LESS than a week after stepping back into management Roy Keane has directed a swipe at one of his former Sunderland players by accusing Andy Reid of lacking fitness.

Reid’s omission from the Republic of Ireland squad in recent months has become a massive talking point across the Irish Sea after a muchpublicised fall-out with manager Giovanni Trapattoni.

Keane, who took over at Ipswich Town seven days ago, feels one of the main reasons the former Tottenham midfielder has lost his place is his shape and lack of action at Sunderland.

During his days in charge at the Stadium of Light, Keane described the furore over Reid’s exclusion from the Ireland set-up as “unbelievable”

and “way over the top”.

But if the 26-year-old had hoped to turn to the man who took him from Charlton to Wearside in January last year for support, he could not have been more wrong.

“I think Reid can be fitter.

I find it hard to accept players who are at a professional level saying that they could be fitter,” said Keane, speaking in Ireland yesterday.

“You can give a player the benefit if he is not as talented, but surely you have got to be in the same ball park for fitness.

“And if we are talking about players at international level or professional level, then not being fit enough to last the 90 minutes is very, very sad.

“I’m not on about Reid, I’m on about a lot of players. Look at players, the same ones seem to be taken off every week after 65 or 70 minutes. It looks bad for them.”

Reid has become a regular under Ricky Sbragia and is expected to figure against Everton on Sunday, despite the changes which are expected to follow last weekend’s 3-0 drubbing at West Brom.

But he has failed to feature in any of Trapattoni’s ten matches in charge and has not even made the Italian’s squad for the last five internationals.

“Andy Reid doesn’t deserve to be in the Ireland squad at this moment in time, he’s not doing enough,” said Keane.

“That’s what I like about Trapattoni.

He’s an experienced manager, he looks at the players who are in form and are playing week-in, week-out, not once every four weeks.

“I’m not saying Andy Reid does that, I’ve not seen all the Sunderland games. It’s not as if Ireland are having bad results.

I think the likes of Reid, Lee Carsley and one or two others, I don’t think they’ve too much to complain about to be honest with you.”

While Sunderland are looking to keep above the relegation zone, with four points separating them from their North-East rivals, Keane is already preparing for next season in the Championship.

But having signed a twoyear deal at Portman Road last week, the former Manchester United captain admits he views his time in Suffolk as a stepping stone.

“I know that you’ve got to earn the right to work at the top clubs. I made the point last week that the world-class managers are the ones winning the trophies,” he said.

“And they’ve all earned the right to manage a Man Utd, an Arsenal, a Liverpool, a Chelsea, whoever. I know I’ve to learn my trade. I didn’t think for one minute I could manage one of the big boys straight away.

“I did an OK job at Sunderland but obviously I want to do better than OK. I face a massive challenge at Ipswich but, yeah, I want to manage at the very top level. It’s like when I went to England as a player.”

Sbragia, meanwhile, will decide today whether or not to change his forward line against Everton, with David Healy fit after a groin niggle.

■ Tickets are still available for the visit of Everton. Under-16s tickets are priced from £10 and adults from £22 when purchased in advance at the ticket office.