Moneyball won't win the Premiership 2012-13

"somebody has to make these terrible decisions" is pretty much always a terrible excuse imo.

Sunderland issue club statement. From what Di Canio says, one assumes he must have taken his own thoughts out of contest for that bit in his autobiography where he expressed his admiration for Mussolini.

"Something can happen many years ago but what counts is the facts. My life speaks for me. Of course it hurts me because people try to take your dignity and that is not fair.

“I believe in my pillars and I have values. What offends me more than anything is not because they touch me; they touch what my parents gave to me; the values they gave to me. This is not acceptable.

“What I can say is that if someone is hurt, I am sorry. But this didn’t come from me, it came from a big story that people put out in a different way to what it was.

“I never have a problem in my past. I expressed an opinion in an interview many years ago. Some pieces were taken for media convenience. They took my expression in a very, very negative way – but it was a long conversation and a long interview. It was not fair. I know it is a part of my job to do interviews because I am well-known, but sometimes it suits their purpose to put big headlines and a big story.

“I don’t have a problem with anyone. I haven’t had a problem in the past and I don’t know why I have to keep repeating my story, to be defending myself on something that doesn’t belong to me every time I change clubs. Talk about racism? That is absolutely stupid, stupid and ridiculous. The people who know me can change that idea quickly. When I was in England my best friends were Trevor Sinclair and Chris Powell, the Charlton manager – they can tell you everything about my character.

“I don’t want to talk about politics because it’s not my area. We are not in the Houses of Parliament, we are in a football club. I want to talk about sport. I want to talk about football, my players, the Board and the fans. My first priority is my family and my daughters, that’s obvious, and secondly to have the responsibility for thousands of people. This is my priority and I want to be focused on this aspect. I don’t want to talk any more about politics – I am not a politics person.”

out of context, not contest. sorry.

"I believe in my pillars"

but actually I think that statement is as good as it could be in the circs

politically, this kind of thing is always a daft sideshow. Meanwhile, apparently massive welfare 'reforms' and cuts start today. What DM thinks about them is a better guide to his politics.

"Some of my best friends are black!" says Paolo.

The full statement ends that neither Sunderland nor Di Canio will discuss any of this any more. BECAUSE IF WE STICK OUR FINGERS IN OUR EARS AND GO LA-LA-LA IT WILL ALL GO AWAY.

It will tho

idly wondering if all majority-Caucasian nations make a running joke out of 'some of my best friends are black' or if it is mainly a British and maybe American thing

actually I must admit DM has a perfect right to do what he's done
I don't disagree with his gesture (though I think it's empty as he had to quit anyway)

it's just that so much of this stuff is always phoney politics - always based on things that everyone really agrees about, and bringing no real contention.

Mussolini has been dead since c.1945. He was considered a buffoon even by his Axis colleagues (though I daresay he was awful). He is no threat to anyone in Britain now - he barely was when he was alive. It is idle to make gestures about him (here, at least, if not in Italy).

A better test of someone's principles is whether they'll take on someone who's dangerous and bad now. Like who? Well, how about another admirer of Mussolini (I think) - Silvio Berlusconi. He's also considered a buffoon, but has held power of various kinds in one of the greatest European nations for much of the last two decades. He has debased politics and increased corruption ... and he owns one of the world's greatest football clubs. Now that IS bad, and shameful, and painful for football.

Idea for a moral stand that would mean something and carry some genuine risk and controversy in the present: all the great clubs of Europe refuse to participate in a CL with AC Milan as long as Berlusconi owns it.

That's never gonna happen. But it would be more worthwhile, better for the game, and better for European politics, than any debate about something a good-but-never-quite-great footballer once said about Mussolini.

v disingenuous of di Canio to spin it as one interview from years ago

but actually I think that statement is as good as it could be in the circs

I disagree completely, it's actually very weedy given the circumstances.

politically, this kind of thing is always a daft sideshow. Meanwhile, apparently massive welfare 'reforms' and cuts start today. What DM thinks about them is a better guide to his politics.

In terms of wider politics, football itself is a daft sideshow. In footballing terms, this is important. Di Canio's response is very disingenuous, and as for all this 'it's about football not politics' stuff... tell that to the Spurs fans attacked by Italian fascists for supporting a "Jewish" club.

It's more likely that Di Canio is just an idiot rather than actually malicious. I still can't help but think of him as the thinking man's Joey Barton though.

I don't disagree with his gesture (though I think it's empty as he had to quit anyway)

It might well be empty, but I doubt he had to quit anyway. I don't think the responsibilities of the Vice-Chairman of Sunderland FC are that onerous.

I thought Joey Barton was the thinking man. Or is that all over with now? I might have missed the memo

Paolo di Canio is Joey Barton's Joey Barton

Italian fans no more attacked the spurs fan over the jewish link than germany cared about franz ferdinand

I don't know about their motives, guess none of us do -- but there does feel something circular or convenient about it, like they wanted to beat people up so it was very convenient to be able to say it was cos of anti-semitism (odd as that sounds)

it's not as though attacking Spurs fans actually generally means attacking Jewish people anyway

They were supposedly Roma fans, and Roma are supposedly the Italian Jewish club. Overlaying politics onto football doesn't work imo, it's nearly always dicks using it as an excuse.

that sounds kind of true to me, IK.

genuinely surprised at idea of PDC as 'thinking'

he's articulate and expresses himself in complex sentences, this is PhD level in football-world

has PDC recently advocated any behaviour that is illegal?

he did break into his former club or something, didn't he?

still maintain that Milliband disassociating himself is like some minor apparatchik from Mao's government disassociating themselves from Jane Fonda

Overlaying politics onto the behaviour of individuals p much always smacks of laziness at best

You prefer overlaying psychoanalysis onto the behaviour of individuals?

