Roy Keane to Sunderland's rescue?
Former Manchester United hardman takes the reigns at the Stadium of Light
Things are looking up for Sunderland. The side from the North East of England have finally broken a run of five winless games in a row by beating West Brom 2-0 at their Stadium of Light home yesterday. It still leaves them second from bottom of the Championship (England's second division) with just three points but it's better than the big fat zero they had at the start of the day.
It's almost as if the glowering presence of Roy Keane, sat in the stands, was enough to spur his soon-to-be new charges into a decent performance. The former Manchester United midfielder is due to be formally introduced to the world as Sunderland's new manager at a press conference on Monday and will be in charge of the first team for their game away at Derby County on Saturday.
Keane is an interesting choice for a number of reasons. Firstly, he is one of the most famous footballers in Europe thanks to his exploits at Manchester United and the Republic of Ireland - and not just for the amount of trophies and titles he won (although there were a lot of these).
The Irishman epitomizes the Sir Alex Ferguson reign at Old Trafford, joining the Red Devils in 1993 for £3.75m from Nottingham Forest. By 1997 he was club captain and his ferocious tackling and smart distribution played a large role in making Man Utd the most successful English side of the 1990s - his personal haul of medals includes seven Premiership titles, four FA Cups and one European Champions League - although he missed the final due to suspension, a situation not unfamiliar to the fiery midfielder.
Actually, describing Keane as fiery is like saying the centre of the sun is a bit warm this time of year. Keane's furious attitude verged on the demented, and his two wild lunges at the unfortunate Norwegian player Alf-Inge Haaland illustrates his maniacal side.
The first occurred in 1998 when Keane had been on the end of a rough challenge from the Norwegian in a match against Leeds United. In an attempt at payback later in the game, Keane managed to snap his own cruciate ligament while making a heavy tackle on Haaland. The Leeds player unwisely bated Keane by accusing the Irishman of feigning his injury - which kept Keane out for nine months.
Like a psychotic elephant, Roy didn't forget and when the two met three years later, Haaland, now playing for Manchester City, was on the end of a quite horrific challenge from Keane that resulted in his sending off. Writing in his biography 'As I See It', Keane, in angry Old Testament mode, claimed that the tackle had been pre-meditated: "My attitude was, 'What goes around comes around'. He got his just rewards. My attitude is an eye for an eye".
Chilling stuff and slightly more eloquent than the "Take that, you c**t!" he allegedly shouted as his tackle landed on Haaland. Those comments saw Keane charged with bringing the game in to disrepute, banned for five matches and fined £150,000.
Haaland barely played again, sued Keane for the challenge and retired a year later, although the case was dropped and he claimed that Keane's challenge had nothing to do with his decision to quit professional football.
Other memorable Keane flare-ups include his stamping on Gareth Southgate in an FA Cup semi-final replay in 1995, elbowing Jason McAteer in 2002 and various arrests for nightclub "incidents" (although he was never charged).
None of this should take away from the fact that Keane was one of the best players to have ever starred in the English Premiership
Great footballers don't always make the best managers, though - Bobby Moore, John Barnes and Keane's old teammate Bryan Robson haven't had glittering records to say the very least. Sunderland fans will hope that he can follow the rare example of Franz Beckenbauer or at the very least Stuart Pearce.
But if this was just a famous footballer giving the management game a whirl, it would hardly have sparked the interest that it has. Keane is a legendary figure in his native Ireland and has had two classically-inspired theatrical homages written in his honour: I, Keano by comedian Arthur Matthews and the Roy Keaniead by Colin Teevan.
The reason for this unlikely elevation is a fateful day at the World Cup in 2002 at the Irish base camp in Japan - now known as the Saipan Incident. Trouble had been brewing for a while, as Keane had criticized the FA of Ireland's preparations for the tournament, the facilities and English-born manager Mick McCarthy's training sessions.
Finally on May 23rd, Keane was sent home by McCarthy for what Niall Quinn (the Sunderland chairman, Roy's new boss) described as "10-minute oration [against McCarthy] ... clinical, fierce, earth-shattering to the person on the end of it and it ultimately caused a huge controversy in Irish society."
The highlight of this noble speech was: "Mick, you're a liar...you're a f*****g w****r. I didn't rate you as a player, I don't rate you as a manager, and I don't rate you as a person. You're a f*****g w****r and you can stick your World Cup up you're a**e. The only reason I have any dealings with you is that somehow you are the manager of my country! You can stick it up your bollocks[sic]."
Keane had previously described Quinn as a "muppet" and a "coward" for taking McCarthy's side in the affair but has now said that it is all behind them - although Roy is hardly seems one for burying the hatchet.
Which he certainly hasn't done with Mick McCarthy - now also a manager in England with Wolverhampton Wanderers, who happen to be in the same division as Sunderland. They play each other first at Wolves' Molyneux stadium on Saturday, 25th November 2006 with the return back in the North East on Saturday, 7th April 2007.
Two dates for your diary for sure - and I advise Mick to gird his loins that day - you wouldn't want Roy sticking it up your bollocks again now, would you?
That's if Keane lasts that long. A volatile character who walked out on Manchester United in November last year when his patience snapped during a long convalescence recovering from a broken foot, it will be interesting if the high standards that Keane adheres to can be achieved at second rank Sunderland.
Expect a further chapter to be penned in the Roy Keaneiad before too long - there should be plenty of material.
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