Paolo Di Canio named Sunderland manager

Best of luck to him, has proven to done a decent job with Swindon, wining the league 2 in his first season in charge and continuing that success in league one.

A name that doesn't stand out as being a big name for the job, but he has a huge chance at Sunderland, i for one hope he does well.

However it does seem at this moment in time, a backwards step from Martin O Neil.

BBC reports that ex-foreign secretary David Miliband has resigned from his role on the board of Sunderland FC because of new manager Paolo Di Canio's "past political statements".

This shud be amusing

This should be short and very sweet for the neutral. Get the popcorn!

Who's he gonna fall out with first? The smart money is on Lee Cattermole though Titus Bramble is always worthy of a good rocket..

Adam Johnson.

His attitude aint gonna fly

Not a bad call that G.

A racist (alleged), a r***ist (alleged), and a downright thug.

What a club.

Not a good appointment imo

As a Geordie I find the whole thing rather hilarious.

BBC Sports News reporter Dan Roan: "Stormy Di Canio press conference ends with manager angrily dismissing 'ridiculous & pathetic' controversy over his appointment & refusing to clarify whether he remains a fascist. I asked him several times to do so, but he referred to his statement yesterday."

Well that didn't take long!

I wonder if Ellis is regretting it already?

He has been in the job for a couple of days and already he is going nuts

This is all going to end in tears.

It will be fun whilst it lasts.

The Special Juan wrote:I wonder if Ellis is regretting it already?

I should imagine he'll regret it more when he realises he's appointed somebody who actually doesn't have the credentials for the job

Interesting marketing from Sunderland, though. Organise a big Nelson Mandela celebration, then hire a fascist the following week.

kingraf wrote:Interesting marketing from Sunderland, though. Organise a big Nelson Mandela celebration, then hire a fascist the following week.

Was actually the next day so even worse

Hes now said hes not a facist even though he grew up a Lazio ultra, most if not all of whom are facists, he has tattoos relating to Mussolini and facism and in the past has claimed hes a facist

In truth though why does it matter? If thats what he believes then so be it when was the last time a managers political beliefs were so important?

What I want to know is where was all this hubbub when Swindon appointed him? Nobody gave a rodent's backside then so what's changed now?

The Special Juan wrote:What I want to know is where was all this hubbub when Swindon appointed him? Nobody gave a rodent's backside then so what's changed now?

Actually a sponsor pulled out of Swindon when he was appointed

Nobody gave a crap, because the media didn't either

Olly wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:What I want to know is where was all this hubbub when Swindon appointed him? Nobody gave a rodent's backside then so what's changed now?

Actually a sponsor pulled out of Swindon when he was appointed

Nobody gave a crap, because the media didn't either

I didn't know that. I guess that just adds to the thought that any FL club could appoint *insert name of controversial person* any the media wouldn't care, as long as it wasn't a PL club. That's rather sad.

I have no problem with Fascism, I mean, I am not a fascist but I have friends with Afro-fascist tendencies. I just find the idea quite intriguing. Was this a ploy?

Not looking like a bad appointment right now eh?

He's had two games!

No conclusions can be drawn yet.

They played well in both games, players look to have confidence, the crowd is on the team's side again...while you can't say 'they're safe' after two games, you can say that they look likely to be safe if they keep up their good start under PDC. The difference in their cohesion is amazing, they looked dreadful under MON but under PDC they're organised, tight, and dangerous going forward.

Which is exactly what happened last year when they sacked Bruce and replaced him with O'Neill. It's simply a honeymoon period, and all the players want to impress the new manager so as to keep their place. I wouldn't look too much into it.

There's only 6 games left - I don't care about the club, or its fans, or next season - based on their bright start, and how dreadfully Stoke and Norwich are playing, I can see Sunderland comfortably safe.

honeymoon possibly, but its a period which could see them stay up, and thats all that matters atm for sunderland. i dont think many of you will be laughing if they stay up at the expense of say newcastle or norwich should it happen.

Azzy Mahmood wrote:There's only 6 games left - I don't care about the club, or its fans, or next season - based on their bright start, and how dreadfully Stoke and Norwich are playing, I can see Sunderland comfortably safe.

Actually our performances in the last couple of games have really improved, the only one of the last 4 we didn't really play great in was Wigan away.

We just seem unable to put teams away/not having the run and luck of officials at the moment.

Big game against Reading this weekend.

I still think it's gonna be Wigan/Sunderland to drop

WERE AFC BOURNEMOUTH, WERE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS!

marty2086 wrote:

kingraf wrote:Interesting marketing from Sunderland, though. Organise a big Nelson Mandela celebration, then hire a fascist the following week.

Was actually the next day so even worse

Hes now said hes not a facist even though he grew up a Lazio ultra, most if not all of whom are facists, he has tattoos relating to Mussolini and facism and in the past has claimed hes a facist

In truth though why does it matter? If thats what he believes then so be it when was the last time a managers political beliefs were so important?

It matters if you're part Jewish, which is what Milliband is....so it's understandable that he resigned from the Sunderland board.