Thetownend.com

BBC are reporting this morning that Raffaele had a medical last night at the CG. 
24yr old from Livingston ???  Anyone know much about him ??

23 year old striker, born in Rome, currently without a club according to wiki.

67 games and 21 goals.

Was on Blackburn's books.

Just heard this on BBC Radio Wiltshire too.  Says he should sign pending a medical.

He's a 5'9 right footed striker who scored 12 goals in the 2010/2011 season for Livingston.  He made 15 starts for them & 17 as a sub.

His contract ends with Livingston on the 30/06/11

[url width=240 height=210]http://images.icnetwork.co.uk/upl/article/12875497/2011/05/04/13355329.jpeg[/url]

[url width=320 height=444]http://files.splinder.com/0e0f9e2eca31b4127e6c38baff335b7d_medium.png[/url]

Di Canio in today's Adver....

“We will have two strikers, one very tall but with good feet and technique and able to play football, not only in the box but also make space for the others,” the former West Ham striker told the Advertiser.

“He also has great experience even though he is still young - he is only 23 – and plays in an international league. It would be fantastic if he arrives and signs a contract and we are hopeful, but we will see. "

An international league :D

Sounds promising.  I like this.

(Note to Adver: It's OK, we know PDC used to play for West Ham.  You can stop calling him 'the former West Ham striker' every time you mention him now.)

41 in 67 ain't too shabby

Sounds like it could be a strike force of De Vita and Adam Rooney then

I think someone's fiddled his Wiki stats, because when I saw him previously, I was sure it was 20 something in 67, not 40 something!

Edit: Says it in Ralphy's post. (Which must be where I got my "facts" from.) :)

Was there any substance to the Rooney talk in the end then?

Also, I'm sure its been pointed out elsewhere but I've only just noticed who his current assistant manager is  :eek:

Mo!

His wiki page has been tampered with - probably by someone called Chris Leavey.

I don't know, but a tall striker, who's 23 and plays in an "international" league could point to him.
He's 23, 6'2" and plays all the way over in Scotland.

I think Gary Rose twittered it was not true after asking Jeremy Wray. 

It'll be interesting as to who this other striker is.  It says he has score a lot of goals and Di Canio says he can score even more.  Also says he can play other players in

If 'the tall striker, who's 23 and plays in an international league' is De Vita it would be odd seeing as he's 5'11 and plays in Scotland.

5'11 isn't tall in football terms is it?

Said on the radio he was released by Livingston. I wonder if they offered him another contract or he decided to leave.

rooney is over 6ft and is 23.

The scottish SPL could be PDC international league. others view it differently to us Brits.

but could Wray just be keeping it tight lipped?

How about this chap:

Yang Changpeng
[url width=265 height=360]http://www.whoateallthepies.tv/assets_c/2009/07/Yang%20Changpeng.bolbolfutbol-thumb-270x366-89708.jpg[/url]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Changpeng

right age and from far, far away...

^^ that a full sized goal

They released a whole bunch of players becasue they couldn't afford to keep them - they are going with youth next season. The supporters are pissed off because they think they could have sold him if they had extended his contract.

yep

Released, but this article hints due to financial restrictions rather than performance related

http://www.westlothiancourier.co.uk/west-lothian-sport/west-lothian-football/livingston-fc/2011/05/05/de-vita-admits-mixed-emotions-on-final-livi-appearance-62405-28633569/

According to the article on the Adver just now they reckon De Vita is 'one for the future and who has potential' and that Di Canio is chasing 'two first team strikers'.

Maybe Di Canio wasn't describing De Vita in the previous article and instead was referring to and describing the 'two first team strikers'??

Good to hear. I'm sure he'll look to impress his fellow countryman.

Any ideas why he only made 43 starts in 3 seasons? is he injury prone?

Yup, Livingston fans seemed pretty keen on him, sounds like they would have wanted him to stay if they could have afforded him

http://www.livilions.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=20071&highlight=vita (http://www.livilions.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=20071&highlight=vita)

At least this sounds like we're not after Leon Knight

This makes me quite excited! I was expecting him to be a first team signing.

