'Fancy Dan' footballers quote

[@owlstalk]

 

Here's Harry Redknapp on how he man managed Di Canio..

 

Paolo Di Canio

Redknapp managed West Ham from 1994 to 2001 and in that time, he encountered some players with very unique temperaments. Most notably, a certain Di Canio.

 

The manager made a move for the hot-headed Italian in 1999 for £1.5 million after the striker had completed a suspension for shoving referee Paul Alcock while playing for Sheffield Wednesday.

 

But Redknapp had to pull out all the stops to keep Di Canio happy during his time at Upton Park, asking his players not to hurt the forward in training, otherwise it would end in a huge fight.

“He was high maintenance, but he was a genius,” Redknapp told Betsafe.

 

“He was a fantastic player and I used to make sure I put him on a team in training where nobody would kick him, like Stuart Pearce, Nigel Winterburn, or Steve Lomas, players who loved a tackle.

“If someone kicked him it would all blow up and they’d all have a row. He was volatile, very temperamental, so I used to make sure I put on the right team.”

 

But Redknapp’s ego-massaging methods didn’t stop there.

 

“He’d kick one wide and I’d used to say it was a goal. It’s Paolo. Got to keep him sweet for Saturday.”

[McRightSide]

On 27/03/2020 at 09:57, @owlstalk said:

 

 

One of the things that really irked me is that when Di Canio and Carbone were at our club there was a quote from Danny Wilson labelling them as 'fancy dan' footballers,

Wilson himself saying it didn't bother me. He was a manager out of his depth and struggling and the quote just seemed like a manager on the verge of quitting or being sacked after a poor run of results.

What really hurt was that I then heard our fans start to adopt the phrase and throwing it at Di Canio (one of the most magical, gifted, amazing players to have ever worn the shirt), and Carbone who was also fantastic on his day.

Once again some of our fans had heard something said by someone at the club and immediately adopted it as their approach too. 

No questioning of it at all. It was said by the club so it must also be the gospel truth

For years I've come across Wednesday fans who still label Di Canio and Carbone as fancy dan's and it really irks me. It makes me want to shake them, and show them videos of these players in action.

They weren't fancy dan footballers. Not in the slightest. They had craft and flair on the ball that our English players at the time could only wish they had. Their skills made them stand out against the rest. Their ability was second to none.

 

If you were one of those people who walked around tutting at the name Di Canio and Carbone and calling them fancy dan's then please realise it made you look stupid.

They were never fancy dan footballers - they were BRILLIANT and how I wish we could have them in our squad right now.

To be fair he knows what it takes to build a winning changing room and it’s not just what happens on the pitch

 

There’s lots of factors that influence selection and it was Wilson’s job to build a successful changing room

 

In another unrelated comment, I can’t imagine another situation where a manager slams players in public and then fans latch on to it.

[@owlstalk]

Article featuring Di Canio talking about being pushed out of Wednesday

 

 

Former Sheffield Wednesday star Paolo Di Canio is convinced that the Owls will not beat the drop in this years Carling Premiership.

 

The mercurial striker, who left Hillsborough under a cloud after disciplinary problems, told press that he thought the inexperience of Wednesday boss Danny Wilson was a key factor in the clubs problems.

 

Di Canio said: "Wilson is young and does not understand. Wednesday are in trouble."

 

The Italian star, who now plays for West Ham, also criticised Owls chairman Dave Richards for not supporting him in the pushing incident with referee Paul Alcock that almost saw the enigmatic Italian quit English football for good.

 

The Hammers forward said of the matter: "It was because he wanted to become chairman of the FA and he didn`t want to put himself in trouble."

The blasts from a former player comes amidst news that Wednesday have contacted Nottingham Forest and Bolton on how to survive the drop into the Nationwide league.

 

The struggling Sheffield club have allegedly asked recently relegated clubs what to expect financially and in terms of playing staff if they fail to avoid demotion.

 

It is expected that top earners at the club- Dutch stars Gilles De Bilde and Wim Jonk will be sacrificed in order to cut back on spiralling wage bills.

