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Alessandro CIBOCCHI | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
An Italian left-back signed on a two year deal in July 2011, after a successful trial during the Town's pre-season tour of Italy, Cibocchi's debut at Swindon was delayed by international clearance, when the Italian FA claimed not to have received the required documentation. Six weeks after agreeing to join, Cibocchi finally made his first appearance in a Town shirt, coming off the bench during a 3-2 televised home win over Rotherham - Cibocchi starting his Town career on the left side of midfield, before dropping back into a centre back position following the dismissal of Alberto Comazzi. Cibocchi found first team opportunities limited during the opening first months of his Town career, as he played second fiddle to first Callum Kennedy and then loan signing Liam Ridehalgh. Making just two league starts in 2011, it wasn't until Ridehalgh returned to parent club Huddersfield that Cibocchi became a more regular starter - and for a two month period, he was the first choice for the left back slot - a period during which he demonstrated his superb long range free-kicks - and though he didn't score himself, he forced a great save from Leicester keeper Kasper Schmeichel in the FA Cup, and after hitting the woodwork against Crawley, Luke Rooney was able to pick up the rebound to open the scoring. Cibocchi also became somewhat of a cult fans' favourite on social networking site Twitter, with his enthusiastic tweets written despite his basic grasp of English. As the season moved into March though, Town boss Paolo di Canio seemed to become more critical of Cibocchi's performances - most notably after the away defeat at Oxford, in which Cibocchi gave a nervy performance - giving away a needless free-kick that led to the home side's first goal and then missing a clearance for their second, before di Canio substituted him after just twenty minutes. Cibocchi returned three days later with a much improved performance against Dagenham, but three weeks later, di Canio sealed the signing of Jay McEveley on loan - and immediately thrust the Scot into the starting eleven for the Johnstone's Paint Trophy final at Wembley. Cibocchi was introduced as a late substitute, and almost netted an equaliser with a headed effort, but it proved to be his last action of the season - McEveley continuing in the role for the rest of the season, as Swindon went on to win the League Two championship. At the end of the season, Cibocchi was named as one of four players whom di Canio kept back to improve his fitness - and though it was mentioned that the Town manager was pleased with the way he had reacted to being left out of the side, the other three members of the group all went on to be released during the close season. After Swindon returned for pre-season, di Canio was scathing in his criticism of Cibocchi's preparation for a friendly at Weston-super-Mare - after being introduced as a substitute at half-time, di Canio withdrew him just seventeen minutes later, before leaving him out of the 24 man squad for the following game at Forest Green Rovers. Though he was named on the bench for the second league game of the season against Crawley, later the following week, it was announced that Cibocchi cancelled his contract at the County Ground to return to Italy for personal reasons. PLAYING RECORD:
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date of birth usual positions left back central defence youth career senior career website links |