If the current players could play with a fraction of the passion he had, we would have had this league wrapped up months ago.
It's a nice video by Di Canio but I'll never understand the esteem he's held in by some of our fans. If you compare his record to the managers either side of him (O'Neill and Poyet) he's staggeringly inept. Yet neither of those 2 get much credit at all in comparison.
Absolutely inspirational bloke. Not many people could pull that off tbh or even take the time to bother. So called 'lifetime Sunderland supporter' MON wouldn't give us a second thought. Haway the Lads, Haway Paolo!!! You'll never be forgotten.
O'Neill and Poyet both had many, many more games as Sunderland manager than di Canio and their win rates were only marginally better (approx 30% compared to approx 24%). When you consider that the majority of di Canio's games in charge were with a team low on morale and in a relegation fight, his record is arguably comparable to theirs. I was lucky enough to meet Paolo about a year ago. He came across as a proper gentleman and is very knowledgeable about football, in a way that some other former pros that I've met aren't. Under the right circumstances, I can imagine that he would be a hugely inspirational manager. He certainly had a big influence on Joe Cole's career. It's a pity that our players at that time didn't buy into his ethos.
I can’t comprehend the fans who preferred the s hite who played for us over a lad with the passion of Paulo who wanted rid of the useless bastards.
I like Di Canio and I appreciate his attitude to management but he hasn't managed another club since he left us. That speaks volumes because football is all about results and if you're good enough then a bit of background fascism can easily be swept under the carpet. Even clubs in Italy where it's commonplace aren't interested. Thanks for the memories but sorry he's not a good manager. If he was he'd be working.
People seem to want to give him credit for wanting to tackle the problem and ignore the fact that he went about it the wrong way. A good manager gets people to work with him by respect and teaching. Di Canio was not capable of that and tried to manage by fear and being a dictator. It's just not compatible with modern football or even modern life.
Or that beautiful match against the Mags 7 year ago when we pumped them 3-0 and Di Canio face slapped Pardew into submission
If his time here taught us fans anything, it is that there is more to being a manager than just understanding football. You have to 'Man Manage' as well. No doubt, with his reputation, this was easier in the lower leagues, but in The Prem you must have total respect from ALL of your players and as most of us will know well enough from our own experiences, respect has to be earned. He failed in this respect spectacularly, which was, in my opinion, a great pity because what he said about the football side of things was spot on.
He did go about some of it in the wrong way. The ketchup stuff and the not talking to the catering staff was wrong but is clearly rooted in the Italian tradition of il ritiro where players are closeted away from the rest of the world to build team unity. He was wrong to institute things like that here. Plenty of people that he played alongside credit him with having a positive influence on their careers and he achieved that through respect and teaching. The man lives and breathes football to an extent that many people even within the game don't and he sets very high standards for himself. If you can't buy into his methods and ethos, then I'm sure that he does come across as dictatorial. It appears that plenty of our players back then didn't buy into it. Maybe if he'd had more opportunity to bring in the players that he'd wanted, he might have been more successful.
I didn't like the fascism. He did identify the root of our problems, but didn't seem capable of rectifying it and signed some absolute whoppers. Also no point doing a statistical analysis of his time when it was so short. Win or loss % is irrelevant over that amount of time as one game either way would shift it to being better or worse than our other managers.
Oh aye, that's fair, not blaming him entirely, but he did play a role in the recruitment judging by de Fanti's comments. I thought the way he treated Colback was really bad. He said it was simple, he had wanted to stay and sign a new contract at the start of the season, but Di Canio was telling him he had to prove he was a PL player even though he was starting week in week out and had been for 2 seasons. Obviously when he got to January, the offers were huge, and his loyalty to us was pretty much gone because there was none in return, which unfortunately started with Di Canio. He's a lovely lad and it pains me to see the abuse he gets because a) he's a lovely, humble lad and b) he was treated in a way that would make most of us feel undervalued.
The way the club phrased things about Colback's move was a bit different. Also, di Canio left in September- Colback had plenty of time to get over being upset about di Canio's treatment of him. He was starting regularly but it was full back rather than in the midfield position that he wanted to play. Maybe that's what di Canio was getting at?
Basically it just confirms what I said earlier some fans preferred prima donna’s that couldn’t give a **** about the club and took the piss out the fans and previous managers on a weekly basis rather than a lad who wanted rid of the twats, but they thought he was to strict with the spoilt bastards.