 

However the Yorkshire club`s manager Danny Wilson remains confident that his side will not succumb to the ignominy of second flight football saying- "I feel confident we shall pull out of it."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ps - It's worth pointing out that when we got relegated from the Premier League, all the big name superstars on mega wages didn't have a relegation clause put in their contracts by Dave Richards and Co - therefore resigning the club to a whole heap of financial trouble

[@owlstalk]

2 minutes ago, McRightSide said:

To be fair he knows what it takes to build a winning changing room and it’s not just what happens on the pitch

 

There’s lots of factors that influence selection and it was Wilson’s job to build a successful changing room

 

In another unrelated comment, I can’t imagine another situation where a manager slams players in public and then fans latch on to it.

Yeah it was unprecedented for a manager (never mind such a young one) to do that in the press.

The fact that Dave Richards then saw the club going down and realised that none of his big players had relegation clauses in their contract and the financial implications of that, then frustrated went to press with a damning attack on Foreigners (backed up bizarrely by Glenn Hoddle who was convinced foreign players would kill the Premier League)

[@owlstalk]

Sir Dave Richards: That Sinking Feeling - From Sheffield To Qatar

posted 15 May 2012, 16:17 by Richard Brook

Originally posted at: bit.ly/x0fdXT   For a man that has grown accustomed to landing on his feet, it must have come as a great shock to, Premier League Chairman, Sir Dave Richards when he found himself falling into a hotel fountain pool, in a full suit, at the International Sport Security Conference in Qatar.   The acute embarrassment, of Richards’ impromptu swim, is sure to be dwarfed by that of the Premier League, the FA and the nation following his bizarre comments at the conference. Richards’ saving grace may prove to be the aforementioned, cat-like quality: He is just one of those people that things seem to work out in favour of. For example, it astonished many of those aware of his history immediately prior to his appointment, that he was given the position of Premier League Chairman.   Up until February 2000, Sir Dave Richards was chairman at Sheffield Wednesday Football Club. He left behind a club, that he purports to support, in disarray with his own business also ailing. At the time of his Hillsborough departure – the first rat off a sinking ship – the Owls were staring straight down the barrel of inevitable relegation from the top flight. These on-field woes were only the tip of the Atlantic iceberg, of the Titanic that was the legacy left for Sheffield Wednesday by Richards. An expensive wage bill, poor signings and arguably worse managerial appointments left the South Yorkshire club running at a loss, with debts that then reportedly stood at £16 million payable to the Co-operative Bank. The arrest of this slide stood on a knife edge in December 2010. Wednesday were fortunate to be rescued from the jaws of administration by Milan Mandaric. There is little wonder that Sir Dave Richards’ knighthood, for services to sport, sticks in the throat of Owls fans.   Staggeringly Richards’, with the backing of Chelsea’s erstwhile chairman, Ken Bates, and the ratification of the other Premier League chairmen, was appointed to his present position. The part-time role as Chairman of England’s elite football division was rumoured to initially pay £176,667 per annum and by 2010 was reported to be worth £314,000 a year.   Richards’ breath-taking rant at the conference is just about as poorly reasoned and badly timed, as one could ever expect from a man used to representing such institutions as the Premier League and the FA, on an international stage. They uphold the stereotype that the English display arrogance, as regards sport, that their performance rarely, if ever, lives up to. More concerning, given the recent race rows relating to Luis Suarez, and more pertinently, recently demoted England captain John Terry, there are undertones of cultural intolerance.   The 2022 FIFA World Cup, to be held in Qatar, stands; a dot on the horizon, yet the squabbling over the minutiae of the arrangements is well underway. Despite widely held religious beliefs Hassan Al Thawadi, general secretary of Qatar 2022 has repeatedly stated that alcohol will be available, for visitors, in special zones during the tournament. Al Thawadi admits he does not see a need for it to be available in stadia, but there has been no confirmation of any stance on this. At the conference Sir Dave Richards said of the matter; “In our country… we have a culture. We call it, ‘we would like to go for a pint’”.   Richards is also quoted as saying “[Drinking] is our culture as much as [Qatar’s] is not drinking… You might be better off saying; ‘Don’t come’, but a World Cup without England, Germany, the Dutch, Danes and Scandinavians. It’s unthinkable”. Such flippancy is unwarranted in the face of such a generous concession, on for us such a trivial, though enjoyable, social norm, yet a matter of religious significance in Qatar. As a figure of some stature in both the Premier League and the FA Richards, should be only too aware of the importance of religious and racial tolerance given recent events.   Richards also had some controversial opinions to express on FIFA and UEFA: “For fifty years, we owned the game. We were the governance of the game. We wrote the rules and designed the pitches. Fifty years later, some guy came along and said ‘You’re liars’ and they actually stole it. It was called FIFA.”   “Fifty years later, another gang come along, called UEFA and stole a bit more”.   Richards went on to make comments that appeared to blame FIFA for England spending £19 million on a failed World Cup bid. Richards seems to feel that FIFA already knew the regions of the world that they wanted to stage the World Cup and should therefore only have invited bids from those regions.       Both the Premier League and the FA were quick to distance themselves from Richards’ comments, stressing that they are his own and do not reflect those of either organisation.   If we are to talk about anyone stealing football then maybe we should look closer to home.   The organisation that Sir Dave Richards is Chairman of, the English Premier League, took football away from the ordinary fan, it vastly accelerated the trend of English football being all about money, television rights, advertising and rocketing ticket prices. Before we knew it players were demanding more money and clubs like Sheffield Wednesday were saddled with unsustainable wage bills. Maybe there lies the motive for defection. Since then English football has been on a slippery financial slope that we’re still to see the conclusion of. Meanwhile honest and loyal fans are watching their clubs teetering on the brink of administration and worse. Such fans must wince upon hearing that the World Cup bid cost £19 million, while they valiantly raise money for their beloved clubs.   Who really stole football?   The vultures are already circling for Sir Dave Richards. The word ‘retirement’ has been mentioned on more than one article written on events at the conference. It doesn’t look good for Richards that the two organisations he represents have disowned his views, and if it was anyone else it would seem that his position is completely untenable.   With Sir Dave Richards you just never know. Will he land on his feet or was that his ninth life?

