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‘I said to the chairman’: Paolo Di Canio clears up the actual reason why he left Celtic

Patrick Sinat

Mon 2 October 2023 21:15, UK Updated Tue 17 October 2023 15:02, UK

Paulo Di Canio has opened up on the reason why he left Celtic after just one season.

TBR Celtic spoke about how Di Canio explained his reason for joining the club. The fans, the weather and, amazingly, seeing the green and white hoops for the first time on a Subbuteo set where just some of the reasons the Italian gave for swapping Milan for Glasgow.

However, his time in Scotland was cut short. After just one season, Di Canio left to join Sheffield Wednesday in a £4m move and off went one of the best talents to have worn the Celtic jersey in their recent history.

Broken promises forced Di Canio to leave Celtic

Di Canio was much loved by the Celtic support. He helped Tommy Burns bring a certain style of football to the club that the fans loved.

There was high hopes that he could help Celtic halt Rangers’ charge to nine-in-a-row but, unfortunately, a fall out with Fergus McCann put paid to his time at the club.

And here, the fiery Italian reveals why.

Di Canio said [], “When I shake the hand, for me, it counts much more than 100,000 contracts signed. At the beginning of the season, we were negotiating, the first season in Scotland, about the contract.

“The negotiations you asked for money, maybe a bonus or something like that. At the end, they didn’t want to give me what I expected.

“I say okay, by the end of the season, if I’m doing well, you know, 10 goals or assists and become an important part of the team, we renegotiate the contract.

“They said, we can’t put this clause on the contract. Okay, so I said, ‘Give me your hand’ and in front of my agent, I shook his hand.

“And at the end of season, everybody voted me Player of the Year. But straight away they were quick to say, ‘No, we don’t negotiate because from our point of view, you didn’t have a good season.’ That was the chairman.

“So I was speaking to the media to say I’m not happy here because he didn’t respect the word. I said to the chairman through my agents, if you want to sell me, sell me because I don’t know if I can play and give him my best.”

Di Canio became a cult hero at West Ham and Celtic

Di Canio went from Sheffield Wednesday to West Ham and became a cult hero at the London club.

Much like his time at Celtic, the Italian playmaker created many iconic moments at The Hammers. The goal he scored against Wimbledon in 2000 was voted one of the .

And who can forget the time he passed up a goalscoring opportunity in 2000 against Everton to allow the injured Paul Gerrard to get treatment?

Oh, shall we mention the infamous Paul Alcock incident as well? Better not. The point is, love him or loathe him, he was a once-in-a-generation talent and any fan that got to watch him live was very lucky indeed.

In other news, ‘Still might’: Pat Bonner believes ‘top drawer’ Celtic player could still leave in January