Former Celtic striker Paolo Di Canio has been unveiled as the headline act for Open Goal’s Hydro Show next month. The fiery Italian will take the stage with Si Ferry, Paul Slane and co for the Christmas Night Out at the arena, just weeks after their first sell-out event.
Di Canio is a divisive figure mainly due to his antics and his politics but he always speaks positively about Celtic and, in particular, Tommy Burns. It will be interesting to hear his stories from his time as a Celtic player and a manager.
Di Canio left under a cloud after a contract stand-off with Fergus McCann. The Italian, then 27, refused to travel to the Netherlands for pre-season in 1997. This sped up the process, especially with Tommy Burns leaving and Wim Jansen coming in.
In 37 appearances for Celtic, Di Canio scored 15 goals and whilst he did not win anything as Tommy Burns’ side came agonisingly close to knocking Rangers off their perch. Di Canio left for £4m in a deal that took the Italian to Sheffield Wednesday in August 1997. Although he was a top player, Celtic stopped ten in a row the season Di Canio left and replaced him with a £650k signing from Feyenoord, who didn’t turn out to be too bad.