[DJMortimer]

A pretty illuminating piece (above) in the context of this thread.

 

[@owlstalk]

Richards, who demanded to be called "Mr Chairman" by his employees, offered strong support for the introduction of the Premier League in 1992.

 

The financial windfall from that, plus a £15.6 million investment from the venture capital firm Charterhouse, left Wednesday in a healthy financial position. Hillsborough was expanded and chosen as a Euro 96 venue, and spending on players increased.

 

Despite the huge amounts of money invested, success did not come. Managers were hired and fired as Wednesday stagnated and then began to slide. Meanwhile, Richards's championing of the Premier League and its subsequent success had gained him many influential friends in English football's hierarchy. By the time Paolo di Canio pushed referee Paul Alcock over in 1998, Richards had his foot firmly in the Premier League door. The chairman ostracised Di Canio, which won him more support from those in power. The Italian never played for Wednesday again and was sold to West Ham for £1.7m, less than half the £4.2m Wednesday had paid for him.

 

In 1999, backed by Ken Bates, Richards became the Premier League's first paid chairman, earning £176,667 for the part-time role. A few months later, with Wednesday bottom of the Premier League, Richards left his position at Hillsborough. He left behind a club with debts of £16m, a poor youth system and a group of players on huge, long-term contracts he had negotiated – Wim Jonk's deal included a clause that allowed him to pick up appearance bonuses even when he missed games through injury.

 

As Wednesday were losing 4-1 at Coventry City in May 2000, Richards was presenting the Premier League trophy to Manchester United at Old Trafford. The Owls' inevitable relegation was confirmed three days later, following a 3-3 draw at Highbury. Their former chairman was not present. By 2006, Richards had received a knighthood for "services to sport", while Wednesday were still struggling with the financial rot that set in under his tenure. When Wednesday came close to liquidation in 2010 there was no assistance or comment from the Premier League chairman on the club he purported to support when he 
took charge there.

 

Alongside the state he left Wednesday in, Richards has had an unremarkable business career. One of his companies, Three Star Engineering, went into administrative receivership in 2001, as did three other companies he has been associated with. Yet, until his recent exploits in Doha, where he suggested that FIFA and UEFA had stolen the game from England, his rise to power has been virtually unopposed.

 

Until now Richards has dragged English football's image firmly through the mud without his suitability for the positions he has held being seriously questioned. If these most recent comments begin his downfall, perhaps it will coincide with the 
restoration of that Owls painting in his attic to its original glory.

