Sunderland's Hero Or Fascist Zero?
Updated: 12:49pm UK, Monday 01 April 2013
By Matt Teale, Sports Presenter
So, Paolo Di Canio, not Martin O'Neill, is the man to steer Sunderland to safety, according to the club's owner Ellis Short.
The timing of O'Neill's departure has baffled many, with his experienced head discarded in place of a manager whose biggest achievement to date is guiding Swindon Town to the League Two title last season.
To be fair to Mr Short, the recent stats under O'Neill don't look good: eight games without a win, one point above the relegation zone and only seven games to turn things around. Things, clearly, weren't working and time is something managers just aren't given any more - the cost of relegation is too high.
But the controversy over Di Canio's appointment goes far beyond his relative inexperience as a manager.
The club's vice-chairman, David Miliband MP, resigned his post almost as soon as the news came out in protest at the new manager's "past political statements".
Di Canio has self-confessed fascist sympathies, having been fined and banned for a game in 2005 by the Italian football authorities after making raised-arm salutes while playing for Lazio.
There was more controversy after describing fascist Italian leader Benito Mussolini as "basically misunderstood" in his autobiography.
But what, if anything, will all that matter to fans?
Not a lot, if former Sunderland player Darren Williams is to be believed.
He told Sky News Sunrise that if Di Canio can save Sunderland, the fans will see him as a hero, regardless of any views he holds.
His leadership style has been described by his former chief-executive at Swindon as "management by hand grenade".
Sunderland will certainly need to find some fire power if their Premier League status is to be maintained.
For Mr Short, who's been marshalling recent events from a beach, the appointment of Di Canio could either turn out to be a stroke of genius or one of the worst examples of preemptive panic button pressing in recent memory.
If it's the former, Di Canio's fascist sympathies, which, presumably, were present while he was at Swindon, may well be forgotten again. If it's the latter, Mr Short might consider staying on holiday in Hawaii.
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