SWINDON TOWN: Paolo's pulling power (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

SWINDON TOWN: Paolo's pulling power

6:00pm Friday 22nd June 2012 in Football By Dan Barnes

NEW Swindon Town hotshot Andy Williams says the lure of developing under legendary striker Paolo Di Canio played a huge part in him opting to put pen to paper at the County Ground.

The 25-year-old turned down a new deal at Yeovil Town to sign a two-year contract at Town and was officially unveiled as a Robins player on Monday, alongside fellow new boys Gary Roberts and James Collins.

Williams, who netted 17 goals for Yeovil last season, admits that he kept a close eye on Swindon’s fortunes after first learning of their interest in January and feels he’s made the right move to match his ambition.

“It was really hard to leave a club where I was happy but I’m ambitious and I wanted to make the right move for my career,” said Williams.

“When you’re a free agent, there are all kinds of rules and regulations you have to think about and it can take a while but I’m just looking forward to getting started now.

“I kept an eye on how Swindon were doing when I first heard about things back in January and the pull of working with Paolo Di Canio was massive too because he was a legend in the Premier League – hopefully I can learn a lot from him.

“They did great in the cups last season and we’ve seen that promoted sides already have that winning mentality so I think we could have a really good season.”

Williams began his career at Hereford United before also having a spell at Bristol Rovers and the new Town striker says that he’s still looking forward to jetting off with his new teammates to their training camp in Italy next month, despite boss Di Canio’s infamous pre-season fitness regime.

He added: “The lads who did pre-season last year will probably not be too bothered about it this time because they ended up as champions.

“Pre-season should be great and we’ll also get to see what the gaffer is going to do with the strikers.

“I’ve played against Paul Benson, who’s a good goalscorer at this level, and I also know Alan Connell from our time at Hereford together – maybe we’d play well together because of that.”