 

from WSC 303 May 2012

[Rogers]

10 hours ago, dorian gray said:

dicanio was (and nobody needs to be told this) a 'fantastically skilled player, BUT not a 'team' player.

carlos was, and is a coach who with his career record should never have been interviewed by swfc for the head coach/manager's position.

booth was 'a trier', but very limited (i feel it's a disgrace to call him 'some thick yorkshire lad').

as for turner, he came from hartlepool with a fantastic record, but few skills in depth,and left me wondering at the time who 'the brains' at hartlepool actually were,whilst wednesday's fanbase had huge expectations, but the club had 'pocket money' available to achieve those expectations.

wilson was a success at jokewell, and was headhunted successfully by us, the problem was 'again' lack of money, and money unwisely spent on 'so called 'stylish' players that could have been spent on 'battlers' and a proven goalscorer.

writing this has just made me recall (i think it's 2008) a man u. fan at work said to me (a few weeks short of easter) "you lot need to start winning, as were getting to the 'nitty gritty' part of the season when sides will be battling for points, and you've no battlers in your side" was it that year we'd been hammered 7-0 at old trafford? so obviously something had been seen in out team by other clubs and their supporters.

Turner failed miserably, Wilson couldn’t handle the good players and failed. Neither of them have been any good since. 
 

Booth was a cart horse, he might have been really intelligent - sorry, still a cart horse when compared to Hirst, Bright, Carbone, Di Canio. I.e. what we were used to at the time. Fletcher probably better than him now. 

 

We get hammered regularly by someone each season. 

 

That’s the real evidence. 

[@owlstalk]

 

Ruddy fancy dans...

[@owlstalk]

 

 

 

 

Glad we rid our club of players like this so we could get back to passing it to each other and making sure everyone gets a touch instead

[soldierboyblue]

On 27/03/2020 at 12:11, Steve Down South said:

I thought I’d get pulled up on this   In my humble opinion, from players I have seen, would say the following contributed more to the team overall:

Waddle

Francis

Nilsson

Carbone

Hirst

Sheridan

Walker

Sterland

Palmer (Carlton!)

Craig

Curran

Pressman

Hodge

Chapman

Bannister

 

I possibly have a bit of a Di Canio blind spot, but never warmed to him as a player or an individual.  

 

Contributing more to the team doesn’t make them a better player though. Bar Hirsty and Waddle none of the others remotely had the talent of Di Canio I’m afraid and as I say if Wilson could actually have managed we wouldn’t be actually talking about this now 

[soldierboyblue]

16 hours ago, @owlstalk said:

Richards, who demanded to be called "Mr Chairman" by his employees, offered strong support for the introduction of the Premier League in 1992.

 

The financial windfall from that, plus a £15.6 million investment from the venture capital firm Charterhouse, left Wednesday in a healthy financial position. Hillsborough was expanded and chosen as a Euro 96 venue, and spending on players increased.

 

Despite the huge amounts of money invested, success did not come. Managers were hired and fired as Wednesday stagnated and then began to slide. Meanwhile, Richards's championing of the Premier League and its subsequent success had gained him many influential friends in English football's hierarchy. By the time Paolo di Canio pushed referee Paul Alcock over in 1998, Richards had his foot firmly in the Premier League door. The chairman ostracised Di Canio, which won him more support from those in power. The Italian never played for Wednesday again and was sold to West Ham for £1.7m, less than half the £4.2m Wednesday had paid for him.

 

In 1999, backed by Ken Bates, Richards became the Premier League's first paid chairman, earning £176,667 for the part-time role. A few months later, with Wednesday bottom of the Premier League, Richards left his position at Hillsborough. He left behind a club with debts of £16m, a poor youth system and a group of players on huge, long-term contracts he had negotiated – Wim Jonk's deal included a clause that allowed him to pick up appearance bonuses even when he missed games through injury.

 

As Wednesday were losing 4-1 at Coventry City in May 2000, Richards was presenting the Premier League trophy to Manchester United at Old Trafford. The Owls' inevitable relegation was confirmed three days later, following a 3-3 draw at Highbury. Their former chairman was not present. By 2006, Richards had received a knighthood for "services to sport", while Wednesday were still struggling with the financial rot that set in under his tenure. When Wednesday came close to liquidation in 2010 there was no assistance or comment from the Premier League chairman on the club he purported to support when he 
took charge there.

 

Alongside the state he left Wednesday in, Richards has had an unremarkable business career. One of his companies, Three Star Engineering, went into administrative receivership in 2001, as did three other companies he has been associated with. Yet, until his recent exploits in Doha, where he suggested that FIFA and UEFA had stolen the game from England, his rise to power has been virtually unopposed.