On SuperSport in Kenya right now, Gary Bailey is the pundit on tonight's game. His combover is a thing to be admired.

so that's what one does on holiday in Kenya

QPR inviting a shoeing here by the looks

I may be confusing the Roma fans attack with the Lyon attack, one of them was definitely reported as overtly anti-Semitic in nature. If that's lazy than so-be-it.

I'm prepared to accept the possibility that Di Canio may genuinely have changed, but if that was the case then why issue that statement? Why not condemn fascism in stronger terms? Why not donate some of his presumably sizeable wealth to an anti-racism organisation, or support them in some other way? "It was an interview years ago and by the way some of my best friends are black, we will not discuss this any more" doesn't really wash.

It all feeds into the perception, stronger since Terry/Suarez, that football, when push comes to shove, isn't that serious about tackling racism in the game. Especially with Sunderland in such dire straits that only the former manager of Swindon Town can save them now, and hey he's one of the game's characters etc etc.

still maintain that Milliband disassociating himself is like some minor apparatchik from Mao's government disassociating themselves from Jane Fonda

Am I correct in believing that you have voted Labour at least once since 2001, as have many other people on this thread? That's complicity as well, in its way.

There are probably worse people in football than either Di Canio or Miliband, obviously. Abramovich for one.

That's the worst goal of the season

Norwich shipped six here to go down once

I don't understand the Mao / Fonda line tbh, myself

Yes, Abramovich - and Berlusconi, for two. These are dangerous, sinister people. By comparison, PDC is a joke.

I am not sure that PDC should be obliged to answer for things he has said, any more than anyone else does, if he didn't say or encourage anything that was against the law. (Though his MO seems to be to verge on the edge of chaos - if he does end up inciting violence etc, then he should be prosecuted.)

I would say the opposite re Terry / Suarez / racism: the whole history of the last c.3 years suggests this stuff is taken more seriously than ever before. EBJT quit England because of it - that's a first.

I don't think we know PDC's views on matters of 'race', except that he has repeatedly, explicitly denied being a racist. It would be quite interesting then to know what his 'fascism' does / did mean - but I am talking myself into the sideshow I have deplored.

DC is right though that 'former manager of Swindon Town' doesn't sound great.

James Richardson was quite interesting on it in a rare personal reflection at the start of today's Football Weekly - essentially that Italians tend not to condemn individuals from the period in toto, but instead feel comfortable dividing them into e.g. good-Mussolini and bad-Mussolini. It chimes with a view I've heard often, that he started out well and did a lot of good, and then turned bad. And in fairness you can see why a period of strong but not-catastrophic rule might prompt some nostalgia in a country like Italy.

og now, humiliation upon humiliation for qpr tonight

Taarabt gets them back in it through sheer force of will

Well the Lazio ultras are quite unambiguously anti-Semitic and rascist. If I made a big deal of giving them a Nazi salute in solidarity, I wouldn't expect people to make excuses for me about not-the-bad-Duce-just-the-one-who-sorted-out-those-damned-trains.

That's true, there's no way round that. But I don't know what's supposed to happen here, are Sunderland supposed to not employ him if he doesn't do any fascisty things now?

can't remember if i've voted Labour since 2001, don't think so. it is a form of complicity. but that's enough for this thread.

Surely if he doesn't break the law, anyone can employ him.

The curious thing is, the first name mentioned in connection with this job was Mark Hughes.
That would actually have been more entertaining.

Voted blair, not an option

Re incitement to violence, pulis is still a manager iir

Anyone can employ him, whether it is sensible or right to do so is a different matter.

tbf Pulis has committed assault at work himself with apparent impunity

Some game this, penalty qpr

It wasnt sensible or right to hire steve bruce neither.

Missed, inevitably

i agree that the more Sunderland and di Canio entrench on this and offer disingenuous non-apologies, the uglier it gets, like the balls Liverpool made of the Suarez affair

Fulham to score within three minutes now

No! QPR score!

even put it in off the underside of the bar for added drama

the best other-side-of-the-story I've seen re PDC is this article http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/paolo-di-canio-my-life-speaks-for-me-6273526.html , e.g. the fuller statement on Mussolini:

"I am fascinated by Mussolini," Di Canio wrote. "I think he was a deeply misunderstood individual. He deceived people. His actions were often vile. But all this was motivated by a higher purpose. He was basically a very principled individual. Yet he turned against his sense of right and wrong. He compromised his ethics."

which all obviously isn't enough to fill all the gaps in his mysterious non-racist fascism and excuse him because the gaps are presumably ultimately unfillable, but it's more than the wishy washy Sunderland statement.