sunderland appear to have signed a stick of dynamite. will the fans accept signor rottweiler or is there a troubled end to the season. i had foolishly assumed they had sacked their manager and appointed di canio to keep them up. do hope the directors know what they are doing up there.
Di Canio will be found out very quickly in the Premier League. He was able to achieve success at Swindon simply by buying up some of the best players at League 2 level while the club run up enormous debts. The style of play was simply pumping the ball into the box as often as possible and that will not work in the Premier league. Sunderland do not have the sort of financial clout that will permit them to buy any of the best players in the Premier League. It will be interesting to see what happens but I doubt if he will last six months there and I suspect Sunderland will soon regret sacking the admirable O'Neill who is a proper football manager.
Agree on oneill and do think that Di canio will fill the back pages of the newspapers for some time. At least BBC league 1 webpages will be free of him.
Mixed views all round it seems. The fact tat he refuses to confirm or deny fascist views doesn't look to clever.
Being in League 2 and then League 1 alongside Swindon and PDC we have had more exposure to the coverage he has had already and it can be annoying. He is a colourful character to say the least and I bet he did not want this furore when he signed the contract.
No doubt the club will be renamed as "Paulo di Canio's Sunderland" just as Swindon were, at least by the BBC. Tiresome individual and I'll be astonished if he succeeds in the Premier League. If he gets over the fascist furore (and he doesn't deserve to), it might help his reputation if Sunderland go down. He won't be blamed for that and he'll have a better chance of succeeding in a lower league. For all the fuss about di Canio, the more significant factor in Sunderland's fight to stay up is likely to be that, without Fletcher, it's hard to see where the necessary goals will come from. As for O'Neill, his time as an Old Trafford candidate has passed. Still a good manager though.
O'Neill seems tired and I wouldn't be surprised if he took a long rest from the game, as he has done previously, but maybe never to come back to management. Sunderland are missing Cattermole as much as Fletcher, if not more. With their tough remaining fixtures I cannot see them staying up
why can he not say-when i was young i did silly things, i have been proven as a manager at swindon, please allow the lads to do my talking on the pitch- end of story. good luck paulo, i suspect you will need it
People like Di Canio are good for the game because he instigates debate by his actions and words. Same could be said equally about Ferguson and Mourinho. On a different tack. Sad news that Dave Hibbert has had to retire through injury. A gentleman and good servant to the club.
Real shame about hibbert, big injury that halted a good future for him. Hope he finds success in something he enjoys beyond footy.
Hibbo is a good mate of a colleague....I will pass on the best wishes from the 'not606' crowd. Agreed, he was one of the good guys!
Echo those good wishes for Hibbert. Bumped into him at Battlefield services after a Carling Cup game (Fulham defeat I think) and he was a lovely bloke - went out of his way to sign an autograph for my kids and had a laugh with the woman serving when she said she thought Shrewsbury were no good (without seeing them I should add) and I was trying to persuade her this season was going to be different. S'pose she was right in the end .... Best of luck in the future Mr Hibbert, a gentleman. And that goal against Ipswich won't be forgotten.
Best wishes to Hibbert, not fussed about Di Canio's appointment - we know he's a dick anyway. Don't really like O'Neill though - he's spent a lot, plays appalling football and gets plaudits for his team's overly aggressive, often dirty approach. For all the outcry over Stoke's abhorrent style, Sunderland are just as bad. At least Sunderland don't hide behind Stoke's miserable excuse of having no money; a) Wigan and Swansea have shown it possible to play good stuff on a small budget and b) Stoke have spent hugely since their promotion to the Premiership - I think they have the 5th highest net spend in England over that time - ahead of the likes of Man United and Arsenal. Anyway, I've gone off topic!
I'm more tolerant of Stoke. It's enough to dislike Vale without having a down on both Potteries clubs!
Lenny do you watch the Last Leg programme on C4 by any chance? Your use of the dick phrase was oft used in it by the Aussie host and assume it is coming back into common parlance.