 

Until now Richards has dragged English football's image firmly through the mud without his suitability for the positions he has held being seriously questioned. If these most recent comments begin his downfall, perhaps it will coincide with the 
restoration of that Owls painting in his attic to its original glory.

 

from WSC 303 May 2012

This says it all. Coventry away was one of my all time lows, and made worse that I lived in Nuneaton at the time. I was blindo going back on the train and woke up in Leicester! 

[Rogers]

All this garbage about others contributing more; Di Canio was the team. He left and the same players got relegated. 
 

If he hadn’t have contributed, we would have relied on...Booth, Phil Scott, Scott Oakes. 
 

Come on

[Inspector Lestrade]

On 27/03/2020 at 10:31, adelphi1867 said:

Where are the flair players at Leicester, SUFC ?.

 

You have lost an argument when you use them to backup your argument.

[@owlstalk]

4 minutes ago, Inspector Lestrade said:

 

You have lost an argument when you use them to backup your argument.

 

He’d lost the argument wayyyyy before that

 

 

[dorian gray]

11 hours ago, Rogers said:

Turner failed miserably, Wilson couldn’t handle the good players and failed. Neither of them have been any good since. 
 

Booth was a cart horse, he might have been really intelligent - sorry, still a cart horse when compared to Hirst, Bright, Carbone, Di Canio. I.e. what we were used to at the time. Fletcher probably better than him now. 

 

We get hammered regularly by someone each season. 

 

That’s the real evidence. 

turner did fail, but he had done very well at hartlepool and you could see why wednesday fancied him, same too with wilson at jokewell.

i cannot agree more with you that booth was 'like a carthorse' and my belief at the time was the dicanio money needed to be spent on a c/f.

booth was a 7 goal a season man, and 3 of 'em in one game against bottom of the table bolton.

BUT you called him 'THICK', now i don't personally know him, but it sounds like you personally do, care to enlighten us further on your experiences of him?

[Inspector Lestrade]

34 minutes ago, Rogers said:

All this garbage about others contributing more; Di Canio was the team. He left and the same players got relegated. 
 

If he hadn’t have contributed, we would have relied on...Booth, Phil Scott, Scott Oakes. 
 

Come on

 

Di Canio breaks through beating two players in an instance, passes the ball to Booth to run onto... Booth?.... Booth where are you?... Booth back in midfield still reading the game.

[@owlstalk]

1 minute ago, Inspector Lestrade said:

 

Di Canio breaks through beating two players in an instance, passes the ball to Booth to run onto... Booth?.... Booth where are you?... Booth back in midfield still reading the game.

 

 

Yeah but at least Di Canio passed the ball to him so everyone else could have a touch

[Inspector Lestrade]

Just now, @owlstalk said:

 

 

Yeah but at least Di Canio passed the ball to him so everyone else could have a touch

 

I often got the impression that he knew the limitations of the players around him and he was very frustrated by it.  Shame we didn't have him when we had the more aware players.

 

I'm probably been unfair to Booth whilst he did have his limitations he did make a decent contribution.  

[Guest]

On 27/03/2020 at 10:27, adelphi1867 said:

That quote from Wilson was 20+ years ago, and yes I was one of those who decried them at the time and I have not changed my view.

What Wilson said then is still happening at Hilsboro, no endeavour, little or no work rate, sulking when losing, lack of heart or desire from SOME of the players.

Yes, both DiCanio and Carbone were gifted, talented players, but can you put your hand on your Heart and say that they played for the team?.

At the end of the 96/97 season we finished 7th in the Prem, with only Carbone in the team, the following season, with DiCanio in the team we struggled to finish 13th, that was the season Dicanio publicly slated his team mates in the press, how is that good for team spirit?..

Wednesday fans have a lot in common with Newcastle fans, clubs from working class areas that prefer to worship ONE player rather than a TEAM  and that player can do no wrong.

We, as a club, have learned nothing in the intervening years (Decades), we are still yearning for ,MARQUEE, players, still believing we are better than we are,.

Your last line shows that in bucket loads, individuals, no matter how talented, win nothing, where as TEAMS win games.

 

Wilson got what he wanted, these 'marquee' players out of the club. Tell me what happened following that.........