Shaka blasts his facist friend

Paolo Di Canio has been blasted by his former West Ham team-mate Shaka Hislop for making Nazi salutes.

The Trinidad and Tobago keeper voiced his dismay that the man he considered a friend should be fined after twice making racist gestures.

Italian striker Di Canio, now with Lazio, was a close pal of Hislop’s during their three years together at Upton Park.

And the Hammers stopper admits he could hardly believe his eyes when he saw Di Canio make his stiff-armed salute.

Hislop said: “I’m very disappointed by it.

“Paolo never impressed me as that kind of person when he was here.

“He got on very well with my wife and kids, so to see him making the headlines for his actions disappoints me greatly.

“Firstly, as a footballer, because of what that gesture means and the wider effect it has — and also because Paolo was someone I considered a friend and really did like a lot.

“It certainly does shock me. I feel particularly disheartened by it.

“It’s one thing seeing someone you don’t know doing it and talking about it.

“But when it’s somebody you felt was a friend, it has a much longer-lasting effect.”