Hot and steamy, just the way I like it Still cannae get ma heed roond all this Canny-o malarkey, I guess it's still sinking in tbh - it's caused a bigger ruckus than the appointments of Steve Bruce, Roy Keane and Martin O'Neil combined!
Aye sure has, have a read of this bollox The Durham Miners' Association have just issued a statement attacking the decision to appoint Paolo Di Canio as manager of Sunderland and demanding that a Miners Banner is removed from the club. I would encourage everyone to read the statement and show their support for the excellent DMA. For more information on the DMA, visit: http://www.durhamminers.org Here is their statement: "Dave Hopper the General Secretary of the Durham Miners' Association is writing to Sunderland Football Club to demand the return of the Wearmouth Miners' Banner, which is on permanent display in the Stadium of Light, in protest at the decision to appoint the self-confessed fascist, Paolo Di Canio, as their head coach. Mr Hopper, who worked for 27 years as a miner at Wearmouth Colliery, the site on which the Stadium of Light now stands, described Di Canio's appointment as an outrage and a betrayal of all those who fought and died fighting fascism. He said,"I like many thousands of miners have supported Sunderland from infancy and are passionate about football. But, there are principles which are much more important. "Our banner represents the Durham miners' long struggle for the rights of the working class, rights which were annihilated by fascism in Germany, Italy, Spain and Chile. "We have a sacred obligation to the millions who were wiped out by Hitler, Mussolini and Franco to oppose fascism wherever and in whatever context this evil creed raises its head particularly at a time when working people are again being forced to pay for capitalism's crisis as they were in Europe in the 1920s and 30s. "The appointment of Di Canio is a disgrace and a betrayal of all who fought and died in the fight against fascism. "Everyone must speak out an oppose this outrage and call on Ellis Short and the Sunderland Board to reverse their decision." Hope not hate is proud to support the DMA's efforts to secure the return of the Monkwearmouth Colliery NUM Lodge banner and its protest at the appointment of Di Canio.
If PDC got us to a Wembley final...wonder how many of these would crawl out of the woodwork looking for tickets. Yes this guy is controvertial and has had many mad moments in his life. But we are just football fans ffs. He is a manager of our football club. Not a dictator ruling our lives. Get over it. Also..didn't see these same people get on McCleans case about his refusal to wear the poppy on his shirt..which for me is a bigger kick in nads than anything PDC said 8 years ago.
Spot on, Flanders. If he was a communist, would they be going on about the USSR, China, the Khmer Rouge, North Korea etc.? He's made his position clear and we just want him to have a chance. Not too much to ask, surely...?
Give them their ****ing banner back before they spit their dummy out. As has been said - he has his views but he does not rule the country or our lives. What the **** has politics got to do with football??
thought about burning my scarf at first . after watching pdc interviews i am now right behind him. seems to me a lot of people are being i am holyer than though bollicks . wonder how many of these people from the durham mine fields were happerly singing raciest songs on the terraces in the past .for the record i am mixed race brought up in peterlee during the 70s and 80s went to my first game when i was ten .
my dear old dad was a durham miner and he would'nt have given a jot about pdc's past if can do the business on the field.
I am sitting firmly on the fence as I have no idea what Invest in Africa and Adidas are going to do about this. If one or both decide to pull out we could really be in the ****, if they stay then it should be OK. As for the guy himself, give him a chance, he cant help where he grew up or what went on around him, most in the NE vote labour as that is what our dads and grandads voted and there is only 2 other parties as well which doesnt help. Funny thing is i bet a lot of these are Catholics (like me) but without Mussolini and the fascists vatican city would not be an independant state and he gave them more cash than they knew what to do with set them up for life seemingly, and what he got in return, was the Roman Catholic Church saying Fascism is great. Crazy how time and other factors (Nazis primarily) can change viewpoints (Mussolini hated the Nazis and Hitler at first then for some reason he mellowed, probably when he seen Germany invading and conguering everywhere, rather be at his side than get invaded and conquered like the rest of Europe). But politics has no place in football, but they do say there is no such thing as bad publicity so if nothing else this has made people aware of Sunderland AFC rather than it being all Newcastle all the bloody time (even if it is for all the wrong reasons)
Bear in mind that most NUM activists were also closet Communists. Could this be influencing their desire to have the banner back ? Incidently ,my Father was a Durham miner and avid SAFC fan. If he was here now , he'd tell the lodge to stick the banner up their arse and to keep out of football.
Bet I'm not the only one, and believe me I was for this appointment anyway, who is even MORE behind the Italian stallion after all this horse ****. 'We've got Di Canio, you've got ****-allio'.
