Thetownend.com

Paolo Di Canio appointed Sunderland head coach
     

Paolo Di Canio is appointed head coach of Sunderland, succeeding Martin O'Neill at the Stadium of Light.
     

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21990117
     

Whats this head coach shit :eek:

They must of looked at his impressive start to being swindon manager 7 games 3 wins 4 lossses.
Lots of talk of di canio suing us when tbh we should be looking for compensation from sunderland and/or pdc. 

The ego has landed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21991812

See the Milliband story is now the most popular on the BBC News site.

I want Sunderland to do well now.

Like him or not, we'll all be keeping an eye out for Sunderland from here on in.

 Can't argue with that, although some might deny it.

We were Paolo's experiment. He learns quickly, well for his sake I hope he does. There will be a lot of things done the same way, there undoubtably be things done differently.

Make no mistake, players talk. When in league 2 and indeed league 1, the antics if you like at SN1 were miles away from the premier league bubble. So I now remind myself of the scene in Independance day when the drunk pilot who was abducted by aliens is flying his plane on a Kamikazi death mission. "Hello boys, remember me? I'm back!"

If things work out well for him and Sunderland he'll be off to someone bigger pretty pronto. If things fall flat as a witches tit then who knows. There are plenty of journeymen managers in our football leagues, somehow with his rep PDC may not end being one of them, he's to volatile and will undoubtably upset many people with higher profiles than anyone who he upset at Swindon or in the lower "lowly" leagues which could undo all of his genius potential.

:clap: Copyright that quick!

I still don't get what he did here that was so amazing to give him PL management credentials.

- In the transfer market he was hit and miss at best, not much better than picking at random.
- Man management skills are non-existent.
- Results were good but only in line with expectations given playing budget.
- Still prone to the same outbursts he was as a player, hasn't matured at all.

Sure he's got passion and is good for a laugh, but other than that?

I feel sorry for Sunderland as I don't think they know what they're walking in to. They will come the end of the year when he quits, leaving them bottom of The Championship, citing a lack of support from the board who are solely responsible for the clubs downfall and not him for pissing away all the clubs money on shit players and being totally out of his depth.

First they take our place in the Premiership, now this !

Personally, I dont give a rat's arse where he's gone.

Nothing to do with us now.

More interested in the blossoming of KMac

Installing discipline to the squad and belief to everyone was the main thing. He took over when we were a shambles as a club, and got us into contention for league 1 promotion.

Its fair to say with the mistakes and bust ups it was a very expensive way to do things, unsustainable. But other than 3x Pox and the JPT final we pretty much had a perfect 18 months results wise.

Fluke waiting to get found out? Well, we are about to see. I liked whoever it was who described him as win at all costs regardless of who gets trampled. But such an approach requires buy in from board level and fans, something I have a few doubts over - though the fans will see the gravity of their situation and this may buy him time 'sorting out the mess and deadwood'.

So you think he's been brought in to get them promoted next season rather than keep them up this?

Sounds like a plan, I suppose

I think Robbie Williams might have something to say about that

I think Robbie Williams got there first by a few years.

EDIT: must read last page before posting reply.

Has the potential to end in tears, like Roy Keane's appointment.

I think he'll do well in the Championship though.

Not too sure if the American billionaire chairman really knows enough about football to be aware of what he has taken on.

Nice to have a Chairman with the money to splash around but did not help O'Neill too much but will suit PdC (and his agent) but is also one who can hire and fire at will (poor will!).

Obviously Sky will be loving this and expect to see Sunderland on the box at every opportunity now.

All I will say is good luck to Paolo, he did a good job for us.....at a cost.....hope he keeps them up.

I don't think he will ever have a chairman who gives him such free reign as Wray did and therefore I don't think he'll last too long before becoming too frustrated at his hands being tied.

Funnily enough I don't think I could agree with you less.

Good luck to him, hope he keeps them up.

I dunno, I think he knew how to play his game here and he may have a different one for a bigger team.

Everyone who thinks we've had an incredible 18 months under PDC has just bought in to his spin. Winning League Two means very little given the ridiculously large budget we had compared to the rest of the league. As regards League One, Wilson achieved more on a lower budget and in a harder league.

Again, he was a laugh and gave the club a much needed shot of adrenalin but other than that I just don't see what there is to get excited about.

5 live is hilarious today

They aren't happy

Any quotes of note?

His spin being winning football matches?

He was the best thing to happen to this club since Hoddle and its a crying shame he isn't still here leading us towards the L1 title and Championship football.

Money doesn't equal success on its own and there are plenty of examples of this, it's a bullshit point. Wilson achieved a play off defeat and a relegation, Di Canio didn't stay long enough to better that but I personally think he would have.

Yes, he spent too much money here but unless he was signing the cheques himself then the blame goes all the way up the ladder to the top in my opinion.

What I don't agree with is all of the media talk about Di Canio's success at Swindon being achieved within 'financial constraints'.

 :D

I take it they are referring to the couple of months of embargo he had to endure, whilst for a year or so previously he had been spending willy nilly with transfer fees, wages and releasing players from contracts only recently signed.

not really

lots of season ticket ripping up and one bloke thinks Sunderland will become the home of the EDL because of the appointment

It's that or he really did want to sign Messi.

I'm not sure he knows how to do that. Compromise seems to be missing from his Italian / English Dictionary. His management style seems to be distinctly "my way or the highway", which is not so bad when you take over a team of assembled mainly through free transfers and sub £100k transfer fees, but might be more difficult to sell at a Prem Club where players are earning millions and each cost about £5-6m to sign.

I'm guessing the board there will be a bit less keen to bin off half a dozen players just because they don't see eye to eye with PDC if they paid £30m for them.

Can't wait until the Newcastle v Sunderland game next weekend based on what Us v Pox was like. Let the mind games commence - Cisse is a black shirts, I mean cats fan ?

A small point - my footballing grandfather went from Sunderland to Hull to Swindon, maybe he has been reincarnated as PDC and is just going home.

The premier league just got interesting...... :pint:

Might watch MoTD again to see the expected fireworks!!

Love 'im or hate 'im, you can't deny that he's good value for entertainment purposes. I hope he does well, loved what he did for us (in football terms).

Never really had a second team. I've got one now.
Milliebung would of made a fine primeminister. Adopting the attitude "I'm not talking to you, you're not a nice person" Still our lose is charitys gain.

Er, what, you losing to us all the time?

Yes and the mind games - I'm sure the toon fans will be as repectful as your lot

i miss him saying the word "quality"

Hahaha. I did see quite a few EDL hoodies when I worked in County Durham.

So inept, crass, ignorant and semi-literate then?

I don't think DM's attitude is "you're not a nice person", it's more "you support a political movement that resulted in the massacre of half my family and drove my father into exile in Britain".

I can't think of a way that Milliband, as the son of Jewish parents who fled Nazi persecution, could have done anything else but resign.

But perhaps as a man who allgedly signed off on shipping suspected terrorists halfway round the world to be tortured for information, he is somewhat encased in a glass house here.

Can we not observe from afar without the inane to-and-fro?

One can only hope and pray

Nope.

We are destined to repeat the same arguments again and again and again.

Hey I can't and won't defend anything the bloke did in government, he's a disgrace to his family name as far as I'm concerned; I can just appreciate that, with his family history, he had no choice but to take the stand he has.

Well well well..

Should be interesting,  if he thought the media interest was bad here it will be 10x that up there, I think the whole fascist thing will not go away so quietly this time as it is mainstream media.

How will players on multi million wages who probably think they are as good as he was going to react to bring told they are shit and wrong,  very easy to inspire 4th division players who admire you less so ego's!

Don't know why people are having a go at Milliband he's a socialist politician cannot see how he could stay without looking a hypocrite,  gone quietly and with dignity?

Looking at some of the previous posts on here I assume a lot of our fans will be following him to PdC's Sunderland now which should lead to some peace.

As a five year resident of Newcastle I hope goes tits up in a comedy style but should be interesting to watch with an unaffected party.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/s480x480/558951_623202491026782_863436775_n.jpg

Leon Clarke.

 :)

Di Canio did him a favour looking at his form this season

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/21994889

Not sure I remember him being 'hurt' when similar comments were made by some when he came here.

"Misquoted"? In an autobiography?  :hmmm:

Couldnt make it up

Hurt by claims in his own autobiography.

Nice.

That Gabriele Marcotti better watch his back ......

This Di Canio hysteria in the media really has hit absurd heights.

