Pre-season and torture with Paolo Di Canio at Swindon Town

That is Paul Caddis describing pre-season with Paolo Di Canio on the Under the Cosh podcast. His pre-season training sessions have become something of a legend in Swindon Town circles with how hard he liked to drive the players. Countless former players of that era have spoken about the extreme restrictions and methods that helped create the side that would win the League Two title in 2011/12 and were on course to do the same in League One the following year.

“That was definitely the hardest pre-season that I ever did in my career,” said Jonathan Smith, who arrived from York City early on in Di Canio’s reign. “The training was tough, it is well documented that he didn’t give us any days off, but I loved the challenge of trying to push my way into that team. I had come from York where sometimes you would get lunch after training and sometimes you wouldn’t, you might get a sandwich or a jacket potato if you are lucky. You wash your own kit and everything you have to do yourself, then with Paolo the nutrition was really important, and everything was nailed down. It was a big change.”

Di Canio and Donatelli in conversation (Image: Stuart Harrison)

Di Canio along with his fitness coach Claudio Donatelli, who has since won the Euros with Italy alongside Roberto Mancini and is now working with him again with Saudi Arabia, the pair devised a system that would get the players as fit as possible.

“Paolo immediately set the target at the highest possible level,” said Donatelli. “He told me that we had to win the championship. This goal was almost impossible to achieve without bringing the players to their maximum physical capabilities.

“Study and experience have taught me that a necessary amount of work is required for a good level of fitness. With Swindon, we decided to peak around the Christmas period, during which many games are played and many points can be gained. So, we proceeded by adjusting the workload specifically for that period. It was exciting to see our players dominate the field and the opponents for many months, especially in the second half.”

Simon Ferry has spoken multiple times about how Di Canio was very concerned about the players’ weights and their nutrition. Smith added that he also felt that the Italian thought there might be a cultural issue with English players when he arrived that led to some of their early recruitment, which saw many international players like Etienne Esajas and Alberto Comazzi arrive as they would be more likely to do what he wanted.

Swindon players running in Italy (Image: Stuart Harrison)

“When he signed me, he called me while I was working with my dad, and I remember he said he knows English guys like to party and there will be none of that and they like to have Wednesdays off and there will be none of that. This was before he even signed me.

“I think he came in and thought ‘I need people who are going to be the best professional they could ever be.’ I think he had in his head that English players weren’t the way forward, he thought we might all be a little bit unprofessional. He thought they [foreign players] would be more professional and League Two is not that difficult so it would be easy. But he learned quite quickly that it was a different kettle of fish.”

Donatelli also confirmed that Di Canio was concerned about the condition of the players he was inheriting: “When we met our players and began the pre-season training, I realised, also thanks to the continuous discussions with Di Canio, that the players were not in sufficient physical condition. Many players were overweight, but more importantly, they didn't know their true potential.”

A key focus of Donatelli was nutrition and that was something that he took very seriously, right down to molecular detail, literally, with things like sauces, deserts, and even ice being banned.

The Euros winner explains: “Yes, indeed, there was a lot to change with food. Saturated fats are molecules that inflame our bodies and then form body fat. So, we eliminated the traditional English breakfast, which I love very much, and replaced it with simple whole grain toast with jam - no butter, no creams, no sauces, no sugary drinks. Only healthy and properly cooked foods.

“Regarding ice cubes, we wanted to minimize the possibility of intestinal congestion or the transmission of bacteria. As I said, we wanted to win, and to do that, we had to be perfect!”

Smith scoring against Southend (Image: Stuart Harrison)

As Smith remembers, that very precise approach to the nutrition of the players was not something that would be compromised, even for things that might seem healthy.

“He was really big on what you put in your body, Claudio had written a book on nutrition, and he had travelled the world doing football. I am someone whose weight drops off me really quickly, I am one of those annoying people who can eat as much as they want and not put weight on. I needed to eat a lot because we were doing that much training. One time I had a protein shake in my bag to help with that and when I came back from training this protein tub had gone, the fitness coach had taken it off me and given it to Paolo. He called me into his office and said, ‘What is this s*** you are putting in your body? You need to eat fish and chicken, look at all of the c*** you are putting in your body.’”

The core part of pre-season saw Swindon head to Italy as Di Canio and Donatelli went about putting their plan into action for getting the players as fit as possible.

