Paolo Di Canio factfile

A look back at the career of Paolo Di Canio, who has lost his job as head coach at Sunderland.

Paolo Di Canio has been sacked by Sunderland, with Saturday's 3-0 Premier League defeat at West Brom proving to be his last in charge. Here, Sky Sports reflects on his often controversial career to date... 1968: Born July 9 in Rome. 1985: Joins home-town club Lazio, then in Serie B, but does not break into first team. 1986: Drops down a division to Ternana, playing 27 matches and scoring two goals in 1986-87. 1987: Returns to Lazio but again fails to make a first-team appearance as they win promotion to Serie A. 1988: Makes his Serie A debut for Lazio in October and plays 30 times that season, scoring one goal. 1989: Plays 24 matches, scoring three goals. 1990: Moves to Juventus and scores three times in 23 appearances. 1991: Plays 55 games over the next two seasons, hitting three goals. 1993: Heads south to Napoli, making 26 appearances and scoring five goals. 1994: Returns to Juventus but moves on to AC Milan without playing a league game. 1994: Restricted to just four starts at Milan. Makes another 11 appearances from the bench and scores one goal against Fiorentina in January. 1996: Leaves the San Siro in June to join Celtic in a £1million deal. 1996: Becomes a firm favourite with Celtic fans, scoring 12 goals in 26 league games as the club finish runners-up to Rangers in title race. In total scores 15 times in 37 matches. July 9 - Breaches his contract by refusing to join his Celtic team-mates at their Dutch training camp and Celtic threaten him with a three-year ban. July 15 - Announces his intention to quit Celtic after new coach Wim Jansen says he is unimpressed with the player's attitude in training. August 6 - Joins Sheffield Wednesday in a £4.5million deal. Scores 12 times in Premiership to finish the club's top scorer. September 26 - Pushes referee Paul Alcock to the ground after being sent off in the clash with Arsenal at Hillsborough. October 23 - Receives 11-match ban from the Football Association, including a statutory three matches for being sent off in the previous month's game against Arsenal. He is also fined £10,000. November 3 - Wednesday reveal they have imposed their own fine on Di Canio for his dismissal and push on Alcock, believed to be two lots of two weeks' wages, totalling £68,000. December 12 - Wednesday suspend Di Canio for two weeks without pay when he does not return from a break in Italy. Later says he is suffering from stress and depression. December 26 - Is suspended for a further two weeks and docked another two weeks' wages by Wednesday when he fails to appear for home game against Leicester. 1999: January 9 - Is suspended and fined another two weeks' wages by Wednesday. January 19 - Declared fit after Wednesday receive report into his health. But Wednesday refuse to pay Di Canio the £102,000 he was fined while he was in Italy claiming he was ill. January 27 - Joins West Ham for £1.7million. February 9 - Charged with misconduct by FA in relation to incident during Premiership game with Villa when he appeared to make an insulting gesture. Later fined by the FA. 2001: November 29 - Awarded FIFA's Fair Play Award for 2001 in recognition of his "special act of good sportsmanship" in West Ham's game at Everton the previous season. 2002: January 6 - West Ham boss Glenn Roeder confirms Manchester United made a bid for the player which the club rejected. 2003: August 11 - Signs a one-year deal with Charlton as a free agent. 2004: Returns to former club Lazio, but his relationship with the club's Ultras generates negative headlines. 2006: Sees out his playing career with Cisco Roma, retiring in 2008. 2011: May - Appointed Swindon manager. 2012: April - Swindon are promoted from League Two with 93 points, having lost the Football League Trophy final against Chesterfield. 2013: February 18 - Resigns as manager citing issues with the club's hierarchy. February 21 - Reportedly returned to the County Ground in the dead of night to remove photographs from his fruitful spell at the club. March 31 - Named as Sunderland's new head coach on a two-and-half-year deal. He spends his first weeks in charge playing down his fascist beliefs following political statements he had made during his time in Italy. April 7 - Loses his first game in charge of the Black Cats - a 2-1 defeat at Chelsea. April 14 - Leads Sunderland to a 3-0 victory over local rivals Newcastle at St James' Park in his second Premier League game as manager. May 14 - Sunderland secure their Premier League status when Wigan are relegated following defeat at Arsenal. Di Canio will claim eight points from his eight games in charge by the end of the season. July - Signs players including Jozy Altidore, Emanuele Giaccherini and Fabio Borini in a extensive squad overhaul at the Stadium of Light. September 21 - Sunderland lose the fourth of five opening Premier League games, going down 3-0 at West Brom, and when Di Canio attempts to commiserate with visiting fans at the final whistle, he receives abuse from the stands. September 22 - Sunderland confirm they have parted company with Di Canio.