SM
West Ham vs. Arsenal: 19 hrs 45 mins
Upcoming predictions and previews

Martin O'Neill happy with 'phoney' Paolo Di Canio Sunderland failings

:Headline: Martin O'Neill happy with 'phoney' Paolo Di Canio Sunderland failings: ID:117201: from db_amp
Martin O'Neill labels Paolo Di Canio as a "managerial charlatan".

Martin O'Neill has admitted that he enjoyed watching the "managerial charlatan" Paolo Di Canio lose his job at Sunderland earlier this season.

The Italian replaced the new Republic of Ireland manager at the Stadium of Light towards the end of last term and immediately criticised his inherited squad for being unfit, before helping them survive in the Premier League.

However, Di Canio's reign was brought to an end after just 13 games following a poor start to the current campaign, and O'Neill could not hide his satisfaction at the result following the former Swindon Town manager's earlier outburst.

"Paolo Di Canio? That managerial charlatan," O'Neill responded when asked about his successor in a press conference. "Paolo stepped in there and basically, as the weeks ran on, he ran out of excuses. I had a wry smile to myself.

"It was like a 27-year-old manager stepping in and the first thing you do is criticise the fitness of the team. If you've ever seen Aston Villa play, you'll see the one thing I pride myself on is teams being fit.

"I'd have loved to have the opportunity to sign about 15 players like Paolo did, I never got that opportunity. I think, really, although nothing is certain in football, that, given 20 years of reasonable success in the game, I would have accumulated the five points necessary from the last seven games to have stayed up. So yes, I was disappointed, because it was a club that I grew up supporting as a boy."

O'Neill was confirmed as the new Ireland boss last week.

amp_article__117201 : Database Data restored...  : 
last updated article - 2013-11-12 05:55:22:
html db last update - 2013-11-12 05:55:22 :

ex - 7200 : read : read cache amp html

Click here for more stories about Martin O'Neill

Click here for more stories about Sunderland

Share this article now:
Recommended Next on SM
Premier League Table
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Leeds UnitedLeeds17105231121935
2Sheffield UnitedSheff Utd1711422491535
3Burnley179622161533
4Sunderland1796226121433
5Watford179262624229
6Middlesbrough178362920927
7West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom176921811727
8Blackburn RoversBlackburn167452017325
9Millwall166641914524
10Norwich CityNorwich175753125622
11Swansea CitySwansea176471615122
12Bristol City175752021-122
13Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds176472026-622
14Stoke CityStoke175661920-121
15Derby CountyDerby175572122-120
16Luton TownLuton175391829-1118
17Coventry CityCoventry174582225-317
18Oxford UnitedOxford Utd174581927-817
19Preston North EndPreston173861624-817
20Plymouth ArgylePlymouth174581834-1617
21Cardiff CityCardiff174491526-1116
22Hull City173681623-715
23Queens Park RangersQPR172871526-1114
24Portsmouth152671628-1212
Scroll for more - Tap for full version


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
AL
Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!

Loading ...

Failed to load data.



. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .