Ipswich, after the game he dedicated the result to me. So, I’ll always have time for him.
The public perception of him is that he’s a loose cannon. Is it an accurate description of him?
Well, he was and still is one of the most interesting guys I’ve ever met. Is he a loose cannon? Absolutely, yes. I think the chairman at Swindon (where he coached before joining Sunderland) hit the nail on the head when he said Paolo is a box office attraction. You just never know with him. Someone else said he manages teams like he’s got a grenade in his hand, and that is typical of Paolo.
I sat next to him on a plane a few times, and he has a real fear of flying. One time we were ready to take off and way at the back of the plane there was a commotion. Paolo was running up the aisle, screaming, "I’ve seen a vision." He thought the plane was going to go down once we got up in the air. So Redknapp tried to calm him down, and the flight attendants tried to get him to sit down. He wouldn’t sit down, so we had to taxi all the way back to the gate. He was not going to fly – as far as he was concerned this plane was going down and he wanted off. So we let him off and he had to drive 12 hours up to Newcastle for the game. And that’s the sort of thing that he did.
You said he was one of the most interesting guys you met. Why?
Just his mental strength. Also, if people were loyal to him, he was really loyal in return. Even when Alex Ferguson was interested in buying him and brining him to Manchester United, he didn’t want to go because of West Ham and what they did for his career.
He was damaged goods after the incident with Alcock during his time at Sheffield Wednesday. What did you and some of your West Ham teammates think when Redknapp signed him?
We were scratching our heads about it to a small degree, but you have to remember Redknapp had a reputation of picking up players who were seen as trouble or who had bad reputations. I think Neil Ruddick, who we signed from Liverpool, was the classic case. John Moncur was another one. So we were used to having guys come to the club who were talented but not easy to deal with. Harry was always good at dealing with those kinds of players.
Obviously you’re aware about the current controversy over his previous statements about being a Fascist. Did he ever talk about his political views when you were teammates?
Never. It never came up. Absolutely not.
I’m not surprised that it’s become a hot button topic because now that he’s managing in the Premiership, it’s a microscope. Forget about when he was at Swindon – that was probably bad enough. But now he’s in one of the most popular sports leagues in the world, and also in an area of England where there a lot of working class people, so I don’t think it’s going to go away anytime soon.
What do you make of this controversy?
Well, he made his own bed, to be honest. He made comments earlier in his career that at one time he was a Fascist, but not a racist. So he’s made all of these public statements. I understand the media side of things, of them wanting to clarify his stance. He just wants to talk about football, but unfortunately for him there are things he’s said in the past that have put him under the microscope. With the nature of the English press, I think they’re going to keep going at him as the pressure builds.
How do you think he’ll do at Sunderland? Can he keep them up?
Sunderland is in a tough spot. Steven Fletcher is missing for the rest of the season. But if they need a guy to give them an instant spark, Paolo is the guy. He’ll certainly liven things up – whether that’s enough, I’m not sure. Just because of his unrivalled passion, he puts that across and should be able to inspire them. When I played with him, his talks and the way he rallied the troops before a game was something you didn’t see from a lot of players, but he was very good at it. So I think he might give Sunderland a chance to win games.