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Former Sunderland manager Paolo Di Canio launched a stinging attack on a number of the club’s players this morning, but insisted to Sky that the majority of the team supported him. A run of bad results combined with rumours of dressing room unrest led the club to sack Di Canio earlier in the season, but the Italian fought back today by labelling Phil Bardsley as “rotten” and John O’Shea as two faced.
On Bardsley and Lee Cattermole, Di Canio said: “These two players were rotten – the most unprofessional players I’ve ever worked with.
“What Bardsley has done in the last year speaks volumes. Photos of him lying on the floor in a casino covered by £50 notes and laughing at the team losing on the opening day, that’s public.”
“It’s no surprise these players were kicked out of my plans. The reason Sunderland stayed up at the end of last season was because Cattermole was injured and Bardsley played very little.”
The former boss continued by criticising former Manchester United defender O’Shea.
“I don’t like people who, when they speak to you, don’t look into your eyes,” said Di Canio
“He should say sorry to some of his team-mates for the many times he came into my office to say something unfavourable about them.
“This is the same person that also came to me when I first took over and said things about [Martin] O’Neill.”
Since Di Canio’s sacking Steven Fletcher has been vocal in his criticism of the former West Ham man’s training methods, suggesting that the Italian was too strict, but Di Canio refuted the claims.
“This is a man who was filmed spitting on the back of a rickshaw driver in London. What sort of role model is that, who behaves like this?” he said.
“I don’t like people fooling around when we’re having a serious discussion about strategy. I don’t like people who laugh when they keep missing the goal in training or miss a tackle that leads to conceding a goal.”
The former Swindon Town manager insisted that the majority of the club’s players had been supporting him, pointing to the reaction of the players to his departure as evidence.
“On my phone, I have 14 text messages from players at the club supporting me,” he said.
“Speak to the majority of players who have worked with me and they’ll say ‘it was tough working for Paolo, but he was professional’.”
