Paolo Di Canio 'a nightmare' to play for, says former Sunderland striker

It is fair to say that Danny Graham did not enjoy his time working with one of Sunderland's more controversial managers...

Danny Graham has described former Sunderland manager Paolo Di Canio as a ‘nightmare’ to work with.

Di Canio was appointed Sunderland manager towards the end of the 2012/2013 season and he initially did well by guiding the Black Cats to survival.

His reign was littered with controversy though as he fell out with players and was described as a ‘management charlatan’ by Martin O’Neill, the man he replaced.

Danny Graham has now described what it was like to be a player under the Italian, and it is not an especially glowing report.

Speaking on the Roker Rapport Podcast, Danny Graham said of his time working under Paolo Di Canio: “Yeah, it was strange.

“He was a nightmare, to be honest - I’m not going to lie about it - he was a nightmare.

“He had this power trip about him. I remember him arguing with Connor Wickham, probably two or three days in when he missed a header, from there everyone is “what’s he doing?”.

“It was kind of a build-up of little things, it was just a disaster really.

“Listen, he kept us up, do I think he kept us up? No. I don’t think he kept us up, the players kept the football club in the league.

“He’s knee sliding at Newcastle away, for me he knew what he was doing. He knew if we win that game and he does something the fans will be on his side, it’ll give him a bit of breathing space.

“There were no days off in 36/37 days. We beat Everton at home 1-0 and then we go to Newcastle away, pump them 3-0 and normal football clubs are off Sunday-Wednesday, depending on the fixtures, we were in every single day.

“I lost count after 35, it must have been between 35 and 40 days, it was something we’d never seen before and, again, it was a power trip.

“That’s how he thought football clubs should be ran.”

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