Paolo Di Canio: "Alan Pardew sent me a letter already this week to wish me the best of luck for the future - apart from in the derby, of course!"
"My answer was very gentle, but the last line about the derby was very similar to his!
"Alan Pardew is a passionate man. I like him, we don't have to fight.
"We saw him celebrate with the fans when Newcastle scored a late winner in the last game against Fulham at the weekend.
"When I used to do this in League Two at Swindon, people said: 'he can't do this - he's mad'. But why can't I, or Alan Pardew, celebrate a goal? As long as you don't do anything against the other team, it's fine.
"I understood that it might be that the fans were split over me and that made me very sad.
"But when I heard them singing my name before the game at Stamford Bridge, and especially afterwards when they were singing it again, I cannot tell you how much that meant to me.
"In that moment, in the moment I heard them, it only increased my desire to do well for this club."