Sunderland are equally to blame for Paolo di Canio's sacking

Paolo Di Canio gestures at the end of the Barclays Premier League match between West Bromwich Albion and Sunderland at The Hawthorns on September 21, 2013 in West Bromwich, England. The Italian became the first managerial casualty of the new season. (Getty Images)

The fall of Paolo di Canio was as predictable as it was ignominious. You could see it coming from afar, and possibly, so did the Italian: the same way a groggy, punch-drunk boxer sees a cocked fist heading his way in slow motion, tauntingly unpreventable, just before it delivers the knockout blow with irresistible finality.

For all the havoc he had wrought, though, di Canio perhaps did not see the ‘haymaker’ approaching. When Sunderland owner Ellis Short ended the short and not-so-sweet era of the Italian, he did so abruptly. No one genuinely believed he would be sacked so soon.

Of course a return of one draw and four defeats from his first five games (five relatively easier games, mind you, given that Liverpool and Manchester United are their next two opponents) was never going to cut it at this level.

But even in the Premier League, managers are usually given at least two or three months to prove their worth. Somewhere, there was an innate belief that di Canio would fight it out, that the changes he had effected would perhaps bring about some improvement.

Part of the reason was that the man exuded confidence – a bit more, we might note, than anyone else – about his own abilities.

“One day we will discover that I’m either a fantastic, good or normal manager,” declared the former Juventus, Milan and Lazio player recently. He had himself made that discovery several months earlier. “A very good manager,” he declared in April.

His belief was no doubt fostered by success at his last club Swindon Town, which di Canio led into League One. But that also raises several questions about Short’s handling of the whole affair: why the sudden loss of faith, when di Canio was already well known for being abrasive? To put it another way, why hire someone only to sack them six months later for being the person they are?

There were several tell-tale signs at Swindon about his explosive personality and the impact it would have on his players. The Robins’ CEO, Nick Watkins, sardonically described the Italian’s style as ‘management by hand grenade’.

“He spoke very much from the heart and along the way created a bit of collateral damage that I had to repair. Often I refer to it as management by hand grenade. Paolo would chuck a hand grenade and I would do the repair work at the end, like the Red Cross.”

‘Management’ is the key word here. At Sunderland, di Canio declared that he would take on the title of head coach rather than manager, because that better reflected his job profile. For once, he was aware of his own limitations. Managing people is definitely not his forte as he lacks the tact and the restraint to handle delicate egos.

To a large extent, it looked as if he was playing to the gallery; pandering to fan sentiment on overpaid, underachieving players and shaming them into on-field effort through media criticism. But when he began calling them ‘empty in the brain’ and gave the popular John O’Shea a public dressing down, he had effectively wiped out all his support: management, fans and – most importantly – players.

Paolo di Canio remonstrates with the Sunderland fans after the match against West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns on September 21, 2013. West Brom won 3-0. (Getty Images)

When he took over in March, Sunderland were in danger of relegation; di Canio bolstered his credibility by saving them from the drop, engineering a 3-0 defeat of local rivals Newcastle United along the way.

Di Canio asked for, and was granted, a large summer budget and the freedom to use it as he deemed fit. He signed 14 new players, sold Stephane Sessegnon and stripped Lee Cattermole of the captaincy.

Presumably all these decisions were cleared with Sunderland’s management – specifically director of football Roberto di Fanti, another Italian. Why then is di Canio alone being held responsible for poor performances?

To observers on Wearside, this is history repeating itself. Sunderland’s love affair with volatile player-turned-managers goes back seven years, when they hired the newly-retired Roy Keane as manager.

The former Manchester United captain took them from 23^rd in the Championship all the way to the Premier League and ensured that the club survived the crucial first season at the top. However, Keane was sacked amidst much acrimony during the 2008-09 season.

Like Keane, di Canio had a reputation as a troublemaker in his time; where Keane was regarded as malicious and spiteful, di Canio was perhaps eccentric. Likewise, both have had a bitter falling-out with their players, accusing them of not working hard enough.

Keane once infamously left two players behind when they were five minutes late for the team coach; Sunderland lost that match, but Keane was unflappable in his post-match comments. And he frequently and publicly accused his players of not possessing a winning mentality.

To conclude the comparison, both men wanted to rebuild Sunderland in their own image, and both juggernauts have been brought to a high-friction halt.

After the 3-0 away defeat to West Bromwich Albion at the Hawthorns on Saturday, di Canio walked over to the away stands to ‘converse’ with the angry Sunderland travelling brigade. He raised his chin and pointed at it with his forefinger. To the irate fans it looked provocative rather than motivational.

The fist was swung a day later. Sadly for di Canio, it was a knockout blow.