Italian Paolo Di Canio, whose appointment as Sunderland manager sparked the resignation of a former Government minister from the club’s board, said yesterday he was hurt by unfair accusations against him.

Despite previously working as the manager of League One club Swindon Town and playing in both England and Scotland during a long playing career, news of his appointment rekindled interest in the remarks he made to Italian news agency ANSA in 2005 when he said: “I am a fascist, not a racist.”

The former Labour Government foreign secretary David Miliband immediately resigned as Sunderland’s vice-chairman and non-executive director after Di Canio was named Martin O’Neill’s successor on Sunday.

Miliband cited the Italian’s “past political statements” as his reason for leaving the board.

Di Canio, 44, was named as manager of the struggling Premier League club after the surprise dismissal of O’Neill on Saturday with Sunderland hovering just above the relegation zone without a win in their last eight matches.

Yesterday Di Canio issued a statement refuting the allegations made against him.

“Something can happen many years ago but what counts is the facts,” he said.

“My life speaks for me. Of course it hurts me because people try to take your dignity and that is not fair.

“I believe in my pillars and I have values. What offends me more than anything is not because they touch me; they touch what my parents gave to me; the values they gave to me. This is not acceptable.

“What I can say is that if someone is hurt, I am sorry. But this didn’t come from me, it came from a big story that people put out in a different way to what it was.”

Di Canio continued: “I don’t have a problem with anyone. I haven’t had a problem in the past and I don’t know why I have to keep repeating my story, to be defending myself on something that doesn’t belong to me every time I change clubs.”