Roy Keane has branded Aston Villa 'a tired club' and accused shot-shy players of being 'unable to finish their dinners' in a withering assessment of his former employers.

Keane left his position at Villa Park as number two to former manager Paul Lambert in November to concentrate on his role as Republic of Ireland assistant manager.

But, writing in an updated version of his autobiography The Second Half, which will be published next month, he takes a swipe at the Midlands club and accuses them of complacency.

Roy Keane, who worked as Paul Lambert's No 2, criticises the complacency of Aston Villa's players in a new chapter in his autobiography 'The Second Half', to be released next month

Keane offers a withering assessment of Villa and their players in his updated autobiography

Keane is now commonly seen working as a pundit on ITV Sport, including for Tuesday's Champions League

Keane writes: ‘There seems to be the attitude, “We’re not going to be challenging, but we’re probably good enough to stay up”. It’s like drifting. It’s a tired club, a tired brand.

'I think some of the players, even subconsciously, thought, ‘We’ve a nice life here, we don’t want you rocking the boat'.

'You’d be patting them on the back for putting their boots on and being on time – and half the time they weren’t on time!'

Under Lambert, Villa struggled for goals and managed just 12 in the Premier League by the time he was sacked in February with the club in the relegation zone.

Keane, who also takes a swipe at Lambert's replacement Tim Sherwood for turning up for matches before the manager was sacked, reveals that he knew in pre-season training that Villa would face issues in front of goal.

Keane takes a swipe at Lambert's replacement Tim Sherwood in the book, accusing him of positioning himself to take over as manager by attending games while his predecessor was still in charge

Christian Benteke, the Belgium striker, also comes in for criticism for not scoring enough in training

Sherwood has guided Aston Villa to the FA Cup final, where they face Arsenal on May 30

Villa currently have a two-point cushion between themselves and the Premier League drop zone

‘As a friend of mine says, some of them couldn’t finish their dinner,' he says.

Playing a more entertaining brand of football under Sherwood, rejuvenated Villa are on the verge of beating the drop and will go to Wembley for the FA Cup Final later this month.

But Keane, who also accused top scorer Christian Benteke of not wanting to score goals in training, believes Lambert will go on to achieve success elsewhere.

Keane remonstrates with fourth official Mike Jones during his time as Aston Villa's assistant

Keane left his post at Villa Park in November to concentrate on another post as Ireland's assistant manager

'Paul’s departure from Villa in February wasn’t a surprise – because of the results,' he writes.

'He’ll bounce back and prove himself to be the quality manager I saw at Villa.'

Keane puts his decision to leave Villa and concentrate on his role assisting Martin O'Neill down to the fact he felt he was letting his country down and was not spending enough time with his family.

'My job with Ireland wasn’t really affecting my role at Villa – that wasn’t the problem,' he says. ‘But my role at Villa was certainly affecting my work with Ireland. I felt it wasn’t fair.'