DI CANIO WALKS

Sunderland manager Paolo Di Canio became the first casualty of the season after losing his job a few days ago. He has managed to win just two matches during his six months after the club.

Strangely, there has been no great support for the man who has just lost his job. Former Blackburn and Newcastle United manager Sam Allardyce, though, has said that he feels Sunderland reacted too quickly to the current form of the club. He feels that Di Canio should have been given more time. Di Canio came into the club as the replacement for Martin O’Neill at the end of last season.

He managed to keep the club that was facing relegation by winning two crucial matches including the 3-0 win over archrivals Newcastle United. However, he has found it difficult to win over supporters in recent times due to the poor results. Even after five matches in the campaign, the club are still without a victory. Meanwhile, it has been reported that Di Canio fell out with several players in the squad despite bringing them only a few months ago. He also sold important players like Stephane Sessegnon to the likes of West Brom. Ironically, Sessegnon scored against Sunderland in the 3-0 defeat during the weekend.

“If it doesn’t go well they seem to be making a knee-jerk decision to change the manager. They’ve been pretty quick at pulling the trigger recently, in the last three managers. I find it very difficult to see where the logic lies in it, particularly when there has been a full clear-out [of backroom staff]. To go through that process in a particular season which has got under way is a huge task for whoever is going to be the next head coach,” said Allardyce, whose team have managed just one win so far.