Thetownend.com

Di Canio cools interest in Birchall after striker stalls on deal
           

  PAOLO Di Canio’s search for a striker continues as Adam Birchall looks set to opt against a move to Swindon and instead join a club closer to home.

           

http://www.thisisswindontownfc.co.uk/news/headlines/9133657.Di_Canio_cools_interest_in_Birchall_after_striker_stalls_on_deal/?ref=rss
           

I think Di Canio's been a little bit impetuous here. Yes, he wants players who are 100% committed and want to play for the club. That's fine. But surely it is perfectly reasonable for the player to want to talk to all the clubs who have made an offer and is fact is what he should be doing. It's a big decision he's making. It's a two way street and the club need to show the player that they want him to some degree.

I think with a bit of effort we could have got him down to Swindon. Any player really worth signing is going to attract attention from other clubs and if we are saying we only want players who want to play for STFC and no one else then we are shooting ourselves in the foot big time.

We can't afford to have such a 'take it or leave it' attitude. There are times when Di Canio's going to have to sell the club. We're not Real Fucking Madrid Paolo, or even your beloved Lazio. It's not every player's boyhood dream to play for STFC I'm afraid ::)

Doesnt sound as clear cut as that. he's had 6 days to ask his fiance and hasnt, which says to me he knew Gillingham would come back in and has been stalling. We only get a portion of the valid information at best, and the bit we have indicates why PDC has probably moved on.

No of course not. I'm reading between the lines which is all any of us can do. I had to smile (ruefully) though when I read this comment from Di Canio..."it would have been nice if he was one of the four or five strikers we have here"  ::)

Reading through different articles re Birchall i think Gillingham was always his no.1 choice.  We were just used as a bargaining tool to get the pikeys to stump up the cash they thought he was worth.

Let's not forget that that darren bloke is his agent so has probably kept dicanio in the loop more than what the press know.

Just me then?!?

No. Me too!

Sounds to me that PDC isn't too keen on him. That's how it comes across anyway.

Agree want players that are committed,but think paolo is being very naive-we ain't Barcelona we are in the 4th division for a reason. Good players are gonna be sought after and he on occasions will have to sell the club.

Who says PDC isn't selling the club? I just get the impression here that Di Canio had Birchall on his list but not as high up as some of others. Although if that was the case then why did we bid for him in the first place? Seems like his agent (Darren bloke of Twitter) is just chucking names in Di Canio's face. PDC wants 3 more strikers. He better get a shift on soon.

Exactly

What's PDC supposed to do, fly back from pre-season training? Otherwise I'm sure he has a telephone out there and he and Wray has had a good chat with him (Burchill)

Not saying that Birchall was the answer, or that we should panic & sign the first striker that is available, but the build up to this season is reminding me of a couple of years ago (after Cox left).

We spent all of the off season looking for a striker, didn't sign one and started the season with just BP up front. We had signed a number of good players in other positions (Greer, Douglas, Lucas and Cuthbert to name a few) and we were very optimistic for the season.

Now that season turned around when we signed Austin, but I would like to think that we wouldn't have to wait that long this season.

I like Di Canio's methods.

The season we went up from league 2 in 06/07 our top scorer was Roberts on 13, Shows you can get promotion without a 20 goal man as long as the rest of the team chips in with goals.
Although 2 forwards who can net 40 between them would make me happier!