Di Canio can’t leave his playing days in the past

What’s the secret of becoming a successful football manager?

Paolo di Canio thinks it’s making sure your players don’t have a squirt of ketchup on their pasta.

Now we know where all these failed bosses have gone wrong over the years!

The Italian is still trying to defend his decision to ban tomato sauce from the club canteen at Sunderland.

He might have avoided the sack if he’d spent more time thinking about his players and less about his own crackpot theories on nutrition. Having a pop at Martin O’Neill, and claiming he inherited a squad that wasn’t fit, is just garbage.

Look at the sides the Irishman has put together in the past at Leicester, Celtic and Aston Villa and you’ll see groups of highly-motivated, hungry athletes.

When Di Canio has won a host of trophies as a manager, he can compare himself to O’Neill. Until then, he’s bang out of order.

I’m really not surprised that it went so horribly wrong for him at Sunderland. The writing was on the wall during the end of his time at Swindon. He was constantly looking to have a barney with someone including members of his playing staff.

Di Canio was a big character during his time on the pitch, but it seems to me he’s struggling to leave those days behind him.

Modern management is all about dealing with the different characters you find in a dressing-room. Introducing petty rules about which condiments are allowed on the dinner table is guaranteed to irritate people.

I’m not saying players don’t have to watch their diet to some extent. Of course they can’t be eating takeaways every night, and having regular nights on the booze.

But full-time footballers who are training every day can easily get away with having the odd dessert or a pint or two.

Look at some of the great teams of the past. You’re not trying to tell me that Kenny Burns and Larry Lloyd were health-food fanatics when Nottingham Forest were winning the European Cup?

Times have changed and players are undoubtedly fitter, but the main reasons for success haven’t changed. It’s still all about combining ability and desire.

Di Canio believes he still has a future as a manager in England. I find that hard to believe but stranger things have happened.

Maybe a team will be bought by Italian owners who like his approach.

And then we’ll be back to his nonsense about pasta sauce!