Di Canio addresses the squad in Italy (Image: Adver archive)

Di Canio told Up Front with Simon Jordan: “We had the pre-season in Italy to try and let them understand the message as soon as possible. They weren’t happy, they were sick during the runs because we ran a lot. I told them ‘We are going to go through the storm, but when we get out there will be a rainbow.’”

Speaking at a Loathed Strangers Live event in 2019, Ferry explained how Di Canio showed the squad that he wasn’t playing around upon their arrival in Italy.

He said: “We got there and there were these four skinheads and supposedly one of these guys is the best cage fighter in Italy and he [Di Canio] said, ‘If you have a drink during training, this guy f**** your a**.’ Then on the first day, he said there were no water breaks, it was so hot, and his runs were basically impossible. That trip was just torture, but the good thing about him was that he slaughtered me for being fat and would make me do extra running, but he would do it too.”

Smith added on the trip: “I think we were in the only state in Italy which wasn’t by the coast, and he said to us ‘Don’t worry when we get to the hotel, it is a really nice facility.’ It was a three-hour coach ride from Rome and when we got there it was really basic and you could tell it was going to be a tough two weeks. Very basic accommodation in the middle of the Italian hills and the message goes out that the bus leaves to go to the training ground at 7 am. You knew then that this would be some serious stuff.

“And the intensity of the training, he was such a perfectionist that every single little detail mattered, even if it was warming up and running around the cones, you weren’t allowed to take your foot off the pedal at any point.”

Ferry doing his extra running (Image: Adver archive)

As hard as it was for the players, Donatelli said that he knew that a big effort would be needed to get the players into the condition Di Canio required to succeed.

With just a few weeks to whip a group of players they believed didn’t have the discipline and fitness levels to do it into shape, he decided he had to go extreme if he were to get the results.

“Time was short and there was a lot of work to do,” said Donatelli. “I organized what we can call ‘shock therapy.’ This meant training the players continuously, two or three times a day; accumulating miles run, and kilograms lifted; learning running techniques and improving body language during the game. These were just some of the goals we set on the field from the very first day.

“The boys were exceptional. I saw them more than once bending over their knees, arriving on the field with pain in every muscle of their bodies, but they did everything we asked them to do, and they did it to the best of their abilities.”

Even after pre-season was over and the games began, Callum Kennedy said that the work did not stop, telling The Loathed Strangers that Di Canio had decided to sacrifice the opening weeks of the season to continue their conditioning to help them continue for the whole season. As Donatelli said, they wanted to peak around Christmas and stay strong for the rest of the season, so the pre-season (or torture depending on how you look at it) had to continue even once the games began.

Swindon celebrate the League Two title (Image: Adver archive)

And it would be fair to say that that vision came to pass. Despite a stuttering start to the season in which Town won just one of their first five, they really hit their stride as the campaign rolled on.

Hitting the top of the table for the first time in February as they won ten games in a row starting with Alan McCormack’s dramatic late winner at Northampton Town on New Year’s Eve, only two teams have ever won more consecutive matches in the fourth tier, and Swindon had the title wrapped up with a game to spare.

After all that, as with anything, Smith said that the winning had very much made the hard slog worth it and even made it difficult when he ended up going back to York the following summer.

“I think when they first came in people couldn’t believe we wouldn’t have any days off, but if you have enough people buying in then the rest follow. We were winning games and people think everything is brilliant when you are winning, maybe if we weren’t then it could have gone a different way. Early doors they were saying we were in too much and people were blaming others, but once you start winning, he could justify what we were doing.

“Then when I left, I struggled going back into the world of everything being a bit more of a laugh and just having a sandwich after training. I was actually getting paid a lot more than I had been at Swindon, but it bothered me with the unprofessionalism of it. I had gotten used to these standards that had driven me before.”

And for Donatelli, he said he would never forget what the experience at Swindon had allowed him to do, even if it was just as hard for the coaches as it was for the players.

“Paolo was the person who allowed me to express what I believed was important; he supported and understood me. Together, we inspired each other. I can assure you that we in the staff also overcame great difficulties and made many sacrifices, working ten to 12 hours a day with only one day off per month.

“For me and my family, Swindon was a fantastic period of great effort but also immense satisfaction. What I remember with great affection are all those people and families with children who, on Tuesday evenings, would drive two hours from Swindon to cheer for their team. During the pre-game warm-up, I would meet their eyes and feel at home.”