Gale: Di Canio Accusations Stupid

Tony Gale thinks that the accusation that Paolo Di Canio may have attacked a steward during the Leicester game is a laughable one.

It is alleged that there was an altercation between Paolo and a steward as he celebrated scoring the equalising penalty at Filbert Street on Saturday, and the club have strenuously denied anything happened in the tunnel afterwards - as has been inferred in some quarters.

The police are obliged to investigate the complaint, as is part of normal procedure, but Tony, voicing his personal opinion, says:

"Why are stewards getting involved anyway?

"Paolo ran to the West Ham fans after scoring a great penalty, and the whole thing is a load of rubbish.

"It is a case of a steward - a Leicester fan, don't forget - getting far too busy, in my opinion."

As for the game itself, he says:

"It was a shocker, toothless stuff, and it needed a bit of a punch up to liven it up - which Matt Elliott provided!

"1-1 was about the right score; we were giving silly fouls away and struggled on the set pieces."

As for the penalty, he adds:

"Joe gets fouled unquestionably more than anyone else because he holds on to the ball longer and that is where you want him to be - in the box.

"Trevor came over and Elliott had had a little kick at him; the head came forward and he threw a right hander at him, and for me I don't think he could have had any complaints about the sending off.

"Savage should have gone as well for a revenge foul on Joe Cole but the referee, having just given Elliott the red card, didn't want to send another off."

As for the Premiership table, Tony says:

"The league has had a concertina effect at the weekend; a couple of wins and you are up to European qualification and with a couple of defeats you are in trouble."