PAOLO DI CANIO has delivered a damning expose of the indiscipline that is rife at Sunderland, and claimed the shocking photographs of Phil Bardsley covered in £50 notes are indicative of some of the “ignorant, arrogant” footballers who are employed by the club.

Bardsley is unlikely to play for Sunderland again after he was axed from the squad for yesterday's 1-0 defeat at Tottenham in the wake of a newspaper story featuring pictures of him in a casino in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

Matt Kilgallon, who is due to become a free agent next month, was also present as Bardsley lay prone on the floor with £50 notes covering his body.

A number of Sunderland squad members watched Wigan's defeat at Arsenal on Tuesday evening, but Di Canio was furious at Bardsley and Kilgallon's decision to continue socialising into the early hours of the morning.

The Sunderland boss will attempt to sell Bardsley this summer, but admits the 31-year-old's misconduct is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the culture of indiscipline he has encountered since taking over at the Stadium of Light.

“I will think really carefully about what happens,” said Di Canio. “I always give people a second chance, but we are talking about someone who is 31 years of age (sic) with a family at home. I am not here to be a priest that has to convince people to behave differently, but I am talking about my club and my team.

“We have a fantastic academy. The young players have a changing room next to the adults, and if we do not punish this kind of behaviour, how can we have a fantastic academy? If we do not punish this, they will grow up and laugh about what they saw in the website picture.

“Maybe they will think it is fantastic to behave like a gangster. What mentality are we going to deliver? In the future, we have to be very clear.

“At the beginning, I thought it would be difficult. Week by week, day by day, I have discovered we have more problems than I expected. What we discovered this week is only one aspect of the problems we have.

“It doesn't mean that everybody goes out every night and has a drinking session, but in general I go mad at some things. What happened to Bardsley is part of what else has happened in the last few days.”

Last week, Di Canio revealed he had fined seven of his players for a variety of misdemeanours including lateness, and a failure to sign training tops that had been left at the training ground for supporters.

Bardsley and Kilgallon's midweek misbehaviour will result in further fines, but yesterday morning, as he was preparing his side for their final game of the season in London, Di Canio was still having to deal with yet another example of unacceptable behaviour at the opposite end of the country.

“This week there has been seven fines, and this morning, once again, there was a problem,” he said. “At the Academy of Light, a player that couldn't be involved in this game decided they would not train.

“They made their own diagnosis. They didn't go to the Academy of Light because they said they had poisoned food. Are they the doctor? The doctor tried to contact him for three hours, but his telephone was switched off. This is the situation at Sunderland. We have to change a lot of things.”

Di Canio admits even he has been shocked by the lack of discipline he has witnessed since replacing Martin O'Neill in March, and the Italian claims he is prepared to tackle every member of his squad head on if that is what is required to engineer an improvement.

He is confident he has the support of the club's owner, Ellis Short, and insists he will spend the summer attempting to sign players who have the character required to help change the prevailing culture that exists.

“I don't care if I have to have arguments with my players,” he said. “They have to go through the rules. After Aston Villa (when Sunderland lost 6-1), we had an appointment at 4pm the following afternoon, but someone did not arrive until 4.20.

“I didn't ask them to come in at 7am, I said to come at four in the afternoon. If they can't be on time for that, what sense of responsibility have they got?

“They live five minutes from the Academy of Light, and they did not even run in when they were late. They just walked in without a care in the world. This is not acceptable.

“I thought at Swindon in League Two there were ignorant, arrogant footballers who did not have a chance at the top level. I have to tell you, I have found a worse environment in terms of discipline at this club. This is what I have found in the last few weeks, so we have to change it completely.”