The Peter Varney diaries: How Charlton Athletic's fight to return to The Valley made Paolo Di Canio emotional in signing talks and Alan Pardew's amazing U-turn on Zheng Zhi

Former Addicks chief executive provides inside track on Italian maverick's move to SE7 - including signing contract in a car park

Every month South London Sport: Charlton Athletic Edition is going to be catching up with Peter Varney, the club’s former chief executive and a boyhood fan of the club, to get his tales and inside info from when he was in a key position of responsibility in SE7.

In this first instalment, Varney lifts the lid on the signing of Italian maverick Paolo Di Canio from West Ham United in August 2003 as well as the fortuitous manner Zheng Zhi worked his way back from the Valley exit door when Alan Pardew was in charge.

Paolo Di Canio on the attack for Charlton Athletic

Picture: Keith Gillard

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VALLEY DVD HELPED DI CANIO WANT TO JOIN

Paolo Di Canio took the number 11 shirt at Charlton Athletic after penning a 12-month deal following his departure from West Ham United. Aged 35 at the time, the Italian playmaker claimed he had turned down a number of lucrative offers abroad to extend his Premier League career.

I got a call from his agent and he said to me: “I don’t know if you’re interested but Paolo Di Canio is available. If he gets 10 grand a week then he is happy. He’s not going to get into a great long debate about you offering him a figure.”

I put the phone down and thought that one of the things we were perhaps missing as a club was when you saw kids in the playground - particularly those supporting Chelsea or Arsenal - they have all got a star player. Somebody those kids went and got their name on the back of the shirt. Di Canio fell into that category.