On this day in 2013, Paolo Di Canio was appointed as manager of Sunderland. Di Canio’s arrival caused the instant resignation of club vice-chairman David Miliband due to his... questionable political views. The Italian was tasked with keeping Sunderland in the Premier League and providing a short, sharp shock to the system after Martin O’Neill’s poor run of form. In his second match as manager, Di Canio won the hearts of Sunderland fans with an iconic display of passion at St James’ Park. The...

On this day in 1927, Dave Halliday scored a hat-trick as we beat Leeds United 6-1 at home in the First Division (fellow Sunderland player Stan Ramsay also bagged three goals during the match). Halliday spent four years on Wearside between 1925 and 1929, scoring 165 goals in 175 games in all competitions. Before joining Sunderland, Halliday made a name for himself north of the border in Scotland with Dundee following brief spells with Queen of the South and St Mirren. Halliday joined the Dee...

After suffering humilation at the hands of Sunderland for the second time this season, Anthony Gordon claimed that we are "not a very good team". Strange - if we aren't very good, what does that make them? Other than his goal, which was a complete gift and could have fallen to anybody, Gordon didn't really do anything throughout the 90 minutes. GAME OF TWO HALVES “Not good enough really. No excuses. We were good for [just] 45 minutes which has been the case too often this season. It’s...