Sunderland have issued a sack notice to Italian manager Paolo Di Canio following a poor start to the 2013/14 Barclays Premier League season, which has had the ‘Black Cats’ sit bottom of the log with a point from five matches.
Di Canio, 45, succeeded Martin O’Neill on 31 March and went on to win three of his 13 games since taking over at the Stadium of light.
In the meantime coach Kevin Ball will be in charge for the midweek Capital One Cup third-round home tie against Petersborough United and their home games against Liverpool on Sunday and Manchester United on October 5.
“The club would like to place on record its thanks to Paolo and his staff and wishes them well for the future,” read a club statement.
The Italian worked with director of football Roberto De Fanti and chief scout Valentino Angeloni to sign 14 new players in the summer, which cost a total of £19m.
However, left back Danny Rose returned to Tottenham Hotspur on the completion of his loan spell, goalkeeper Simon Mignolet joined Liverpool while Stephanie Sessegnon joined West Bromwich Albion on transfer deadline day.
Jozy Altidore and Emmanuele Giaccherini were part of the new arrivals, nevertheless their impact has not impacted on the score sheet as the club started with a home loss to Fulham before they drew at Southampton.
They followed that up with the loss to Crystal Palace, Arsenal, and most recently their 3-0 loss to West Brom.
“An announcement will be made in due course regarding a permanent successor,” the club’s statement added.
Former Chelsea and West Brom manager Roberto Di Matteo is been speculated as one of the early favourites, with ex-Brighton Hoves man Gus Poyet and former Aston Villa and Birmingham boss Alex McLeish also getting strong mentions.
