Paolo Di Canio becomes the first manager of the season to get the sacking orders after Sunderland FC officially confirmed that the Italian’s services are no longer required.
The pressure was already mounting on his shoulders. Sunderland have made a wretched start to the season, picking up only one point from their 5 games so far, but the decision of sacking him was made following an ill-tempered training ground meeting on Sunday morning with his players.
“Sunderland AFC confirms that it has parted company with head coach Paolo Di Canio this evening,” read a club statement.
“Kevin Ball will take charge of the squad ahead of Tuesday night’s Capital One Cup game against Peterborough and an announcement will be made in due course regarding a permanent successor. The club would like to place on record its thanks to Paolo and his staff and wishes them well for the future.”
Di Canio is known for his controversial personality. The Italian in an attempt to retain a semblance of control over his squad felt that he had the carte-blanche to perform scathing public deconstructions of his own players. Di Canio called a meeting to analyze his side’s 3-0 defeat at the hands of West Brom, but when he tried to use his old methods of criticizing his players in snippy manners, the players in turn answered back forcefully.
According to the reports from The Guardian, Lee Cattermole, who has been stripped off captaincy, believed to have told him that the squad has lost complete faith in him and his controversial methods.
And when the details of the meeting were replayed to the owner, Ellis Short, inevitably Di Canio’s short tenure at Sunderland was over. He lasted less than six months and only 13 matches after succeeding Martin O’Neill.
It is understood that former Chelsea manager Roberto di Matteo and former Brighton manager Gus Poyet are being thought to be considered as Di Canio’s successor at the Stadium of Light.
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