PAOLO DI CANIO would like to manage in England again despite his time as Sunderland manager ending in dismissal.

The Italian was sacked by Sunderland ten days ago after his side crashed to a 3-0 defeat at West Bromwich Albion, with Kevin Ball coming in as caretaker manager.

Di Canio broke his silence yesterday with a calm, measured press statement which sought to clarify what he believed to be 'wholly untrue' claims made about a training ground bust-up after the Baggies defeat, insisting that many of his former players sent supportive messages in the aftermath of his dismissal.

Following the 45-year-old's 175 days in charge of Sunderland, it seemed unlikely that any other club in England would take a chance on him. Often fiery, always passionate, sometimes controversial, his former boss at Swindon Town Nick Watkins called his style 'management by hand grenade'.

The military imagery did not stop there. Di Canio himself called for his players to be warriors, regularly talked matches up as battles and called his summer transfer window, where 14 players were brought into the club, a revolution.

But yesterday Di Canio, who as a player represented Sheffield Wednesday, West Ham United and Charlton Athletic in England, insisted he would still like to manage here.

"I remain confident in my ability and I want to manage again in England as soon as I can,” said Di Canio. “When things like this happen it is important to take something positive from it. I have learnt a lot from my brief time at Sunderland and I am sure that this will only make me a better manager in my next job.”

Di Canio had previously claimed that if he had failed to keep Sunderland in the Premier League last season, that he would be 'burned' and his career as a manager would effectively be over.

“It was more tough. Seven games to go, without the chance to have the players I wanted, without a striker, without a midfielder, and with the chance that I could burn my career,” he said before what turned out to be his final game as Black Cats manager.

“I was sure that if I failed in that situation, there was no chance for Paolo Di Canio. That was a tough moment, people probably don’t understand that.

“People forget what had happened for 31 games. But if you go down, you are the man responsible because you took the job. You upset thousands and thousands of people who maybe in 45 days can blame you and kill you. You are burned.

“So how can I feel pressure now? It’s only been five games. It’s obvious I feel more than last week how important this game is. If we win it can be good because we will be out of the bottom three for sure. That will be really good to see the table.

“It will give the players more positive energy. I calculated last year that if we went down we would upset everybody and we were finished. So now I am happy.”

Di Canio, who finished top of his year at coaching academy Coverciano, had rebuffed offers to work in Italy after leaving Swindon Town, and was a surprise choice for Ellis Short to appoint him after sacking Martin O'Neill two days previously.

Short's search for a new manager is taking longer this time, however. Rene Meulensteen and Gus Poyet lead the candidates, but Short could yet decide to stick with interim head coach Ball with the Sunderland stalwart taking charge of the team for their home game against Manchester United on Saturday evening.