Di Canio relishing Chelsea opener
Di Canio, who succeeded Martin O’Neill a day after Sunderland’s 1-0 defeat by Manchester United, has been at the centre of a media storm this week surrounding his political views.
The Italian has moved to distance himself from talk of anything other than Sunderland’s top-flight survival and is focussing on the thrill of leading his new side into battle against Chelsea.
Sunderland are currently only one point clear of the relegation zone with seven games remaining, including tough fixtures against rivals Newcastle at St James’ Park, Everton at the Stadium of Light and a difficult encounter against Tottenham on the last day of the season.
However, Di Canio is relishing the challenge that lies ahead, starting this weekend against fourth-placed Chelsea. And the Italian has happy memories of playing at Stamford Bridge – a venue where he scored a spectacular long-range volley when playing for West Ham in 2006.
“As a manager it is my first time at the top, I mean the very top level,” Di Canio said.
“(We are) away from home against Chelsea, where obviously I have good memories and scored when I was a footballer. But now I’m a manager and I hope my players will score there and give us some points.
“It’s fantastic. The players will be motivated on their own; they live to play on the big stage. Obviously we are going to give them extra motivation to try to get a very good result.
“I can’t wait for it and I expect the same desire and determination from my players to make sure they do a good job.
“It’s exciting. We live for it. Life is short and if you have an exciting job, you’re lucky. I’m not worried about the big stage. We will do everything straight away to try and get a big result at Chelsea and then in the other games. ”
Chelsea captain John Terry has praised the character of Di Canio . “I can only speak highly of him”, Terry said. “I played against him when he was at Charlton. His movement was fantastic and I found he was just a real nice guy on the pitch.”
Terry anticipates the Italian’s arrival to galvanise the Black Cats. “It’s going to be really tough,” Terry added.
“A new manager has come in, a fantastic player he was as well. He’s certainly going to have them up for it.”
Martin O’Neill believes he should have been given the chance to replicate his achievement of last season and save Sunderland from relegation. The Ulsterman was sacked last Saturday, hours after the Wearsiders’ 1-0 defeat by Manchester United.
Sunderland had gone eight games without a win in the Premier League under O’Neill before chairman Ellis Short opted to dispense with his services and take the controversial decision to replace him with Paolo Di Canio.
It was a bold move given the former Aston Villa and Celtic boss had inspired a team bereft of confidence and languishing in 16th place when he took over in December 2011, guiding them to a 13th-placed finish.
O’Neill said: “I am still pretty disappointed, frustrated as much as anything else, but life goes on. I’m in the business now where I think very little shocks you about professional football, especially in the last 10 years. You can lose a job in management if your tie doesn’t fit your suit.
“I believed I saved it from relegation last year and I thought that opportunity should still have been afforded to me.”
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