Thank God, not because he's small mind you but because he's a complete and utter moron.

We said that about Austin, so you never know!

We have to be a bit careful with early expectations. I'm not sure what standard Scottish League 2 is and whether its a big step up in quality or not. Having said that, we said the same about Austin too.

At 5'9" I would hardly describe De Vita as tall...

http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/10221688
looks handy enough and speaks excellent english

Chengdu were playing second division football this season which is probably about the same level as conference.  I have watched games in the super league and the standard of even the top teams is shocking.  Saying that it does only cost £2 to get into the games so they can't be making much money to pay for star players.

Found out last year that Paul Rideout played for the local team back in the 90's, loads of people here still remember him.

According to Gary Rose on Twitter, he has confirmed that De Vita is one for the future and not one of the two that were mentioned in the earlier article.

He's said one has a bit of 'samba flair'? Interesting!

I've never heard of him, but according to a mate of mine he used to be good on Football Manager.
That's good enough for me.

taken from adver article

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/9101896.De_Vita_set_to_become_Paolo_s_third_capture/

Some of his movement around the box looked quality! Was unlucky not to score more...  :D

Ahh one from my Football Manager 2008 days!

Whenever I was a lower-leagues team I used to bring him in on loan before signing him on one of those bosmans, he scored for fun!

So based on that, he will be brilliant.

Also I assume this is something they were probably hoping to tell us about last night during the press conference, but possibly the medical didn't finish in time (maybe that's what Jeremy was being told at the time??)...?

according to the transfer rumours thread DRS has said one fell through last night so all they could report about was Timlin.

Tropical, his name we sing
Get the ball right down the wing
In the box, he'll knock it in
Raffaele De Vita

He sounds like a good capture, espescially with 2 more strikers coming in and him as back up, i'm more optimistic. And he has a fantastic name.

He speaks better English than Simon Ferry.

he's signed then :)

quite liking Paolo's signings so far. Players with a bit of hunger, not all just coming down from higher divisions looking for a payout.

I'm impressed with the way he seems to know exactly what type of player he wants.

Not just the passion thing either. He seems to have ideas about physique, skills and all sorts.

and people were worried he'd not have a clue about the english game at this level.

his signings so far say otherwise

I've been really impressed the way he speaks about creating a team. He has a clear project in mind on how to go about this and even though (thus far) we haven't signed any 'big names' I'm really excited about seeing the likes Of Smith, Devera etc. He talks about football eloquently and I've really taken to him. He's very straight talking which I like aswell.

If dougie signs, then two more strikers, and comazzi... we're game on

talking of Dougie. he's back now from his hols so we should hear something soon

He's back tommorow isn't he?

plus a left back and I think we are sorted

Having previously been impressed with Wilson's signings this time last year, I'll only impressed when I see how they do on the pitch :)

I am cautiously optimistic. Hurray up and start season.

Wilson signed some good players, but he just seemed to be snapping up whatever came along.

With Di Canio I feel so much more as though he knows just what he is doing. He knows he wants to build a TEAM and knows how to go about it.

The lad seems hungry from that clip, which is a massive bonus

Jury's still out on Di Canio in a lot of respects, but I think one thing we know already is that anyone who is not hungry is not going to last long.  Commitment to the cause is going to be #1 priority next season...and everything else follows from that.

So players like Ferry are not going to be allowed to get fat on the bench.  He'll either rediscover the form and flair he showed during 2009/10, or he'll go.  This is good.

in fairness to Ferry i don't think it was his fault he was getting fat on the bench.

Yes! we signed some bloke who used to play for Livingstone.Lets get a Townend Cumpkin to spunk up in while we all pontificate about PDs amazing team building skills.

It's not about just the one signing though is it yeo?

Come on Bangkok you know it's a TEF condition that Yeo either likes or hates a new manager  :D

he's clearly not impressed.

No theres those other two chaps that no cunts ever heard of that we now believe are the new messiahs based on nothing what so ever...

