Sunday 20th November was the six month anniversary of Paolo Di Canio’s appointment as manager of Swindon Town. Sam Walton looks back on the Italian’s time at the County Ground.

Paolo Di Canio. Surely not… What to us? You mean THE Paolo Di Canio… to Swindon Town. Nahhh, it’s never going to happen!

Those were the words of my season ticket holding Dad in May this year. Part of me wanted to agree. The other part of me just thought that it’s about time that the atmosphere around the County Ground needed a radical change, and this managerial appointment could potentially be the catalyst we need to kick start our march back to League One.

But on May 20th that radical change became reality as Paolo Di Canio was named our manager.

There were plenty of mixed feelings at the time. The appointment created a big split in Town fans with a vocal minority soon to criticise, dwelling on Di Canio’s past incidents – of which there are plenty – and wonder where this decision to employ our new rookie Italian manager this would leave us.

But now, six months on from that day, nobody can deny the sensational atmosphere that now surrounds this club. I would go as far as to say that the anticipation and feel good atmosphere at the Crewe game was just as good, if not better in some ways, than my feelings from May 29th 2010 from that eventually fateful day at Wembley.

Di Canio’s appointment made sure Wilson, Prutton, Hart and the feelings of utter disappointment and almost amazement from the disastrous 2011/11 season were now but distant memories. With so many new players added throughout pre-season the first game of season brought a completely new look Town side, and fortunately a result to stamp Paolo’s authority on his new job, with Swindon notching a cracking 3-0 win.

One of the main talking points around this new season is the amount of new players that Di Canio has bought us.

First came Joe Devera from Barnet, followed by York City’s Jonathan Smith, but it didn’t stop there. More and more players arrived. Some were signed, including the recent spate of loanees, and some were sent packing after disagreements with Paolo and unsuccessful trials – Leon Knight, Hugo Bargas et al.

Nobody can deny that the majority of new players at the County Ground have proven to be fairly decent. I say fairly decent because some of them have not really been up to scratch.

The introductions of Medhi Kerrouche, Alan Connell, Jonathan Smith, Rafa De Vita and Alan McCormack have, in my opinion, proven to be excellent permanent additions, backed up by their contribution on the pitch.

Our ability to keep hold of Paul Caddis, Matt Ritchie, Simon Ferry and Callum Kennedy has also proven to be worthwhile decision by Paolo to retain the best of the young talent from the previous regime.

The key difference…well that’s been our recent loan signings, who’ve been pure class, seemingly cherry on the pie. Ahmed Abdulla has been on the sidelines with injury, unlucky as the midfielder contributed well in his opening games. Wes Foderingham, Jake Jervis and Liam Ridehalgh have all proven themselves to be players that would be greatly welcomed at the County Ground on a permanent basis, albeit that’s unlikely to come to fruition. Foderingham’s contribution has been the key to sustaining our recent run of now 10 games unbeaten in all competition says a lot about where our failings have been for some time. I’m disappointed, but now relieved that it’s taken this long to finally resolve the obvious goalkeeping issues.

At the other end of the spectrum; Ibrahim Atiku was a flop having never stepped foot on the County Ground pitch; Lander Gabilondo shows flashes of brilliance but hardly enough to warrant a starting position each week; and Etienne Esajas has been largely absent, however recent performances shows the wideman potentially has the skills and ability to cause plenty of danger to our opponents as the season progresses.

Special mention goes to Lukas Magera who hasn’t impressed one bit this season despite joining with the apparent ‘promise’ and ‘quality’ of Czech Republic international caps. I would imagine the club is forking out a fair amount for his weekly wage; and as far as I’m concerned he’s not earned anything yet to deserve his billing.

Last but not least, who could forget the comical saga of Leon Clarke. Having shown some potential in the Oxford game it seems he was not cut out for the Di Canio regime at Swindon Town and rightly sent packing.

How different the whole situation could’ve been had Sky Sports cameras not been focused on Di Canio in preparation for the upcoming televised match with Rotherham… In the end football followers across the world tuned into Paolo Di Canio ‘fighting with his player’. Perhaps it was a silly decision by Jeremy Wray to not to tell Paolo about the apparent transfer request, but bygones must be bygones and Leon is thankfully no more.

Anyway, this is Paolo we’re talking about, honestly who didn’t expect a bit of excitement and controversy…

At this very moment we have the right bunch of players to beat any team in this league and compete for the League Two title.

This season has so far bought mixed results. Excellent wins against Huddersfield, Crewe, Crawley and Plymouth; and at last a good win on penalties against Wimbledon. Some very disappointing results as well, including poor losses against Oxford, Burton and in particular, Macclesfield. These losses have given Swindon a dose of League Two reality, and helped to bring us back on the straight and narrow.

That is something that Swindon need to do this season, stay on track, remain confident and not get complacent. I expect it is easy for a team to become complacent and expect to win when results are going their way. I’m just hoping that doesn’t happen too soon for Swindon.

Highlights so far this season for me are firstly that thunderbolt Kerrouche free kick against Southampton; the towering performances of Aden Flint – who has been top quality at every game I’ve seen – the Risser volley against Crewe; and finally Matt Ritchie’s wonder strike against Gillingham. It’s fair to say there have been some up’s and down’s so far this season; and with Paolo at the helm, I’m sure there will be plenty more to come.

I’ve had mixed feelings about the man himself in his first 6 months.

We’ve all seen the excessive goal celebrations with his players. We’ve also all welcomed the positive way in which he works with fans and deals with the media.

My only criticism is about his frenetic post match interviews. If only Paolo could just get to the point! Nonetheless, these are beautiful to listen to, especially when he’s excited after a victory.

Di Canio has imported a good selection of players and, although the first few weeks of the season were highly frustrating withy the team finding their feet in a difficult division, Paolo now seems to have found the winning formula, backed up by his attention to detail and homework on our opponents.

If I had to, I would give Paolo 8/10 for his first 6 months in charge at the County Ground. Onwards and upwards from here on in!

Come On You Reds!