No-one gave a damn about any of this in the national news when he was with us. The BBC even gave him his own column, and now they're hosting daily stories and phone in discussions debating whether his fascist background make him fit for employment.

Talk about hypocrisy.

Di Canio of course will be absolutely loving it.

It was fine so long as he was tucked away quietly in a little corner of Wiltshire, occasionally popping up with some silly quotes.

Not sure he'll like this sort of attention.

Don't take the piss, but I enjoy listening to Radio 4 in the car.

Turned on this morning in time for Thought For The Day - and the subject was  . . .

Paolo di Canio!!!

And if that wasn't bad enough the very next interview was between some twat from FARE (Football Against Racism in Europe) and Jeremy Way discussing, funnily enough, Paolo di Canio!!!

You have to bare in mind FARE, who seem to be another incarnation of the Society of Black Lawyers, is the organisation who said England fans were singing racist songs in Montenegro (am I allowed to use even part of a word that says Negro???).

Now, any football fan that knows that song knows it is not racist in any way, shape or form. It just so happened that the 2 players mentioned in the song were Rio and Anton Ferdinand. It would have been sung if it was Steven Gerrard or Wayne Rooney that had pissed off the fans.

What is this world coming to?

I'm amazed by the coverage PDC is getting in the news. Was on the front page of most of the tabloids today, Sky News were spending an incredible amount of time on it yesterday (up there with a royal wedding and a general election) and it's all over the radio and everywhere else.

I see The Sun weighed in with their front page headline:

'Give Him The Jackboot!'

Subtle, eh?

This.

It's an absolute joke, which started when Miliband put his resignation in, despite him announcing going to live in the US last week.

Milliband was part of the Government that took the UK into Iraq yet feels he has to resign over an Italian eccentric becoming manager of a football club.

He was supposedly on £42,000 a week as director at Sunderland

:Ride On Fatbury's Lovestick: For a non-exec director? Yeah, right.

Press over the weekend were saying £300,000 a year.

£42,000 was the amount reported in Sunday Times

Also in Mail he earned £125,000 for 15 days work as Director

Circa £42,000 per week would be right if it was £125,000 for 15 days. For a year would be over £2m

A true hero of the left then, and a natural ambassador for the working classes.

Good on him for standing up for his beliefs I say.
 
Basically a very principled, ethical individual who is deeply misunderstood.

http://www.talksport.co.uk/sports-news/football/premier-league/130402/exclusive-karl-robinson-paolo-di-canio-was-out-order-swindon-194845


 :no:

"I don’t get involved too much with opposition managers. I’ve got so much respect for managers."

Ummmm. What you going on about then old chap? Touch of the green eyed monsters?

Has that administration quote been removed already?

It's on the audio recording at the top of the article

Jeremy Wray was just on Radio 2 with Jeremy Vine sticking up for Paolo.

Is anyone else just sitting here laughing at it all?

Yep.

Lovely to see Man U gobshite fan I know banging on about how terrible it is, especially in the premier division.  Like the premier division is a sanctuary of virtue untainted by anything dodgy whatsoever.

I shall watch from afar not having to worry how it is affecting anything I truly care about.

yup, no racism in the PL. none at all.

Nothing.  Its all lovely up there.  Just sport from sports sake.  All the money that goes in to it is from good clean companies and the players are just in it for the game.  And they're all bastions of virtue those PL players.

Nope.

I'm sitting here watching it completely jealous and wondering where we'd be right now (...and beyond) if he was still our manager.

Youre not the only one.

Wrays constant whoring out and arsekissing on every conceivable media outlet is getting on my tits mind, its like fucking rent-a-quote

You should probably move on.

I heard that, it brought the memories of all of those arguments from 2 years ago flooding back.

Hes a facist, so he must be racist
Facism does not equal racism
But the Nazi salute....
It was a Roman salute, the sign of the Lazio Ultras
Who have links to Neo-Nazis
But that doesnt make him a Nazi
But he's admitted he's a facist....
and repeat indefinitely from line 1....

Whichever side of the argumnet you lie, it is quite funny !

Indeed, just a pity he flounced off in a huff isn't it.

oh god

worms

can of

opened

noooooooooooooo!

Well, we're worse off without him. So, yes.

