O’Neill Has A Dig.

Martin O’Neill has had a go at Paolo Di Canio, the man who took over as Sunderland manager after the Irishman was sacked by the club.

O’Neill, has just been confirmed as the Republic of Ireland manager with Roy Keane as his assistant, but his last job was at the Stadium of Light where he was manager for a little under two years.

At the time Sunderland were in relegation trouble and Di Canio came in and managed to avoid he drop by the skin of his teeth. But he left the club in September after being unable to record a win in the first five games of the season, despite bringing in 14 players.

When Di Canio took over from O’Neill, he made complaints about the squad not being fit and the ex Sunderland boss did not agree with his assessment, pointing out that Di Canio was a ‘managerial charlatan’ who ‘ran out of excuses’.

He also added: ‘It was like a 27-year-old manager stepping in and the first thing you do is criticise the fitness of the team,’ he added.

‘If you’ve ever seen (O’Neill’s former club) Aston Villa play, you`ll see the one thing I pride myself on is teams being fit.

‘What’s interesting is that when he started, the team supposedly wasn’t fit for the Chelsea game. Then the following week when he won at Newcastle, not being fit wasn’t mentioned.

‘Then about two weeks later they got mauled by Aston Villa and someone asked him about the fitness. Suddenly, he didn`t know where to go, because the team, as it progresses, should be getting more fit.’

O’Neill also felt that he would have been able to keep Sunderland up had he been given more time and turned around the fortunes of the club this season if he’d have been allowed to sort of influx of players that Di Canio was.

He went on: ‘They were my boyhood team so I’m very disappointed (at how his tenure ended). I’d have loved having the opportunity to sign 15 players like Paolo did. I never got that opportunity,’ he added.

‘With my managerial record, I think I would have garnered the five points necessary to have stayed up and (deserved) the chance, maybe, to have changed the side.

‘They have taken 12 points from 51 since I left.’