And no i dont think we should be attracting "big names" or anything,im sure these guys will be ok but the reaction from you lot is way over the top.

for the past 12 months though it's been a novelty having players who actually want to play for the club and not just turn up each week to fanny around on the pitch. i.e. Prutton

Even off the bench, and supposedly unfit, he was still as good as he was during the play-off season. He was also more committed than every other player combined when he did play.

its true  :nod:

Pre internet I liked them all, except Mcmahon but those were happier times :D

I kind of agree with yeo (for once) :)

The hype does seem a bit OTT about players we know nothing about.
Let's wait and see if they're any good before we get too excited.

http://www.myspace.com/video/vid/10221688

some alright footage of de vita from his blackburn rovers reserves days

It's not about hype over players though, I don't think much has even been said of them.

It's just that the guy knows what he wants and has a clear plan in his mind. Quite refreshing after the shambles of last season.

Di Canio has a very clear ethos. He wants his players to play with the same pride, passion, commitment and determination he did. When at West Ham, Di Canio played each game like a life long east end boy!

I dont think he'll suffer fools either. If we did end up with a Prutton like player this season I dont think he'd last a month.

Apart from when they were playing up north.  He has a well known reputation among Hammers fans of bottling it and coming up with sudden injures so he didn’t have to play as he knew he would get kicked off the park.

Is there any proof of that?

He's signed a 2 year contract then.

Well I took the word of a couple West Ham supporting friends of mine, there is some stat out there about him playing 95% of home games and 60something% of away ones for them.  They love the bloke but just wanted to calm me down when I started using words like passion, desire, commitment, etc  to describe reasons as to why I pleased with his appointment.

Allegedly a lot of Hammers fans were a bit peeved with him at the time for this common practice

He never wanted to play up north, I thought this was well known?

One goal De Vita, give it to meeee. One goal De Vita... or maybe threeeee.

S'all I got.

Don't cry for me Raffaele De Vita
The super Italian marksman
Cuts in the left side
Cuts in the right side
He pulls the trigger
And makes the net bulge

Other than my earlier offering, i have nuttin'

I'm sure Harry Redknapp mentioned something along these lines too... right before he came out saying how professional he was.

Every single Manager in history has come in and said exactly the same things,you're believing your own hype.

Remember how BenWahBalls was about Kingy? you're the same about PD but at least he had somthing to base it on rather than a few sound bites like "I know how I want to play"

Is there any proof of that ?

I find myself in Yeovil's camp on this subject.

I think the quote was that he didn't travel north of Watford

Bleeding 'eck.

People are only saying they're pleased the guy seems organised and with a plan. It's not even hype, it's just a discussion for Pete's sake.

Let's not have anything positive said though eh! Might start a thread about how we shouldn't have sold Greer instead.

Lets hope he fits the bill.
In the minority no doubt but it dosn't get me jumping up and down with glee this signing.
As people have said maybe one of those rough diamonds that the Italian Maestro is going to polish up.

Im suprised that there wasn't much said about when Greer left, thought there would have been more

You knicked my Avatar :D

 :fishing:

We should have never sold Greer, it was a mistake and I thi...  :-X

I've had this one for weeks you git :)

Which is pretty much exactly what is said in the article this morning. Which is why there are 2 more more strikers on the way.

I agree with yeovil.
The new singings aint telling me anything yet.
They don't sound good or bad to me.they look lower league players who may or may not be any good.
Time will tell

im happy with the signings we have made, what are people expecting?

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/sport/article-2013621-di-canio-dicks-is-a-traitor.do

It certainly was his rep, which he denied.

Fucking hell carbon

You'll be wanting to suck his cock next

we are getting the types i expected,but the pant creaming over di canio and the players who have done nothing to show they are any good yet is premature.

Exactamundo....I recall when T*dd tried a job lot of players after relegation....there were loads jizzing themselves.  It isn't easy....we've nothing to go on as to how di Canio might do with a player.  You can read Allardyce talking about the difficulty of turning around a relegated side, especially when there's more than 50% player turnover.


If di Canio can show some initial signs of progress after last season, he'll be doing well.

Tbf, you seem to jump down the throat of anyone who says anything even slightly negative

even slightly?

depends whos cock your refering to

:)

I'm sure Wilson even said he knew who he wanted to get in and had a plan of the areas he needed to improve etc. The problem was that his ideas were terrible last season.

Di Canio is just doing what any manager should be doing right now.

Ha, that's DRS' mate.

Di Canio talks a good game.

The players signed so far at least appear to be players on their way up in their career.

Obviously not seen them play yet - but I'm happy with the way things are going.

People will moan about anything ::)

Possibly not the best  choice of words there?

No ones moaning though,just saying that people are going over the top.Ok i suppose im moaning about people going over the top if anything.

Raffa De Vita has played the last two seasons in Scottish Div3 and Div2... I don't know what the standard is like down there to be honest but I hope it works out for him here.

If all else fails at least he has a super-cool name.

Lee collins made the step up from albion rovers in div 3 to the 1st division with relative ease :D

...it's unbelievable to think that he was with Town for five seasons.

5? Really? I don't believe it.

"Mark it down, dude."

http://www.swindon-town-fc.co.uk/Person.asp?PersonID=COLLINSL

The special one summed it up really.

He talks a good game, which is what we've been saying. Don't see how that's going over the top.

There was a time when Wilson would talk a good game. But then there was also a time when Wilson talked of games where he made mysterious substitutions when the first half started to confuse the opposition into conceding.

He has to be the most verbose manager we've had since the 'Smoking Chimp' :nod:

Wilson certainly never put as much emphasis (publicly anyway) on effort, commitment, desire, passion and unity like Di Canio does.

All things we as fans want to see.

I can only speak for myself but I can take losing (just) if the team has been out played by better opposition. What I cant fucking stand is a team that hides, rolls over and dies - we did this last season and I was fucking disgusted by it.

We would have never guessed :)

In fairness, nobody liked the manner of our demise last season.

Exactly. I'm not sure if I recall a manager, for a while, that's been so frank in his opinion of what he wants. It hasn't been the usual generic fluff, he's been pretty bloody specific, even in his criticism of the team last season and how they were rudderless. 

I'm not convinced - he looks a bit one-footed to me.

Definitely agree with this. For me, the most encouraging thing is that Di Canio has come in, watched games from last season and been appalled at what he's seen. You get the impression he knows what he needs to do and he knows how he's going to do it, and that's a huge encouragement. As for whether he and the players pull it off, only time will tell, but it wouldn't be a summer break if we weren't all getting our hopes up without good reason!

He makes a big deal in his book about being a fan and the fact that he was a Lazio 'Ultra' for 6 years. He says how he knows what it's like to be a fan and how he identifies with them and how important they are etc etc. I think that is all genuine as well. It will be interesting to see how that side of things develops :nod:

Its nice he realises that Oxford are to us what Roma is to him.

I saw the Premier League World piece last night that I think Bob's Orange mentioned and he was stood in the stands at Upton Park belting out the songs etc.

I'm quite hopeful that the Town fans can respond to this as well...quite frankly the atmosphere at the CG has been wank for a while...maybe this will be the catalyst to try and get some sort of atmosphere back...


I know its not everyones cup of tea but I reckon the old L and P boys (and/or the Swindon Ultras) could do a job here...just to take the lead and the initiative a little...

definitely. Atmosphere has been shit at the CC for a while but in fairness last years was complete wank.

We need as fans to show as much passion as PDC is currently showing

Again, this could be where playing Oxford so early could be vital. It'll get us a big crowd in for one of our first home games, there's bound to be a decent atmosphere, and if we come away with a positive result we could be enjoying the benefits of that fixture in terms of attendance and atmosphere for quite a while.

I suppose its unavoidable that those Swindon Ultra nobs will pop up again.

a little harsh...a least they bring a little colour to the proceedings...

They must be in their 50's by now.

I believe they breed.

I hope they do show up. Their flags and banners are ace and it livens things up abit.

Hi there, as the username suggests, I am a Livingston Fan. Just registered to see what people were saying on here now that you have signed our former favourite, Rafa De Vita.  I probably expected a few of the "he is coming from Livingston in the Scottish league so he must be rubbish" type comments.  Whilst the standard of Scottish football is generally quite average, Livingston have a very good reputation for developing young talent and playing attractive attacking football. A few of our former players have made the step up to the English leagues without any hassle - Graeme Dorrans at WBA, Robert Snodgrass at Leeds, James McPake at Coventry, Andrew Halliday at Middlesboro and to a lesser extent, Wes Holohan at Norwich (he was only with us for a short spell).

