Paolo Di Canio

Le Parole di Paolo: unhappy in victory

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Jake's Italian job
Jake’s Italian job

Malcolm Dawson writes: we are used to hearing managers make excuses and tell us to take the positives from defeat so it comes as something of a surprise to hear the current incumbent tell us he is not happy with a win. It was, as Spurs fans will be quick to point out, only a pre season friendly but it tells us something about the personality of the man in charge that he is taking every game seriously. Ten days to the opening game of the new season. M Salut will be expecting some interesting things to come in Paolo’s personal e-mails …

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And our best manager is ….. : an analytical review of SAFC bosses

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John McCormick: master of dodgy numbers.
Jake says – John McCormick: master of dodgy numbers.

John McCormick writes: In a response to one of my posts Sobs wondered if it might be possible to use substitutions and tactical changes to rate our managers. No chance, I thought, as I headed off to Spain. But, one baking hot day, when I was idly contemplating the frothy, chilled bottles calling my name from the fridge and wondering if it was too early, Sobs’s comment came back to me out of the blue. I began to wonder how we might compare managers. What stats would be needed, what would someone look for?

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The Wearside Roar: a challenge to lazy pundits predicting the drop

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Buy it at the Salu! Sunderland Amazon link. See footnote*
Buy it at the Salu! Sunderland Amazon link. See footnote*

Monsieur Salut has been badgering Tom Lynn for as long as he can remember to write for Salut! Sunderland. He does, often, but only in comments, the quality of which is always from the top drawer. So to further the process of arm-twisting, and remembering Tom (when he ran the excellent, much-missed magazine The Wearside Roar) was once M Salut’s editor, we promote this, his latest comment to proper article status. Ha’way Tom, join the team …

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Le Parole di Paolo: beating Tottenham barely a start, satisfaction within reach

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Jake seconds him ...
Jake relaxes, too, but will soon enough have a new banner for this feature …

A new title and a new-look Sunderland team are the orders of the day as Paolo Di Canio‘s first full season of post-match verdicts, as delivered in his over-so-exclusive e-mail to Monsieur Salut (and maybe tens of thousands of others), approaches. Thrilled with the performance that brought 3-1 victory over Spurs, PDC points out that we’ve achieved nowt just yet …

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Sixer’s Sevens: Sunderland 3 Tottenham Hotspur 1 Trevor Francis 0

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NEWsevens copy

So the new season, or the bit before it starts, carried on as the old one ended, with a game against Spurs. There, the similarities faded to nothing. We must not get carried away but the 3-1 win – after dignified defeat in last season’s final game in which our frailties were nevertheless there to be seen – offered mighty encouragement that the tide may be about to turn. It was no fluke; if anything the result ought to have been more emphatic. And how chuffed we all were that Trevor Francis’s pre-match babbling – PDC doesn’t know if his new men are any good, it’ll be more of the same next season, etc – were made to look so comprehensively moronic.

Salut! Sunderland’s own star, Pete Sixsmith, now resumes his inimitable series of seven-word verdicts from the many games he gets to, or the few he watches from the other side of the world …

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Amid all these transfer thrills, why I’ve given up my season ticket

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From Jake's new autumn range ...
From Jake’s new autumn range …

Sounds like one of those grim Daily Mail confessionals its female feature writers seem to be obliged by contract to write. In fact, it’s our own esteemed deputy editor, Malcolm Dawson, explaining a momentous decision. Malcolm remains a fervent Sunderland supporter, as he’s been all his life. He’s still deputy editor, thank heavens, and he’s even information officer for the Heart of England branch of the SAFCSA, which he helped to found, despite having moved back to Co Durham. Let him explain what he is not …

The furore regarding the appointment of Paolo Di Canio as manager caused many left wing thinking Sunderland fans to examine their principles and question their willingness to renew their season cards. But not me.

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Peruzzi, Colback and other transfer sagas

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Jake detects thinking
Jake detects thinking

There has been a lot of transfer activity to reflect on already this summer, writes Stephen Goldsmith. We all expected a total overhaul, to be fair, and the appointments of Roberto De Fanti and Valentino Angeloni certainly suggested that we’d be generally looking abroad for our new a acquisitions. One potential signing in particular stands out in terms of quality, according to those in the know, while one potential outgoing transfer has me especially curious…

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Altidore inthedoor (nearly), Bardo and Catts heading out, Mendy yesterday’s man

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From Jake's new autumn range ...
From Jake’s new autumn range …

There seems to be a lot more transparency about Sunderland’s dabblings in the transfer market this summer.

Simon Mignolet’s departure was on the cards for a week or more before Liverpool finally signed him and we even had a chance to laugh at his preposterous agent Kristof Vandersmissen’s protestations that Anfield was not even involved in talks to buy him.

And in the last half-hour, the Northern Echo had this to say about the probable capture of the USA striker Jozy Altidore:

“Di Canio is keen to work in pre-season with only the players he wants to rely on next season and is hoping American striker Altidore will fly out to Italy in the next 24 hours.

Altidore, 23, was on Wearside yesterday to undergo a medical and discuss his contract demands ahead of a £6m switch from AZ Alkmaar. A deal will go through today.

He will then head out to join his new team-mates in Peschiera Del Garda for the next nine days, where Di Canio could still have further new additions joining him before they fly back to the North-East.”

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