Sunderland have
officially named Paolo Di Canio as their new manager following the recent dismissal of Martin O'Neill. The former Swindon Town boss took the Robins into League One last year, gaining promotion from League Two in only his first year in management. He left the County Ground in February however after growing disillusioned with life at the club, and was quickly installed as the bookie's favourite to replace O'Neill following his dismissal on Saturday. The Black Cats are without a Premier League win in eight games and Saturday's 1-0 home defeat to Manchester United leaves them sitting just one point above the relegation zone. Earlier today,
we reported Italian Di Canio had travelled to Wearside for official talks regarding the Sunderland vacancy, with owner Ellis Short keen to nail down a replacement as soon as possible with just seven league fixtures remaining. Ellis said of the appointment:
"Paolo is hugely enthused by the challenge that lies ahead of him. He is passionate, driven and raring to get started. "The sole focus of everyone for the next seven games will be to ensure we gain enough points to maintain our top-flight status. I think that the chances of that are greatly increased with Paolo joining us."
The 44-year old's first game in charge will come against European Champions Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on April 7th, and that will be followed up one week later by a crunch derby away to Newcastle United at St James' Park. The Italian believes he has what it takes to manage Sunderland, despite the fact he has not managed a team in England's top two divisions until now. He told BBC Sport:
"I have already proven my ability in League Two and League One, where there are many arrogant and average players and I was able to turn their mentality and help them become better footballers. "The right place for me is the place that has the ambition and the staff who want to bring in a winning mentality. "The club needs to have set rules, which for me are discipline, desire, passion, work ethic and a determination to get the right results to make everybody happy, namely the board, the fans and the club's players and staff. "I believe I am at a stage now where I am a Premier League or Championship manager."
He replaces O'Neill, who became the fifth top flight manager to lose his job this season following Roberto Di Matteo, Mark Hughes, Nigel Adkins and Brian McDermott.