 :-[ :girlgiggle:

[url width=500 height=254]http://i.imgur.com/jrSafHs.gif[/url]

It's all just a repeat of when he took over here. Just gone national now.

[url width=189 height=206]http://i.imgur.com/DC8eEEx.gif[/url]

 :-X

Jesus, where is that taken from?

Piranha 3D I think.

"I love Swindon Sunderland. OK, it's not a place where you can almost smell the history, like Rome or Florence. It's an industrial town. That may not seem 'cool' to some people, but it only makes me love Swindon Sunderland more. You know why? Because the people here are proper people; people who work hard, often for low wages".
And, Di Canio continues, "when Swindon Sunderland people tell you something, you can trust them, because they mean it".

Did any Sunderland fans moan about having a player who openly supports the IRA ?

Slightly different issue, given the whole of Celtic supported the IRA!

Oh that's okay then :)

Great shout that.

I'm so glad we're out of all this shit. Di Canio fucking off is by the best thing to happen for a long time. I know some will disagree, but obviously they are idiots and should be ignored.

In the long term, the loss of the Board, is going to be the thing that hurts most...PdC did a decent job in the circumstances, but they've now changed and we're looking at a different approach.

Surprised that Jonathan Tehoue has'nt been tracked down for his story on being racially abused by PDC,that would keep the frenzy going for a while longer

He wasn't racially abused.

He called him a 'lazy, black twat' which is 100% accurate.

If he'd been Welsh/Scots/Irish/overweight/ginger etc. he would have replaced black with another accurate descriptive word.

This racial thing has got way out of hand

I thought he called him a lazy frog?! I consider calling him a "black twat" racist and not evidence of "this racial thing" getting "way out of hand."

Where did you hear he's been called that? Thisis? The rumours site?

And I doubt he'd call someone a lazy white twat.

you're political correctness gone mad, Barry.

[url width=384 height=216]http://i.imgur.com/gpMK6F8.gif[/url]

@SkySportsNews: Sunderland manager Paolo Di Canio releases statement:  "I am not a racist and I do not support the ideology of fascism"

It gets better haha

Shortest book ever written = Famous Italian War Heroes.

When the going gets tough the tough get going. Well it happened to us and it happened in WWII....

I'm not sure if that makes me a fascist or a rascist or a factualist......  :)

The ridiculous thing is that the denial is all that the Anti Facist Movement man who was on the radio yesterday required for it to be alright and for him to accept Paolo in the Job. Now the Dean of Durham seems to be of the same opinion.

Paolo denying it in public doesn't change anything really, does it. Does anyone think any of his actions at Swindon have  indicated that he carries out his stated idiology when doing the job.?

It smacks of a load of offical people trying to gain extra brownie points in their own arena
 

I have no respect for him now, he's sold out to the fascist movement and let down a lot of potentially rascist people.

Doesn't that completely contradict his autobiography?

Italian tanks. They have one gear for forward and four for reverse

Nobody ever thinks about little old Swindon... have a cursory glance at the tweets coming in to BBC Sport about Di Canio's politics never being mentioned during his time here: https://twitter.com/search/realtime?q=%23bbcsportsday&src=tyah

If only they'd been on the TEF in May 2011... I was there man... I was there.

So he's now a fascist and a sell out.

Why is everyone interested in PDC?

He is dead to Swindon Town.

hasn't anybody from Sunderland contacted you for translating duties...those Mackems are going to have no chance.

.......and a quitter.

Not to me he aint...for me in the top three Swindon managers.

Your doctor could be fascist.....your milkman could be....your fireman could be....your headmaster could be.

It is there jobs and how they do it that should matter.....the same should count for footy managers in my opinion.

Who gives a single fuck in what ideology in life the football manager of your club supports.

I hope he does a good as job there.....the Sunderland fans wont give a shit as long as he gets the passion we had down here....i am starting to miss it already.

I know what you mean, Leefer. We've been spoilt the last 2 seasons with some great performances, commitment, and some brilliant memories. He left the team in a better position than he found it, and for that I am thankful.
It's a shame it ended the way it did.

We all feel the same Leefer its as though the flame has gone out. But what has pissed me and a lot of other people off is he preached loyalty, loving the club and spoke about being one of us but despite this he dropped us without a thought. Think he could have gone with every ones blessing if he had seen the season out. Dropped in my estimation because of that.

