Sittingbourne vice-captain Ahmed Abdulla has been speaking about his time playing under Paolo Di Canio.

Abdulla was a young pro at West Ham a decade ago when Swindon - managed by Hammers legend Di Canio - clinched a loan move on transfer deadline day.

The Robins won League 2 that season and while Abdulla’s loan was cut short by injury, he’ll always remember the Italian maverick.

“If you can survive Di Canio, you can survive anyone,” said the 29-year-old, who scored a hat-trick on his Brickies debut last month after signing from Whitehawk.

“When you’re a boy you dream of playing in the Football League and it was one of the proudest moments for me and my family when I made my debut under Di Canio at Swindon.

“It was all done in the last hour of deadline day and I got a call saying you’re travelling up to Swindon.

“It was an exciting time, I was also nervous, but knowing who he was and the kind of player he was, I thought there’s nothing I can’t learn from him.

“I didn’t know him personally and he didn’t know me - he’d probably watched a couple of videos and thought I’d fit in.

“Going there was a culture shock. The first training session was three-and-a-half hours - 10am till 1.30pm - and the boys said it was like that every day.

“In pre-season, he’d had them doing double sessions, so they were back out 4pm till 7pm.

“It was mental but you could see he had drive and if you weren’t tough you couldn’t survive.

“He’d be after you, one mistake in training, and you’re going to know about it.

“Everything had to be 100 per cent on point and I think it was his way of saying no late nights, no eating rubbish or I’m coming for you.

“I went back to West Ham with a ripped quad halfway through the season but they won the league and that promotion came from him because we didn’t have the best team.

“I think I played 15 games and in the first five or six he’d made three subs before half-time or at half-time and it was mainly the centre-forwards that got dragged.”

Abdulla was a youth-team player at Arsenal in his secondary school days.

He used to travel in with Jack Wilshere while other team-mates included Emmanuel Frimpong and current Leeds captain Luke Ayling.

The trio have all enjoyed top-flight careers but Abudulla, who joined West Ham aged 16, has no complaints.

He said: “Everyone goes on a different journey - I’m not one to dwell on things or be jealous of other players.

“When I started dropping down and went to Barnet in League 2, Luke Ayling was doing the same thing at Yeovil.

“You take different pathways, your personal life gets involved and you make decisions but I’m always proud to see those boys do well.”

Abdulla, who also played in the Football League with Dagenham, endeared himself to Brickies fans with his opening-day hat-trick against Lancing.

His move to Woodstock may have surprised some - but Adbulla sees the potential.

He said: “No one’s had good things to say about Sittingbourne in terms of the table and I think people were quite shocked when I went there, but I know what the club wants to achieve and the direction it’s trying to move in.

“I’m not one to share my business, I really don’t care what anyone thinks, so I’ve no need to explain to people that Sittingbourne are trying to do this or that.

“The results will speak for themselves once everyone starts gelling.

“We’ve had a couple of good performances in the league and I think this is one of the stronger sides Sittingbourne have had recently.

“The last few years I’ve played in teams who’ve been in the play-offs or trying to win the league, so I don’t want to settle for a mid-table team.

“I can only do so much but I want to bring my experience and winning mentality to help the boys.”

Sittingbourne visit Isthmian South East new boys Corinthian on Saturday and travel to Hythe on Tuesday.

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