In spite of growing up in the AS Roma hotbed of Quarticciolo, Di Canio was a fierce Lazio fan as a teen, and sought allegiance with the clubs Ultras the feared Irriducibili. In his autobiography, he recalled tales of how he travelled around Europe and Italy with the firm and was teargassed and beaten by police and pelted by bricks thrown from rival fans. (Perhaps that goes some way to explaining why he is stark raving bonkers). In 2005, his ties with Irriducibili crossed the line after scoring for Lazio in the Rome derby. The Italian raced toward a section of the Lazio supporters and let loose a Fascist salute, adding to growing concerns he held extreme political beliefs. When Di Canio was appointed as the manager of Swindon Town in 2011, the trade union GMB terminated its sponsorship agreement with the club, worth around £4,000 per season, because of the Italian's fascist views. Today, Sunderland's vice-chairman David Milliband resigned in protest of Di Canio's appointment as manager "in the light of the new manager's past political statements" In May last year, Di Canio was investigated by the FA over claims he racially abused striker Jonathan Tehoue during his stint with Swindon.