Martin O'Neill attacks his Sunderland successor Paolo Di Canio as a 'managerial charlatan' It was like a 27-year-old manager stepping in and the first thing you do is criticise the fitness of the team. If you've ever seen 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. And then, at the start of the season, when they conceded a late goal at Southampton, he was asked about the fitness regime again, because he'd said that he would have them as the fittest team in the league. Suddenly, the fitness wasn't for that game but for Christmas, when the winter months set in. You know I did have a wry smile at that one. I notice he is not working at the moment. O'Neill also poked fun at Di Canio's draconian rules at the club's training ground which included banning the use of tomato ketchup at meal times and stopping club staff from talking to the players without his permission. "I'm hoping at some stage or another that John O'Shea asks me at the dinner table to pass him the tomato sauce," he said. I will empty it on his plate, along with the chips. O'Neill was hurt badly by the way things ended at Sunderland and admitted that he is extremely frustrated he was not given the opportunity to sign as many players as Di Canio did over the summer in an attempt to improve the team. They were my boyhood team so I'm very disappointed [at the way things ended]. I'd have loved having the opportunity to sign 15 players like Paolo did. I never got that opportunity. 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. Di Canio could not be reached for comment on Sunday night.