Those tattoo's are pretty tough to explain though aren't they? Oddly I'd have more respect for him if he just said what he believed.

It was fun while it lasted and last season was one of the best I've experienced.  But the bloke was never going to be here for long. He's gone, just like they all go. KMac's the manager and people need to stop harking back and comparing. There's only one bug eyed, maniacal,  egotistical Italian in management and he works for Sunderland now.

So he was better than two of Danny Williams, Lou Macari, Ossie Ardilles & Glenn Hoddle.

Interesting read :

http://www.readytogo.net/smb/showthread.php?t=771502

Bloody hell wins the 4th division and he's one of our top three managers. ..

In this case is this not evidence that we are actually a little bit tinpot. ..

Good point, well made.

No you misunderstand...he loved Swindon and was "completely dedicated to [us]" thus he promised to get a tattoo but he didn't. Therefore conversely if he gets a tattoo done quite clearly it means he doesn't support and is not dedicated to the cause in question. See, it all makes logical sense...

I think you missed my point. He just issued a statement saying that he "held no fascist views", which makes the tattoo of the latinate form of "Duce", "Dux" that runs down his right bicep, and the fasces (the bundle of sticks and axe symbol of Italian fascism that he has across the small of his back pretty hard to explain.

I guess if he's renouncing all that he'll have them removed or covered over, but the Dux one at least was still visible during his time at Swindon.

My post was tongue in cheek...

Good post whoever made it. Must say bitter as I am I still pretty much agree with all of it. Except the God part.

In terms of the fans missing Di Canio, his fucked up personality and connection with the fans seemed to make both the good times much better and the bad times much worse. I don't really know how to describe it other than that. For that reason, given the last couple of months we've had off the pitch, I'm glad he resigned when he did as they would have been even more hellish to live through than they were.

Do feel though like there's a gap in my life after that atrocious performance at Doncaster that the sort of post-match rant only he could have delivered used to be able to fill. At least you knew under him however miserable you were feeling after a shitty performance like that the players would be feeling it 3 times as hard on the training pitch next morning.

Will be interesting to see if we get the kind of response next game we were used to under the old regime (not that I will hold that against K-Mac or anything, I'm still in the camp he can't fairly be judged as a manager until next season).

Edit: 4-4-2 would get him in my good books early though.

He is dead to me.

He walked out on us.

I don't want to hear about his passion igniting another club. I don't support any other club. I support Swindon Town.

PDC is dead to me.

P.S. He also achieved nothing in comparison to some of the great managers that we have had.

Your opinion.

Hoddle walked out....Williams walked out.....Ardilles walked out....Macari walked.

All dead to you are they?

They didn't have hissy fits in public though before leaving. Went to bigger jobs

There is no real loyalty in football, fans aside. All managers are the same, some market themselves better than others.

Once you realise there is no point in believing them, you can just enjoy the ride.

THEY FUCKING WALKED OUT..........END OFF.

And i dont blame them....like i dont blame Paolo.....he was shat on and when he gave the new owners time to sort things........they didn't want to know.

Nothing hissy about that....most if not all managers would have done the same in his position.

For what it is worth i am not defending him anymore....i have said my bit and to be honest its getting boring spouting the same old shit.

I like him....you dont.......call it democracy ;D

I like him.

 
You did :D

There's even a few Di Canio Avatars appearing !

I spent way too much time on here defending an individuals right to political views and that Italian fascism doesn't equate to Nazism etc blah blah.

Now he says he's no fascist. What a cunt, how dare he not be a fascist!

It wouldn't have been so important had he kept it out of the public domain (as we wouldn't have known).  But by saying he liked Mussolini in his autobiography, by giving the straight arm salute to the Lazio fans, he brought this into the pubic domain, and as such it does matter.  If I found out my doctor was a fascist, I'd find another doctor.

What if you needed a doctor and that doctor was the only one around?

I didn't, and still don't give a fuck if he is a fascist

What I did, and still do give a fuck about is that he is an absolute cunt

The only one I would liken PDC's departure to is Hoddle.

1. Williams was before my time.
2. Macari had earned his opportunity imho. I was disappointed he left but understood and wished him well.
3. I don't remember Ardiles going, so couldn't have thought it that big a deal at the time.
4. I was really pissed off that Hoddle left. I thought it was a case of rats deserting the sinking ship. (I was pissed off with Calderwood too). I felt he should have showed loyalty and stayed with us for our Premiership year. We must be one of the only teams in history that rocked up in the top flight with a weaker team than the year before!

