Paolo Di Canio

Keane, don’t forget, was a player who admitted in print setting out to seriously harm a fellow professional player and could be seen, week after week, screaming with rage into the faces of referees.

Hardly the type of ex-player one would want to see as a mentor to young players.

VJ Connor, Bishop Auckland.

DAVID MILIBAND’S claim to disapprove of fascism is a joke.

My dictionary defines fascism as a combination of different characteristics including “militarism”.

Mr Miliband voted for a military invasion of Iraq for some very dodgy reasons that resulted in the death of hundreds of thousands of Muslims.

I’m not interested in sermons on fascism from Labour or Tory politicians who voted to invade Iraq.

Another element in fascism according to the dictionary is “restrictions on personal freedom”. Well, a restriction on personal freedom which has now mercifully been removed, no thanks to Labour, is the freedom to insult.

Section 5 of the Public Order Act made it illegal (until recently) to insult anyone.

Scarcely believable, isn’t it, especially given that politicians all queue up to insult each other at election time? And twice as many Labour politicians wanted Section 5 retained as compared to Tories or Liberal Democrats.

Ralph Musgrave, Durham.

WHEN the names of those in the running for the Sunderland job were revealed, my first thoughts were of the speculation that normally accompanies a managerial vacancy.

Some of those mentioned filled me with the certainty that they would do and achieve as much as they have in previous jobs. I wondered what Steve McClaren or Mark Hughes could do. Both have had some success and have been associated with the Sunderland job before.

Two names offered something different: Roberto Di Matteo and Gus Poyet.

Di Matteo’s achievements at Chelsea got him the sack but he had the respect of the fans.

Winning the Champions League is something that should have transformed his career and not destroyed it. The current Brighton boss, Gus Poyet, is a good prospect but whether either man wanted to come to Sunderland is open to debate.

Clearly the appointment of an Italian was in the mind of Ellis Short. Sunderland’s owner and chairman wasted no time in making an appointment, but in doing so he chose a wild card.

Paolo Di Canio is very inexperienced.

Clearly, some of his personal values leave something to be desired. His supposed right-wing fascist leanings have caused concern among those who have a more humanitarian political stance, such as David Miliband.

Politics aside, the man who achieved success with Swindon Town has to be given a chance.

The fact that Di Canio has been given a two-and-a-half year contract is interesting. His immediate task is obvious, but keeping Sunderland in the Premiership will not be easy. He has not been given long to prove his managerial calibre. He will not want to manage a side in the Championship, but that is a real possibility.

I hope so much that I am wrong.

Bernie Walsh, Coxhoe.

THE furore over Paulo Di Canio’s alleged political views demonstrates once again the power of the press. There is always a need to report issues based upon genuine public interest and concern. However this feels like a concerted media attempt to influence the development of events through unnecessary reporting.

Di Canio may have fascist sympathies. The evidence appears to lie in an interview he gave to the Italian media. His views, however distasteful, would only be a public interest concern if he had chosen to impose them on others, for example through discriminatory team selection. There is no evidence of that. He is not a politician trying to adversely effect democratic political processes. He is a football manager.

While I abhor political extremism and support diversity in all its forms, I feel that the known facts do not justify such blatant press attempts to create a furore where there is none.

And please do not patronise the public with the old adage “this is one issue that won’t go away” – when the press is hell bent on keeping it going regardless of public opinion.

John Crick, Bishop Auckland.