By Garry Cook
He’s ‘apologised’ to Niall Quinn and Sir Alex Ferguson and told us all that he wasn’t that great a player anyway – and all this before he has actually taken charge of his first match.
Yes, the Roy Keane road show has rolled into town.
Inside his first week the snarling, unforgiving, brutal bastard broke with protocol by saying sorry and pledging to be a bit more subtle.
In his inaugural press conference as Sunderland boss only one journalist had the balls to question Keane about his treatment of former republic of Ireland team-mate Niall Quinn.
As Sunderland’s chairman, Quinn is now embarrassingly Keane’s boss. He was sitting alongside Keane when the question was asked. I’m cringing even now thinking about the pairs past and present situation.
After Keane fell out with Republic of Ireland boss Mick McCarthy on the eve of the World Cup in 2002, the former Manchester United midfielder labelled the ex-Sunderland striker, amongst other things, a muppet.
When the pair met later that year at the Stadium of Light there was a rather acrimonious incident as Quinn, to his credit, tried to shake the hand of Keane.
Unfortunately, Quinn made his gesture after the volatile Irishman Keane had been sent off following a running battle with another Republic player, Jason McAteer.
It was this incident which was mentioned in the press conference. Keane brushed the question aside like a seasoned pro (which he is) and stated that he had realised his mistakes and totally changed his opinion of Quinn – but he had NOT done so to get the Sunderland job. Roy Keane does not arse lick.
His steely stare meant there were no more questions on the subject. Basically, Keane got off lightly. Again. Professionally, no journalist in the room wanted to upset Keane for fear of being denied access to him in the future. And privately, no journalist wanted to upset Keane for fear.
On the rare occasion Keane forced a smile, I was wincing. It didn’t look right. It wasn’t Roy Keane.
There were huge similarities in the way Keane brushed away his past misdemeanours at the press conference and the way he excused his past thug-like behaviour in his autobiography.
In his book there was a lot of metaphorical shrugging of the shoulders as Keane glossed over his World Cup fiasco, his relationship with his Irish team-mates and the number of pitch fights he readily took part in.
However much of a great player Keane was, should he ever be forgiven for his deliberate maiming of Manchester City’s Alfe Inge Haaland in 2001, a tackle which ended the Norwegian’s career and was retribution for Keane’s cruciate injury during a spat with the same player years earlier?
Keane recalled in his book: "I’d waited long enough. I f***ing hit him hard. The ball was there [I think]."
What a lovely man.
It’s seems churlish to mention Keane’s other numerous flashpoints – Patrick Vieira (several) and Alan Shearer at St James’ Park being the highlights – but the point is made. Keane is a bastard. Luckily for Sunderland, having taken the title for the worst team ever to grace the Premiership twice, they are in desperate need of a bastard.
No Sunderland fan is 100 per cent chuffed at Keane’s appointment. No experience = no confidence. But things have been so bad on Wearside for so long that they’ll to cling to any bit of hope they can.
Sunderland’s first win – and points - of the season came in the Bank Holiday Monday home victory over West Brom. They had suffered four straight defeats before then, including a loss to Colchester – and not including a Carling Cup defeat to League Two’s then bottom side Bury. Was it a coincidence that Keane was sat in the stand watching his prospective new club when they put in their best performance for nearly four years?
Maybe that assumption is hard on Quinn who finally got a positive result in his short stint as caretaker manager.
But it’s onwards and upwards, that’s what Sunderland fans are saying. Forget the past, look forward. Yes, he’s a bastard, just let the bastard stick it up our shower of s***.
In his book, Keane went out of his way to blast the managerial ‘bluffers’, those who lack tactical awareness and instead shout and scream in the dressing room. At the time, this was taken to be a swipe at manager’s like then Sunderland boss Peter Reid.
So it was with a smile on my face that I watched Keane in his first week of full training at Sunderland standing alongside Bobby Saxton, Reid’s former assistant who Quinn brought back to the club at the start of this season.
Saxton was said to be the bawler behind Reid’s mostly successful stint at the Stadium of Light. Will Keane be as good as his words and turf the wily old coach out? Or can he really forgive and forget?
It’ll be fast and furious at the Stadium of Light under Keane, and it is unfair to suggest this great player will not cut it as a manager purely because he was a great player. Idiot's logic.
Keane was as good a player that has played in the Premiership, possibly even the best. But at times he was also as good as a thug.
How long will he stay on Wearside? How good a manager will he be? And how long before he falls out with Quinn again, never mind Dwight Yorke. He’s s***, yes, but it would be s*** without him.
It’s important to give a bloke a chance, or a second chance, or whatever. We must not to be prejudicial. Before we make any judgement on whether Keane has changed, we need to be sure, to be sure.
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