Rafa is a very talented striker - great skills and flicks and an excellent finish. We can't claim the credit for his talent unlike some of the others mentioned, he was the top scorer in the Premiership reserve league with Blackburn Rovers before we signed him. However, playing in the lower divisions in Scotland has certainly toughened him up and he is a much more street-wise player now than he was when he joined us. One of the reasons, imo, that he didn't play as often in the last couple of years is that he was getting lumps kicked out of him by industrial type defenders - that and our other strikers were also scoring goals for fun (we got relegated 2 divisions for going into Admin so our squad was far too good for the leagues we were playing in for the past two seasons.

Anyway, he was our favourite player (my son and I) so you will now have a couple of new fans looking out for the Swindon scores to see how he is getting on.  Best of luck for the new season!

Thanks

While you here, and thanks for the sensible contribution, I was having a debate with a Scottish mate of mine last night about the history of Livi....he reckoned that Livi were basically the old Meadowbank Thistle, I reckoned, that Meadowbank Thistle formed out of Ferranti Thistle, and were a different side. Can you clear it up?

I thought livingston was meadowbank thistle as well

It appears they were founded as ferranti, renamed meadowbank and renamed again

Bloody Franchise!

Interesting stuff Livi Fan. I didn't know Snodgrass had played for you, I think he's a tremendous player. Facinating fact. I actually saw Livingston play a couple of years ago. A 2-1 win away to St Johnstone. We saw Dundee United v Celtic at Tannadice (lunch time kick off) and then jumped straight in the car and down the A9 to McDermaid Park for the 3.00pm kick off.

Good stuff!  It is fun to do that early kick-off followed my 3pm game - done it once or twice in England when I have been down.

Robert Snodgrass was in our first team at 16.  He is a fantastic talent who had an attitude problem as a youngster (diet, turning up for training late etc).  He did very well at Livi (so well that Barcelona wanted to take him on trial when he was 17!) but has grown up a lot since he got away from the gang he knocked about with in Glasgow.  He will play in the premiership soon.

Re the origins of Livingston - I think previous posters have got it right.  Started off as the works team for Ferranti and was renamed Meadowbank playing out of the old commonwealth stadium in Edinburgh.  Controversially moved to Livingston (15 miles west of Edinburgh) in the late 90's and renamed Livingston FC.

We are well used to the Franchise comments.  Can't dispute history.  Fact is Meadowbank were playing in front of 250 fans - about half of whom followed the club to Livingston (one of whom is the fans representative on the board of Livi) - it was move or die.  I moved to Scotland from Ireland in 2000 settling in Livingston and I have only known them as Livingston.

Cheers missed that then....knew Meadowbank was Edinburgh based....therefore not in Livingston.

a young striker with a decent scoring record - oh no what a crap signing.

Are Italians known for their bottling? another?

Di Can'tio - even worse than Aljokefree.

Was going to have a dig at Oxford managers but I dont even know who the fuck it is these days?

Yes but DV they are signing world beaters like Michael Duberry, can't wait to see that old donkey get torn apart in League 2  :Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick:

HAHA anyone looks good in the scottish premier, he played for Wycombe the year before and got roasted more often than a turkey at toby carvery

Love an Oxford fan clutching at straws

yeah the same league jerel ifil also played in  ;)

"JLS 4 Eva"  :gay:

First a pink Ox now JLS, whats next ... Replacing the Home kit with studded leather gimp suits

3rd kit

Indeed- and they're very touchy on their forum - very easy to wind up

[url width=450 height=339]http://fourfour.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/06/20/mrleather_14.jpg[/url]]

Oxfords Team photo for next year

Originally signed as a forward, De Vita has been moved out to wide left.

Here's our take on the reasons why, an explaination of the role he's been given by Paolo Di Canio and some comparisons:

http://thewashbag.com/2011/10/18/raffaele-de-vita-our-dirk-kuyt/