Paolo Di Canio confirmed as new Sunderland manager
• Former Swindon manager succeeds O'Neill
• Miliband resigns in protest at Italian's poilitics
Louise Taylor
The Guardian
Sunday 31 March 2013
Paolo Di Canio has been revealed as Sunderland's left-field, kill-or-cure choice to stave off the threat of relegation from the Premier League.
The volatile former Lazio, Juventus, Celtic, Sheffield Wednesday and West Ham striker, and most recently the Swindon Town manager, was appointed head coach on a two-and-a-half-year deal after breakneck talks in the north-east.
The move immediately proved controversial, David Miliband, the former Labour MP, stepping down as a non executive director in protest at Di Canio's political past in which he has admitted to being a fascist but not a racist. Miliband said: "I wish Sunderland AFC all success in the future. It is a great institution that does a huge amount for the north-east and I wish the team very well over the next vital seven games. However, in the light of the new manager's past political statements, I think it right to step down."
Not sure Ms Taylor's use of "left-field" is appropriate, but this is the Guardian, so it could be irony or just a bloody stupid mistake.
I can see it now: the cultural life of city will be invigorated with the unemployed, Labour (okay, AND BNP)-voting masses, whose grandparents fought for this country in World War II, sitting in their street-corner cafes, discussing the merits of Futurism, Pound and Wodehouse over coffee...
Surely an apt moment to sever the Metro link?
Surely an apt moment to sever the Metro link?
On a brighter note, here's the man with a conscience, David Miliband, currently getting all kinds of shit in the press for his decision to leave Parliament and earn a lot of money as head of the International Rescue Committee in New York City, pictured with the FNB's poet, journalist, critic, resident Sunderland supporter AND, when he can find the time, sex symbol, Terry Kelly.
Di Canio will take them into Europe. Via Poland.
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