Everyone knows who Roy Keane is. There is no doubt most of people considers him a great player who can bring a team to a crucial win. But no one really knows if he has that something to transform him from a great player to a great manager.
During his player career he was tipped to become one or another’s club manager’s successor. But at those days the time seemed to be too far away to consider those tips. Suddenly the moment rushed into the newspapers, blogs, television reports with a headline: “Roy Keane quits”.
During his time at Celtic, Keane was suggested as a potential managerial successor to Gordan Strachan by former Celtic player Charlie Nicholas. However, it was Championship club Sunderland where Keane chose to launch his managerial career, re-uniting him with the club's chairman and outgoing manager, Niall Quinn. The two men, publicly at least, were on opposing sides during the fall-out from the Saipan incident, but they were on good terms at the time of the managerial appointment, with Quinn urging Sunderland fans to "support and enjoy one of football’s true greats".
Keane signed a three year deal immediately after Sunderland's victory over West Bromwich Albion on 28 August, the Mackem's first win of the 2006-07 season after a dreadful run of four consecutive defeats under Quinn's temporary management. With his new club sitting in the relagation zone already, Keane chose to enforce changes quickly. His first actions as manager were deciding to keep the existing assistant manager, Bobby Saxton, and to appoint his former Nottingham Forest colleague Tony Loughlan as head coach. He wasted no time in bringing in new additions to the squad, with a total of six players signing on the final day of the August transfer window. The most notable signings were Keane's former Manchester United team-mates Dwight Yorke and Liam Miller, supported by former Celtic colleagues Ross Wallace and Stanislav Varga, as well as Wigan Athletic pair Graham Kavanagh and David Connolly.
Keane's first two games as manager could not have gone much better; first coming from behind to beat Derby County 2-1, followed by an easy 3-0 victory over Leeds United. Sunderland began to steadily creep up the league standings under Keane's management, and by the turn of the year they had escaped the bottom half of the league. Five further players were signed during the January 2007 transfer window, three (Anthony Stokes, Carlos Edwards and Stern John) on permanent contracts and two (Jonny Evans and Danny Simpson) on loan from Manchester United, Keane's old club. Results continued to improve, and Keane was rewarded with both February and March's "Manager of the Month" award, whilst his team began to challenge for the automatic promotion places at the very top of the table.
Sunderland secured promotion to the Premier League along with Birmingham City on April 29 when rivals Derby County were beaten by Crystal Palace. A week later, the Coca-Cola Championship title was sealed, and the Mackem's remarkable revival under Keane was complete. His achievements also earned him the Championship "Manager of the Year" award. A sign of Keane's bigger ambitions was shown by his decision not to celebrate promotion with an open-top bus parade through the city.
Keane has reiterated his displeasure with the attitude and selection policy of the FAI. In March 2007 Keane claimed that several Republic of Ireland players get picked solely based on their media exposure. Keane claimed that Sunderland player Liam Miller was not picked because he was from Cork and that players with significant potential were failing to get picked for the national team. He also alleged that the FAI were incompetent in the running of their affairs.
"Once you keep playing them on the reputation they've built up through the media or because they do lots of interviews, then it's wrong. There's a fine line between loyalty and stupidity."
His former manager Sir Alex Ferguson had previously said that he wanted Keane to succeed him as Manchester United coach when he retired. However, in the wake of Keane's acrimonious departure from the club, Ferguson became evasive regarding Keane's prospects as a manager: "Young managers come along and people say this one will be England manager or boss of this club, but two years later they're not there. It's not an easy environment to come into, I wouldn't forecast anything."
Yes, the first season was really great the fact which couldn’t be said regarding the second one. Or is the Premier League pace and class too high to climb for Keane? Or maybe he needs some more financial support from the ownership, or maybe Sunderland side is just not good enough for him? What do you think?
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11 months ago
Interesting article, i seem to remember a similar start to another Man Utd legend's managerial career > in Bryan Robson. Hope Keano does better. Good article.
11 months ago
Sunderland is just not a big enough club, and will have trouble attracting players of the right calibre.
If they are lucky, they can avoid the drop and maybe slowly begin to build something. Keane has the potential though.
11 months ago
Insightful article...but mate it took ages to read..interestingly most of the former Reds have struggled in their managerial posts at the beginning, but they have well grappled with the situation as time rolled on. A good backing both financially and psychologically is need from the Club so that the manager can have plenty of time to brush up his squads and make necessary changes to mold a winning team.
11 months ago
Yes, probably Sunderland is just not big enough for him. Anyway, for the beginning of a managerial career, Roy Keane had already brought the team to a success. Maybe he'll be offered a job in a bigger club in the future, who knows. As for me, I'll hope they will avoid relegation this season.
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