It is sad, but Paolo Di Canio’s reign at a Premier League club turned out to be predictably short lived.

The 45-year-old Roman can never be accused of understating his talents or shying away from the fact that his approach is unique – in fact he revels in it.

So it was a little surprising when Sunderland decided he was the man for them after parting company with Martin O’Neill last season.

The Italian certainly did the trick as he kept the Black Cats in the top flight, but there was still that nagging feeling that – given Di Canio’s overwhelming self-assurance and combustible nature – this was not going to be a long love affair.

Sunderland certainly gambled because Di Canio is probably more likely to point to former Italian leader Benito Mussolini as an inspiration for his management style as opposed to people like Italian World Cup winning managers Marcello Lippi or even Enzo Bearzot.

While some have questioned the manner in which Sunderland have acted by sacking him after just five games of this campaign, equally they may have been concerned that Di Canio might ignore next Sunday’s fixture at home to Liverpool in favour of invading Ethiopia – a tactic used by Mussolini against the then Abyssinia when trying to deflect attention away from problems on the domestic front.

However, the Black Cats can at least look forward to a less volatile future, while Di Canio’s next step seems to be something of a mystery.

It is hard to imagine too many other English League clubs wanting to take a punt on him and sadly for him his hometown club Lazio have started Serie A pretty well and won’t be looking for a manager – so maybe Sassuolo then?!