It had already been eight days since Paolo Di Canio was officially appointed as the man to replace Martin O’Neill as Sunderland manager, but with the controversy surrounding Ellis Short’s choice, it felt much longer in the build-up to his first game.

The appointment was announced on Sunday 31st March, only one day after Martin O’Neill was sacked as manager following a home defeat to Manchester United via a Titus Bramble own goal, with the speed of the appointment suggesting that it was already in the works as Sir Alex Ferguson’s side travelled north.

The end of the O’Neill era felt pretty inevitable at the time, but looking back, it was a disastrous sequence of results following the closure of the January transfer window, which incidentally included the capture of Danny Graham from Swansea City for a reported fee of around £5 million.

As January ended, we sat 11th in the Barclays Premier League after a goalless draw at Swansea, as Danny Graham made his final appearance from the bench before making the move to Wearside only two days later, but two draws and five defeats in the next seven meant we were in trouble.

Following the defeat to Manchester United we had fallen to be only one place and one point above the drop with seven games remaining. This made Ellis Short nervous, and when the American tycoon became nervous about our Premier League status then heads would inevitably roll, and this was no exception.