A STAFFING crisis on the Echo sportsdesk saw me drafted in on Saturday to temporarily reprise my role as a football writer.

The brief was simple: drive to West Bromwich, file a report on the Sunderland game, attend the managers press conferences and get a few words from a player. What could go wrong?

By Sunday evening I was starting my third rewrite and fourth cup of fiercely strong coffee as speculation mounted that Paolo Di Canio, Sunderland's Italian head coach, could be heading toward the door marked -Uscita.

As a North-East business reporter I have met more than a few egotists; at least one tin pot dictator and maybe the odd fascist sympathiser. But nothing prepared me for the self-absorbed Di Canio who, in his final few hours as the Wearsiders' boss, proved to have a grip on reality that was as shaky as his team's back four.

No spectators who stayed at The Hawthorns after the final whistle will  forget the sight of Di Canio standing on the turf miming, imploring and preening to the travelling fans in a theatrical performance that rivalled Pavarotti's famous turn as Il Pagliacci, the tragic clown of Italian opera, who incidentally is the alter ego of a character called Canio. Perhaps we should have seen this coming.

Sunderland chairman Ellis Short, who appointed Di Canio in March, certainly should have. The Italian arrived on Wearside with a reputation as an eccentric hot head with questionable man management skills and odious political sympathies.   

His post match press conference on Saturday was something to behold. The sound of laughter in football media rooms is nothing new. Reporters often indulge in the odd bout of sycophantic guffawing to win themselves a few brownie points when a big name player or manager delivers a lame punchline. But the response on Saturday was from people who were laughing at rather than along with Di Canio. 

Standing behind the Sunderland boss as he answered reporter's questions was the clubs press officer, bearing the kind of rictus grin you'd see on someone who has just spotted their less-than-alluring blind date waving to them across a crowded bar. Di Canio was midway through yet another long-winded answer when she dragged him out of the room.

The show was over. For me it was back to business.

WHAT would you prefer beside your workplace - an overpriced coffee shop or traditional chippy?

The question is prompted by an interview with the boss of County Durham mining and transport business Hargreaves Services.

The Esh Winning firm is growing fast and regularly recruits new staff.

Gordon Banham, Hargreaves group chief executive told me that one of his fellow directors joked that the firm's position in rural County Durham could see it struggle to attract staff from big cities. "It's five miles from the nearest Costa Coffee shop," his colleague reasoned.

Mr Banham, who relishes the fact that Hargreaves' HQ is in a building that was once the pit head baths, replied: "Who needs a fancy coffee shop when we have the country's last coal-fired fish shop (the celebrated Fields) right on our doorstep?" 

The correct answer is nobody.  

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