He’s been gone a little while from the dugout, however it’s taken that time for Ron Smith to put together a selection of the vital statistics from Paolo Di Canio’s reign at the County Ground.

Di Canio managed Swindon Town for 95 matches, competing in League One, League Two, the FA Cup, the League Cup and the Football League Trophy. In that time his overall record stands at 55 victories, 17 draws and 23 defeats, giving the Italian a win percentage of 57.9%, the highest of any serving Town manager – ahead of 2nd placed Dennis Wise with 52.9%. But there are even more vital statistics of Di Canio time at Swindon…

1 was the number of trade unions which pulled out of their sponsorship on Di Canio’s appointment

32 victories as hosts with a win ratio of 68.1%

148 League points collected at a rate of 1.92 per game – the 2nd highest at Town behind Dennis Wise with 2.07

706,724 people through the turnstiles to watch Di Canio’s team with an average attendance of 7,439

10 League wins in succession between 31 December 2011 and 28 February 2012, a club record

32% of games played against a side in a lower League position were lost compared to 22% of games lost when facing higher ranked opponents

39 minutes and 48 seconds was the average time for Swindon scoring their first goal of a game scored at the County Ground and 42 minutes and 30 seconds on their travels.

155 goals scored at an average of 1.63 per game

112 goals (72%) have been scored by a shot (including Paul Benson’s arse versus Wigan), 33 (21%) headers, 6 (4%) from the penalty spot and 3 (2%) from a direct free kick

1 own goal has been scored by an opposition player

42 minutes and 36 seconds was the average time of Swindon winner at the County Ground compared to 44 minutes and 18 seconds away. These timings are just minutes after the average for a first goal scored, therefore indicating the importance of scoring first to Di Canio’s success.

22% of all goals scored as hosts came in the final 15 minutes compared to 8% in the opening 15, proving Di Canio’s Swindon grew stronger at the County Ground as the match progressed over the ninety minutes.

30 and 29 goals were the overall tally for goals scored during the final 15 minutes of each halve, showing Town’s dominance in the lead up to the whistle

1072 total shots at goal for Swindon of which 50.6% were on target, meaning that 11.3 chances were created by Swindon per game. I’ve not kept count of the number of shots that went out for a throw in…

3 defeats in a row against Oxford United, the worst record of any Swindon manager

31.6% (49) of all Town goals were scored from a position within the six-yard box, of which Paul Benson scored 12 of his 15 goals from close range, making him Di Canio’s most clinical striker

126 goals (81.3%) originated from a move in open play, with 48 via the right flank, proving the worth of Matt Ritchie, whereas 39 goals each came via the central and left attacking routes

14.5% strike rate, equating to 1 goal scored by Swindon for every 6.9 shots

323 minutes played by Leon Clarke

76 goals conceded by Swindon, of which only 29 were conceded as hosts

11 League clean sheets as hosts in a row between 25 February 2012 and 25 August 2012, a club record

6 League clean sheets in a row – home and away – between 20 March 2012 and 14 April 2012 – equaling a club record

59 minutes and 15 seconds was the average goal timing of an opposition winner at the County Ground compared to after 42 minutes and 30 seconds on our travels

57% of all goals conceded came during the halfway periods between 16-30 and 61-75 minutes in each half

5 players apologised to Di Canio after going on a night out after a victory against Plymouth

707 total shots against Swindon of which 342 (49.7%) were on target

10.7% strike rate for our opponents at just over 10 shots required to score a goal

46 goals conceded (60.5%) have been scored by an oponent shot, 22 (28.9%) by a header, 4 (5.3%) from the penalty spot and 1 (1.3%) from a direct free kick

3 own goals has been scored by a Swindon player, including one each for Oliver Risser, Danny Hollands and Louis Thompson

55 (72.4%) of the 76 goals conceded were in open play. Of those 25 that were conceded had resulted from an opposition move through the centre of the pitch

17.1% of goals originated via the opponent’s left flank, the lowest percentage of the three movements of open play, and 22.4% scored from within the left side of the box; indicating the attacking right-backs of Paul Caddis and Nathan Thompson didn’t significantly lead to an increase in goals conceded, however you could also deduce that covering players had left Town vulnerable in central areas

14 goals conceded from a long range strike from outside of the penalty area

0 was the number of ‘nasty strikers’ that Di Canio ended up signing

52.3% average possession was won by Swindon per game

3 was the number of times that Di Canio was sent to the stands as manager

614 corners won by Swindon compared to 410 corners conceded, however with only 11 goals scored from a corner it took Town 56 corners to score a goal, similarly 59 corners for our opponents

952 fouls committed by Swindon and a similar number of 956 fouls committed by opponents, proving we were no more or less ‘dirtier’ than our opponents

57 is the number of games in which Swindon scored first; compared to 31 times for our opponents; and only 7 goalless draws under Di Canio

86% of games after taking the lead that Swindon then went onto win

67.7% of games that Swindon went behind and the opposition held on to win

19 points won from 93 available after a Swindon comeback from conceding the opening goal, including only 1 draw and 6 wins

8 cup games in which Town were the ‘giant-killers’ beating higher League opposition

64 total transfers, of which 38 players joined Swindon and 26 departed

6 is the number of players joining for a fee and 14 via a long or short term loan

3 players joined from a club in Italy

10 players that Di Canio signed had their contracts paid up early – Atiku, Chibbochi, Comazzi, Connell, Esajas, Kerrouche, Lanzano, Magera, Risser and J Smith

£500,000 was the fee received for Matt Ritchie, which is a appropriate place to end all this statistical madness…

Credits – All statistics from the BBC Sport (as collated by the Press Association) and Swindon-Town-FC.co.uk. Transfer information collated by Alex Cooke

Notes

1. For the purposes of the above, a victory on penalties is counted as a victory.
2. Games played against higher / lower opposition includes 93 of the 95 games as the first League match isn’t counted
3. Club records referred to are within the Football League