Sunderland Decided to Sack Paolo Di Canio After Training Ground Argument With Players

Sunderland owner Ellis Short decided to sack manager Paolo Di Canio after the managers and players had an ill-tempered training ground meeting on Sunday morning, reports The Guardian today.

The newspaper reports that in analyzing Sunderland’s defeat to West Brom, Di Canio criticized his players (again), but Sunderland footballer Lee Cattermole (the midfielder Di Canio stripped of his captaincy) told Di Canio that the squad had lost faith in his controversial methods.

When details of the meeting emerged to Short, he decided that enough was enough and that Di Canio would be sacked. The proverbial “manager loses the dressing room” was the final death knell for the Italian.