If PDC was the loyal and honourable man that he likes to try to portray, then he wouldn't have kicked up a fuss during a time we were vulnerable and would have seen the season out. That would have given the club breathing space to plan for the future. If that had happened, I wouldn't have been totally happy, but PDC wouldn't be dead to me.

Well he wouldn't be.  However, there are always choices, and I guess you could set up a series of scenarios to make my choices difficult (or almost impossible), should you wish.

Brilliant post.

Exactly - they got better offers, accepted them and fucked off. I'm sure I was bitter at the time but it's passed.

I can't see me forgiving PDC for the way he did it, the way he handled it and the timing.

He's dead to me as well.

That's true

I just don't see PDC as a fascist in a political sense (he hasn't voted for 14 years I believe and never for the far right) and he clearly has no sympathies with the extremes of Mussolini, let alone Hitler.  

He's just a bit authoritarian.

I'm guessing the staff in his surgery would be impressively motivated...and Curly would be there with the tea while you waited.

 :)

Although it has been debated to death, I will just chip in to say I completely agree with this.  I would also add; what is more dangerous, somebody who happens to support fascism but has seemingly never done anything untoward, never said publicly anything particularly offensive (I expect I will be corrected on this), and never had any designs on becoming a political leader, or somebody that publicly states a person of "x" political belief should not be allowed to earn a crust?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BGv6dafCYAAoeyc.jpg

Haha, spot on (and I liked the guy)!

Lenin is a historical political figure, responsible for 100's of thousand, probably millions of politically "justified" deaths
He was a revolutionary in favor of workers' rights, but once in power he outlawed all trade unions.

Mussolini is a historical political figure, also responsible for many politically "justified" deaths, probably less than Lenin, but nonetheless, similarly brutal.

(both pretty despicable men in my opinion)

The Durham Miners association have a banner celebrating Lenin, and have a leader who apparently describes himself as Leninist, and refused on the radio a few days ago, to condemn mass murders committed by the Russian Communists

Paolo Di Canio has a fascination with Mussolini, but as far as I know, does not preach his ideology.

The guys with the banner are condemning the guy with the private opinion

Indeed, the more I think about this I actually don't think he has facist ideals and instead is more of a man who is desparate to be the 'man of his people' and the centre of the story.

Arm salutes - possibly just him wanting to be the hero of the ultra's who do thus, in no way does that make it acceptable but I suspect he never thought about it, or if he did decided it was worth it to get the adoration he desparately craves.

Book quotes - He may be fascinated by Mussolini as such people are normally complex and thus interesting charcaters who many normal sane people find fascinating (how many books have been written about the psychology of Hitler by people who would probably accept being 'fascinated' by him, doesn't make them Nazi's). Equalluy though that and the whole fascist quote thing was controversial, got peiople talking about PdC and made him the centre of the story again.

Italy is very different culturally to the UK and I suspect that when these mid 2000's activities/quotes occured he never thought he would be subject to the scrutiny of the media outside Italy, instead they perpetuated the Di Canio myth, its just coming back to bite him big style now being grabbed by both sides of the argument (who can be as bad as one another at times).

It's actually quite fascinating to watch this, as much for response of the british public/media as for PdC's actions.

Well that is also appalling.  It is easy enough to be a Marxist, without being a Marxist-Leninist.

I also noticed at Doncaster they used Lenin's image on what seemed to be a season ticket promotion - a pretty tasteless act, imho.

Was he a big Doncaster fan then?

Haha Comrade Ryan's August Revolution.

Classy that.

I actually find managers dumping us for another club far more of a grating betrayal than someone departing on however fucked up a matter of principle to enter unemployment.

There aren't many ways to leave a club that don't result in a fan backlash. There's either dumping your current team for a bigger club which is an acknowledgement that you think other teams are better or there's being fired as a result of poor results/ relegation which even though there is no malicious intent still leaves everyone hating you (e.g. Wilson).

Everyone acknowledged having Di Canio in charge was like going on a roller-coaster, and someone used a good analogy on here after he left: roller-coasters always end up at the bottom. The highs of the past may have been higher in terms of footballing achievement, but I don't remember a more complete sense of positivity throughout the club than when we were coasting to the League 2 title with Andrew Black the seemingly rich and stable benefactor, Jeremy Wray the open, eloquent chairman acting as a go between with the fans, and Di Canio the fucked up national media attention grabbing opposition fan baiting man orchestrating it all, working the players doubly hard for their money, furiously jumping on the touchline demanding more from them when we were 3-0 up and raising his scarf above his head at the end in celebration with the fans after another total victory. 

What's tarnished all those memories is not the way he left, however much it annoyed me at the time, but the subsequent revelation he was/ is considering suing the club after abandoning us off his own back. However fondly I look back on the good times, that has pretty much eroded my good will and makes it very difficult for me to wish him well for the future. Would have been a lot happier if he'd struggled to find employment a while longer so he could come to realise the mistakes he made with us. As it is he will go on thinking the worst aspects of his management style are acceptable.

This is why he isn't dead to me. I wish the bloke well.

Well. now he's managing cunting fucking Sunderland he can fuck right off.  Sunderland, who delighted at taking our place despite being given a footballing lesson and rubbed our noses in that delight.

I do love the fact that football is mostly irrational.  Why else would anyone in the world hold on to a 33 year hatred of a towns football team hundreds of miles apart from them.

23

Fuck me, I lost a decade.  Feels longer and it was only 5 years later that my hatred of Bolton surfaced properly.
Sunderland for fucks sake.  Let the arse hole fall out of the club and PDC's career I say.

And we dicked them proper in 85, they'll always be fuckin tinpot

"Chelsea v Sunderland (1500 BST)
Paolo Di Canio emerges from the tunnel. The Italian is wearing a red tie and a jumper Ian Poulter would be proud of. He takes to his seat in the dugout but spots John Terry and trots over to the Chelsea bench to give the Chelsea captain a hug."

Clearly a racist.

1-0 Sunderland.

Already the chants of "PAOLO DI CANIO" are ringing out. A week is a long tme in football

i've got a sunderland and wigan double at 34/1 so good start :)

1-1

I hope you put 'Paolo Di Canio's' Sunderland on the betting slip.

2-1 chelsea

The honeymoon could be over!

Shortest honeymoon since Britney Spears & Jason Alexander :D

I would have thought that given Chelsea's history, PdC would have found his spiritual political home at Stamford Bridge

:)

Nope...that will always be the County Ground.

How is the County Ground his spiritual political home?

I think it's pretty obvious that if anywhere it would be Stadio Olimpico.

  :soapy tit wank:

OK. :swordfight:

Sonic it amuses me the way you jump on anything positive said about the great man.

 :funny:

I don't see how the County Ground can be his spiritual political home. The key term here being political.

Not trying to have a pop at Di Canio, you or anyone else - just think it's pretty certain he'd choose his boyhood club, whose Ultras he worshipped during his time as a player, would be more representative of both his spiritual and political home.

I'm hardly the only one on here to disagree with Di Canio and his actions!

wait

am I being whooshed?

Didn't you know mate that the CG is a hotbed of Fascism

yeah... I've been whooshed haven't I?

[url width=350 height=263]http://i.imgur.com/boaPB0M.gif[/url]

If you have then so have I mate

What I want to know is, when Sunderland get relegated will Piccareta hold an impromptu press conference and state....

"This is all down to Paolo. No one else. What has happened here is all thanks to Paolo."

I wonder what sort of reception he'll get at the County Ground next season.

Anything that makes you smile...or grimace... is fine by me Fred ;)

Interesting little piece in the People today saying that KMac is working without a contract and that there could be regime change at the end of the season.

KMac is on a 2 & 1/2 year contract I believe so that bit of their story is unsurprisingly wrong.

Damn right!

Elsewhere, Milan Misun's contract must be running out soon...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/s/swindon_town/9380261.stm

I wonder if he'll accuse Papa Cisse of being a Sunderland fan in the build up to next weeks NE derby.

Cannot see this posted anywhere else...Ferry being interviewed :

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2305127/Dont-fall-Paolo-Di-Canio-youll-end-Bomb-Squad-theres-way-there.html

That's actually quite an interesting article thanks, but its in the mail. I'm conflicted.

