Paolo Gone.

[adje]

Yeah Samuel we are so insignificant,no one outside Swindon cares-thats why you've written a 1500 word essay on it-mug!

[london_red]

While he was our manager no other club made a move for him.

What does that tell you?

Interesting to see where he pitches up next.

My money would be on Leeds. Big enough club and mental enough chairman to have a punt on him.

[Batch]

My money would be on Leeds. Big enough club and mental enough chairman to have a punt on him.

Isn't Bates leaving?

[london_red]

Isn't Bates leaving?

Ah fair play then, didn't know that. Although looking it up it does seem he'll still be around there as President after the end of the season.

[OOH! SHAUN TAYLOR]

A sensible, fact based, well written article from the Daily Mail - I've seen it all now.

Sums up the facts as to why a Premier League club would be mad to give him a job.

That is an excellent article. And there won't be that many clubs queueing up for his services as he is very, very high maintenence as we well know. Leeds maybe, as has been suggested. Bates and Di Canio - that's a media wet dream!

Edit: Bates may be leaving....whatever....

[kerry red]

Decent article, but with one major flaw

If PdC and Swindon are so insignificant, why does Samuel make the story a huge centrepiece of his national newspaper's sports coverage

[Ardiles]

Agreed, except smaller than Franchise. Really?

Caught my eye as well.  I'm sure they give most of their tickets away to school children anyway.  They certainly used to...and even if they don't any more, it's an urban myth that I'm happy to perpetuate.

Congratulations on the end of your self-imposed exile, by the way.  

[Benzel]

They all start coming back when we're top of the league...

[Red Frog]

Caught my eye as well.  I'm sure they give most of their tickets away to school children anyway.  They certainly used to...and even if they don't any more, it's an urban myth that I'm happy to perpetuate.

Congratulations on the end of your self-imposed exile, by the way.  

Well yes, assuming we only remain on the verge of literal rather than moral bankruptcy from now on.

[Exiled Bob]

Much as I was disappointed when Paolo announced his decision to quit, the more I think about it, and especially since the announcement that the rest of his management team are following him, the more I think Paolo has come out of this whole saga very poorly and I don't think it will do his future career prospects very much good at all. He has quit, blaming The Board for not keeping promises to him – the old Board that is – and the new Board for not managing to acquire Football League approval of the takeover within the time limit set by him.  Oh, and because they sold Ritchie behind his back.

As far as I can see the only one of those that he can possibly blame with any justification at all on the new Board is the selling of Ritchie and even that is questionable – we don't know what went on and who actually made the decision but it is quite probable that the new lot didn't really have much of a say in it. In any case it's not their fault that Di Canio wasn't informed and it wasn't their responsibility to do so – that was and is until the takeover is complete the responsibility of the old Board. So, basically, he's left because of events that the new Board had no control over. My only gripe with the new owners is that they could have made more of an effort to persuade him to stay……but then again we don't know what discussions have taken place either.

Actually, he's acted like a spoilt brat that couldn't get his own way. My guess is that he suspected that the new lot would not allow him to have the same amount of spending power that Jeremy Wray gave him and he decided to jump ship while he had the opportunity to do so – knowing that he could cite the broken promises of the outgoing owners as justification. What annoys me is the way he went about things though – throwing a hissy fit just before one game and then letting it go on for a couple of weeks before finally quitting the day before another game. I just get the impression he wants to be permanently in the limelight and was pissed off because the takeover was getting all the headlines rather than him. And then to strip McCormack of the captaincy before announcing his resignation just stinks. He talks a lot of professionalism and respect…….he hasn't shown much over the last couple of weeks. He basically quit because he was frustrated that the takeover was taking so long and that he missed out a few loan signings – like the overspending wife that has had her credit cards taken away from her.

He and his management team have left the club in the shit – they can't do anything about a new manager until the takeover is finalised and who knows when that's going to happen…..and what annoys me the most is that he's going to be spouting off now about leaving the club at the top of League 1 to highlight what a fantastic manager he is (which, of course, is true but only because he was given a free reign for 18 months to do what he wanted – something that very few clubs can afford to do).

I just find it incredible that Paolo has quit now without giving the new Board a chance. Ok, the old Board let him down. We get it. The new ones had nothing to do with it and I struggle do see what it is that he thinks they have done to justify his decision. My respect for Paolo has gone in the last few days.

Anyway, we move on without him.......we've done it before and we'll do it again.

[tans]

Great post.

[Wandered]

The Martin Samuel is simply a message from an influential West Ham fan that he doesn't want PDC managing his beloved team, nothing else.

As far as our relationship with Paolo is concerned, it was a great ride but time to move on.
And I loved last night!

[Stegenfreud]

Well said Exiled Bob.

Loved Paolo when he was here, gutted he left the way he did but we move on.

[sonicyouth]

insightful post, Bob, but we do know for a fact that the decision to sell Ritchie was Black's.

[HardCorePrawn]

'the old Board let him down' ?! He's a child who got his own way too easily for too long. The board are to blame for being too indulgent for too long and then having to deal with later tantrums as a result but how PDC comes out of this as a hero defeats me.