As a football fan I've put up with a lot in my relatively short life: the pandering of my sport to big business, the simultaneous breakdown of the ties between football clubs and the communities they once represented and that feeling of being powerless to ever effect real change. As a Sunderland fan I've also put up with a lot: the constant threat of relegation, the disappointment at the ending of hopeful cup runs, countless losses to Newcastle, Steve Bruce and that feeling of being powerless to ever effect real change.
I have now stopped being able to just put up with what is happening at my football club. The appointment of Paolo di Canio is one that, despite me trying so hard to stomach, still makes me angry and disappointed (Report, 1 April). Throughout the bad times, I have always been able to fall back on the idea that my club is more than just the 11 men on the pitch. It represents my city – a city which has been left with little else to be proud of in recent decades. Di Canio's appointment doesn't just misrepresent my city, but is completely at odds with its history. The city has a proud working-class tradition and its electoral record shows plainly that it has a proud history of socialism. Our own version of the Red Flag is sung at matches. There is a proud history of trade unionism across the region, demonstrated no more staunchly than during the miners' strike of the 80s.
The idea that all this matters to Di Canio or to our billionaire US owner Ellis Short is laughable – but it matters to me and others. I know many Sunderland fans who will not be attending a match while Di Canio is in charge. Paying to see games while a fascist in charge of my club makes me sick to my stomach.
Matthew Woolston
London
• Matthew Goodwin argues that Sunderland should not have appointed Paolo di Canio because of his political beliefs (Comment, 2 April). If we believe in freedom of speech, then surely people must be free to make comments such as "I am a fascist", even if the majority strongly disagree with their views. In repudiating a minority's right to freedom of speech, we would ourselves be guilty of a form of fascism. Where would a natural extension of this take us? My history teacher in secondary school never wasted an opportunity to inform us he was a communist; yet it did not alter the fact that he was a good teacher.
Di Canio's suitability for a job in football management should be decided by his managerial ability, not by whether or not his political views happen to coincide with those of the well-intentioned majority.
Mark Russell
Blackburn, Lancashire
• You report in (2 April) that the neo-Nazi Golden Dawn party is looking to spread from Greece to other states by opening offices in Germany and Australia. I wonder if they've considered Sunderland?
Colin Burke
Manchester
• As lifelong Guardian reader and Sunderland supporter, I can't say I'm enamoured of the appointment of an Italian fascist as a manager. But at least he may make the training run on time.
Ian Henderson
Nottingham
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