Ferry and De Vita doing their very best to make sure they never work with PDC again :)

Just read the article without reading which paper - when I saw at the end it was the Mail, I didn't know what to think.
If some of that is true, then maybe it's a good thing he's gone.

De Vita has always got on with Paolo whenever I've spoken to him, a few others (you might guess who) not so much.

Funnily enough, in a question asked at the Sponsors Evening, the players were asked what bit of advice would you give the Sunderland players...and they didn't want to say a thing. Maybe they did the interview with the players around then, and they just didn't want to say anything to compromise it.

I think in that article that it's the first time in the national press, that they've picked up on the 'fees' Phil Spencer probably picked up.

probably a load of bollocks, the only actual quotes from by Ferry are:

‘He is extremely demanding,’
‘If you’re not doing what he wants you to do then you won’t be around for much longer. At Swindon he didn’t have any problems going a bit crazy. It was his way of getting the best out of us.’
‘If you spoke up with Di Canio, you were pretty much out. He wouldn’t stand for it,
‘a tragedy … he’d go mental. It would be like the worst thing that ever happened. The one thing I’d say to Sunderland’s players is, “Get ready to work hard”.
‘I’ve known Cads since he was young and he was respected around here, but if you fell short of Di Canio’s standards, you were out.’

A couple of bits from De Vita:

‘He’s different from other managers who might have a go at you after a game and then calm down the day after. He would come back next day and be even angrier.’
‘Wes and Leon and a few of the boys who came in from abroad had disagreements with Di Canio after a couple of months and then they were out.’


All the rest is from "sources" which as we all know is Daily Mailish for "made up by the journo".

one thing that is interesting is this comment from Di Canio's lawyer: "Goldberg says the case can still be settled ‘amicably’".

That's why he never played? I actually liked him in the brief glimpses I saw of him.

I know its The Mail sources, but that does actually sound feasible knowing Di Canio.

well he made 4 appearances after Clarke left so that's clearly inaccurate

Shows the side of di canio many fans did their best to ignore as winning was everything.

it's nothing we didn't already know though, is it? The DM have filled in some gaps with a bit of creative writing to create further outrage and attributed it to anonymous sources.

Anyway, I'll let DV come along and remind us all that nothing matters other than winning.

True but the article mostly covers what we already knew though. [edit] As you say.

PDC and his ability to get rid of players.

seems an accurate article to me

We won the league, it was worth it.

It makes sense and is entirely likely but given the utter shit that the Mail have printed about us in the very recent past, I remain sceptical.

I would think the Mail piece is pretty accurate.

He was a bastard to work for/under, but I genuinely thought it was common knowledge.

Nothing new.

So from those quotes we can deduce that the manager worked his players hard, demanded perfection and wasn't afraid to get rid of those not pulling their weight.

I'm glad we don't have a manager like that anymore.

:nod:

:fishing:

It's a Conspiracy!!

Sunday People gets story wrong ?

Having been in the Sunderland end at Chelsea today, they were very, very excited to have him and sung his name throughout. Sunderland were the better side for 45 minutes and deserved the 1-0 half time lead. 2 freak goals from Chelsea allowed them to win it and their quality showed in the end. Di Canio's Sunderland played the neat football we became accustomed to and I overheard some supporters say 'I've never seen us play like this for fuckin' ages'. Di Canio was quite mellow and no plastic panels were put through! Overall, the majority of Sunderland fans seem pleased to have him and I think he'll do well for them. I'm sure a few fans looked at me funny when I didn't really/half heartedly sang 'Paolo Di Canio' with my arms folded...I'm sure they'd have understood if I told them why!

What I've heard from geordies/mackems I know who watched the game backs up your point, the standard of football is better than for ages. It's not a slight on their old manager, just an observation. Real test will be the derby next week. Di Canio doesn't do derbies well, as we've found out...

I think he'll keep their head above water. If he can get Adam Johnson playing to the best of his abilities (like he did with Ritchie), they will be safe.

That jumper was fucking horrid though, not a patch on his green coat/beanie.

Think he wore that jumper to try and divert the post match talk away from Mussolini

Thatcher should keep the press off his back for a bit.

The Daily Mail had a picture of him signaling his players to go forward, in an unfortunately straight armed fashion.

I bet they scoured every photo before they settled on that one