The Beginnings of Paolo Di Canio

When Martin O'Neill was sacked by the board three weeks ago from Sunderland AFC, the majority of fans and all media were outraged. After a 0-1 defeat against the league leaders, Manchester United, no one would admit to themselves or others that it was justified despite the fact we hadn't won a game since 19th January against Wigan away.

The outrage of the sacking was added to, when Sunderland announced that Paolo Di Canio, previously the manager for League Two Swindon, would be the man appointed as head coach.

The media immediately swooped down on Di Canio, broadcasting his "political views" and generally trying to make a mockery of Ellis Shorts decision to appoint him, which led to many fans stating that they wouldn't go to another game under a facist, and the Miners Association demanding that a sign held in the ground be returned.

Di Canio fought back, stating that his political views had nothing to do with football, and that he was to concentrate on the job in hand i.e. to try and prevent us from the drop into the championship, and to play some football.

Five days later, fans travelled to Chelsea for Di Canio's first game in charge, and gave him a respectful welcome, despite his purple jumper.His passion was immediately evident, but, unfortunatey, you can't just win on passion, you need goals.

The final result was 2-1 to chelsea, but by God did the players work hard, and the 2 goals preventing us from any points were unfortunate. The fans who travelled were more optimistic, and had a glint of hope that the impossibility of staying in the premier league, could indeed happen under Paolo Di Canio. All Sunderland needed to do was pick up points.

Easier said than done. Cue the next game, none other than the Tyne/Wear derby... a game at St James' Park that Sunderland hadn't won since the year 2000. What hope did Di Canio have of getting the fans and media onside with such a game??

Well, it turned out, he had a lot of hope (and of course passion)!

After a great performance, some great saves from Mignolet, and 3 show stopping goals by Sessegnon, Johnson and Vaughan, the mighty Sunderland defeated the Magpies by 3 goals to nil. Confidence was booming, most fans turned themselves toward supporting Di Canio, and by beating Newcastle, he became an instant legend.

Source: Google Images

Although the derby was a sweet feeling, we still needed results from games to come in order to avoid the drop, and the next game to come was against Everton, our "bogey" team. The last time Sunderland had won against this team, which has progressively improved over the years, was 2001. It was a write-off game. A game where all we wanted to see was a game of football and an attitude of not laying down and taking the defeat.

Source: Google Images

Today, a full house at Sunderland attended to officially welcome Di Canio to the club, not expecting anything but the managers passion. There was plenty of passion, from both the manager and the players, and, despite some sticky situations, we managed to hold on to a fantastic 1-0 win, which gives us a total of 6 "extra points" that we didn't expect.

Before, during and after the game, the atmosphere was electric. Once the final whistle blew, thousands of people stayed in the stadium to sing the new managers name and show their appreciation. I guess this means that he is now accepted by most, if not all fans.

Obviously, I know that the honeymoon period will end. Sunderland will lose a game, and the fans will experience a lot of frustration... it's what Sunderland does. However, the last 3 games, 2 of which are so notorious of awful records, has given me a lot of confidence that passion and belief will play a big part in the future, and hopefully we will progress as a club.

Good Luck Paolo Di Canio

Today: Sunderland vs Everton, taken by me in the North West Corner