Martin O’Neill’s dismissal at Sunderland on Saturday night
came as a bit of a surprise to many. Admittedly recent results had not gone
their way, but with only 7 games left to play in the Premier League, a
managerial change at this stage of the season is a very bold move. With that
being said, a replacement has been found quickly, but this replacement is
better known for his outlandish behaviour more than his ability to keep teams
from avoiding relegation.
Paolo Di Canio joins Sunderland just a month and a half
after walking out of League One side Swindon Town. The 44 year old Italian had
already been tipped to secure a move to a club in The Championship or The
Premier League after leaving the County Ground in February. Di Canio left
Swindon reportedly over behind the scenes decisions that included selling a
player behind his back. Di Canio made it clear at the time that he felt his
position had become untenable but held off handing in his resignation until the
night of February 18th when a potential board takeover did not materialise
during the day.
Di Canio departed Swindon with the club riding high in 5th
place in League One which was an impressive standing given that this was the
clubs first season back in the third tier of English league football after Di
Canio lead them to the League Two title the previous season. While the
promotion was without a doubt his biggest achievement at the club, his spell
there was also marred by various other incidents including an altercation with
one of his players on the pitch at the end of a game and a verbal attack on
officials in a post-match interview after being sent to the stand during a game.
Ever since returning to the English game in 2011, Di Canio has made news almost
every week for saying or doing something that drives the media crazy and gets
the fans talking about him. With that being said, he should have no problems
settling into Premier League managerial life.
This move generates interest for two main reasons,
Sunderland’s battle to stay in the Premier League and Di Canio’s occasionally volatile
personality and behaviour. As a player, Di Canio knows all about trying to keep
a team in the Premier League having been involved in relegation dogfights with
Sheffield Wednesday and West Ham United, he has managed to achieve survival
with both teams but with the latter he has also experienced what it is like to
lose the fight and that will almost certainly spur him on to make sure that he
doesn’t go through that experience again.
This new move has also made national news as as this also
sees another departure from The Stadium of Light as David Milliband, South Shields
MP and brother of the Labour Party leader Ed, resigned from his position as
non-executive vice-chairman of the club due to differing political views with
the new manager. Di Canio was quoted in 2005 claiming he was “fascist, not a
racist” and was caught on camera performing a Nazi salute towards fans whilst
playing for Lazio in the same year. While this really should not affect matters
on the pitch for Sunderland, it is leading to some people questioning the
Sunderland board’s decision to appoint him given the kind of controversy that
this kind of thing can create in this day and age.
The biggest question left is a simple one. Can Di Canio keep
Sunderland in the Premier League? While I don’t have any doubts that the man will
be able to rally his new players and get their mindset completely focussed on
the task at hand, it will take more than that to survive in one of the best
leagues in the world. Sunderland’s remaining 7 games are not ideal. Between now
and the end of the season they face several teams that are either trying to
claim a spot in the top 4 or are also fighting for Premier League survival. As
well as that, they’ve also got the Tyne-Wear Derby against Newcastle on April 14th
at St James Park which might well be the toughest game of the lot given the
pressure put on the players by the fans for a win. To make matters worse, their
Captain Lee Cattermole and their leading goal scorer Steven Fletcher have been
ruled out for the rest of the season with injury. If Di Canio were to pull off
a great escape, it would make him an instant hero at The Stadium of Light.
It is certainly not the most ideal way to end the season and
while I do reckon they may just have enough to still remain in with a chance of
staying up on the final day of the season, the tough run of fixtures plus the
new managers lack of managerial experience in a relegation battle and The
Premier League may just cost them in the end, I think the task at hand is too
much for Paolo Di Canio and Sunderland, they will give it their all but I’m
almost certain that unfortunately, it is a place in next seasons Championship that
awaits them.
Andrew.
P.S. Sorry for my inactivity, been a hectic month at work.
No comments:
Post a Comment