New Sunderland boss Paolo di Canio dismissed questions from the media this morning about his political leanings.

The club were keen for Tuesday's press conference to be purely focused on football, but inevitably the question of just what Di Canio stood for came up again.

He said: "I don't have to answer any more this question, there was a very good statement from the club, (with) very, very clear words that came out from me.

"I don't want to talk any more about politics for one reason because I'm not in the House of Parliament, I'm not a political person, I will talk about only football."

Di Canio did concede he has the nickname of "the mad Italian" and backed it up by saying he would have swam to Sunderland to take the job.

The 44-year-old said: "It is obvious that in the past people have been sceptical because it was my first job as Swindon, League Two, League One, the mad Italian, he will fight his players, but at the end I won the league.

"I am young, people say the same, I have no experience in the Premiership but I am not worried."