The Paolo Di Canio Column

I don’t know what their next move will be because I am not in the Chelsea board’s head.

I said before that Andre Villas-Boas was a mistake because I could not imagine he would move there and the assistant manager would be Roberto Di Matteo, with all respect. It is not possible to work in this way, especially at the top level.

I don’t want to say that Di Matteo was there ready to take his place but if, say, Barcelona came to me and said you can come but don’t bring your technical staff then I don’t move.

That is not because I am arrogant, that is because I believe that the technical staff and manager have to work together.

There are people who go round with a different situation where they are happy to be in place to take over if the club sacks the manager, or they hope to take their place one day.

You have to have your loyal people around you and if Chelsea keep going in this way then there is no chance for them to come back soon and become a top team to compete with the other top teams in England Europe.

They have to search for a manager, similar to Jose Mourinho who has confidence and will go there and say ‘I play this kind of football and I don’t need this and don’t need that.’ The chairman should be ready to accept that and not say ‘this player is an idol’ or ‘this one is untouchable’ then they will have the problem for many years to come.

Paolo on...player power

I am not worried to have leaders in the dressing room, which is different to players who dominate.

If the player who is a leader in the dressing room is a top player who has the anger and desire to work hard, then the manager cannot be worried.

However, one thing that is not good is when a board can discuss too much with players.

I worked under many top chairmen and general directors, so I know what it means.

Here we don’t have people who have been involved as a chairman or director in football for about 20 years, so they don’t try to get too involved because they don’t have the strong connection just yet.

I don’t like even with Lionel Messi that a chairman would call him and ask ‘how are you, what do you think about this’.

You can imagine where someone calls a 22-year-old and asks them what is wrong, what is right and so on.

I discovered when I signed here that there was a report from someone about what the players’ thought about Paul Hart and Danny Wilson.

I don’t want to judge what the managers did last year, but what value can be given by a 19-year-old who probably knows more about park football at that stage than they do about professional football?

For this reason I don’t really like a board that connects with players, staying together for half an hour for discussions, at any level of football. That is a big problem.

Obviously it can be good if you have many leaders, but it can be bad if it becomes too much like a family, where they group together and say ‘this manager we don’t like, we will destroy him’.

In this way it is negative, so you have to be capable to read the situation.

Paolo on...referees explaining their decisions.

As a manager, when you go and do the course for your coaching badges they say ‘don’t say to the media that it is my fault. You can use any word than this’.

Now the communication has changed because the strong manager will blame themselves to distract attention away from the players.

It is the same with the referee, they have to report what happened but as they have time to submit a report they can get advice on what to put in there.

In some way, allowing the referees to talk straight after a game will enable them to provide a more genuine and true answer.

Otherwise they have too much power. They already have a lot of power as they are the main men and they make all the key decisions in a game.

Like the manager and players after they make a mistake are obliged to explain why they did something, so should the referees.

If a player makes two or three mistakes in a row, they can be rested and maybe the same should happen when a referee makes a couple of mistakes.

After a bad decision, referees should go out and say what they felt they saw. They are human at the end of the day so if they make a mistake, go out to speak to the media and accept it, then they can be available for the next game.

If they go out after the game and give a confusing account of what happened then it means they are not ready for the next game.

Paolo on...goalline technology

Football is not science, but I accept that science can help football.

It can help in terms of the way you have to train, reactivity, power and also the technology used in the game is part of science.

In Italy recently there was a big protest after a game between AC Milan and Juventus when the ball was one yard over the line, the linesman was level with the post but the goal was not given.

If technology can happen and it can guarantee 110 per cent not to have any errors, then I would welcome it.

There are no teams at any level who wouldn’t want things to be judged more accurately as a wrong decision can have such a big impact.

Like at the World Cup when the ball from Frank Lampard’s shot was one metre in the Germany goal but the decision changed the outcome of the rest of the tournament.

However, the technology must not stop the game. I don’t want to see any situation like in rugby where they stop to check the video – doing this in football would stop the emotion of the moment.

If there is something that can make a beep sound when a ball goes over the line and a fourth official can tell the referee in a matter of seconds then that is fine.

So as long as the technology can guarantee that it works perfectly and does not slow down the game, then I accept it.

Paolo on...players extending playing career.

Paul Benson is a great example for this, he is a perfect soldier.

He arrived here already in good shape even though he had not played many games since May.

Older players have to be like he is. Paul has the desire and he lives for playing football.

The secret is internal motivation. When I played football it was all I wanted to do so I looked after myself.

Paul has the internal motivation. He does everything we ask him to do with the maximum effort.

Obviously here he has found a good place to integrate himself straight away. He knew Alan McCormack so there was a base here already that helped him to settle straight away.

His body helps him as well because he is not to go fat very easily, so his genetics are very good.

In my opinion, if he keeps going like this he can have another three years at the top level.

He could be a protagonist in a side fighting to win League One next year and then again the following year.

We look after him here with the way our training is done – work, recovery, work, recovery.

If he keeps his internal motivation then I am sure he will be a main player in League One.

I don’t see many more top strikers than him in League One because there are ones who score 10 goals in 10 games and then go quiet for some games after that.

He is the kind of player who can keep scoring regularly. He intelligent, a natural scorer in the box and I am sure that he will be an important player at a better level than this for three or four years.