Roy Keane – Sunderland AFC Manager
Manager of Sunderland AFC. – Roy Keane
Roy Maurice Keane (born 10 August 1971 in Mayfield, Cork) is an Irish former professional footballer and the current manager of Barclays English Premier League club Sunderland.
A dominating central-midfielder, Keane has been hailed as one of the greatest players to grace the game in the modern era. In a highly successful 17-year career, he played for Cobh Ramblers in the League of Ireland, Nottingham Forest and, most notably, Manchester United (both in England), before ending his career with a brief spell at Celtic in Scotland.
Keane was noted for his aggressive and highly-competitive style of play, an attitude which helped him excel as captain of Manchester United from 1997 until his departure in 2005. Keane helped United achieve a period of unprecedented success in more than 12 years at the club, during which he established himself as one of the greatest players in the club’s history.
He played at international level for much of his career, representing the Republic of Ireland over a period of fourteen years, most of which he spent as captain. In the 1994 FIFA World Cup he played in every game although he was sent home from the 2002 World Cup after an argument with national coach Mick McCarthy.
During his first season as Sunderland manager, he took the club from twenty-third position in the Coca-Cola Championship to win the league and gain promotion to the Premier League. Keane’s arrival has been largely attributed as the catalyst for Sunderland’s recovery.[1] He managed to steer Sunderland, Barclays English Premier League Football Club, to safety in the 2007/2008 season and will be looking to build on that success in the new season.
Personal information
Full name : Roy Maurice Keane
Date of birth : 10 August 1971 (1971-08-10) (age 37)
Place of birth : Cork, Ireland
Height : 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Playing position : Midfielder
Club information : Manager of Sunderland
League : English Premier League Club
Managerial career
During his time at Celtic, Keane was suggested as a potential managerial successor to Gordon Strachan by former Celtic player Charlie Nicholas.[41] 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”.[42]
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 relegation zone already, second bottom of the Championship table, 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[43] and Liam Miller,[44] supported by former Celtic colleagues Ross Wallace and Stanislav Varga,[45] as well as Wigan Athletic pair Graham Kavanagh and David Connolly.[46]
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,[47] whilst his team began to challenge for the automatic promotion places at the very top of the table.
Keane tackled the players non-professional approach with a firm hand. When three players were late for the team coach to a trip to Barnsley in March, he simply left them behind.
Sunderland secured promotion to the Premier League along with Birmingham City on 29 April when rivals Derby County were beaten by Crystal Palace.[48] A week later, the Coca-Cola Championship title was sealed, and Sunderland’s revival under Keane was complete. His achievements also earned him the Championship “Manager of the Year” award.[49] 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.[citation needed]
Sunderland, Barclays English Premier League Football Club, did not have the best of luck – both with injuries and some notable refereeing decisions that went against them – in the Premier League, though many pundits hailed their fighting spirit under Keane and backed them for survival. The lowest point of the season coming at Goodison Park, where they were heavily defeated 7-1 by Everton, which Keane described as ‘one of the lowest points’ of his career. However in the second half of the season the team’s form was much improved (especially at home) and Premier League survival was guaranteed with two games to go with a home win against Middlesbrough. Keane carried on his trend of buying ex-Manchester United players by signing Kieran Richardson, Paul McShane, Danny Higginbotham, Phil Bardsley and Jonny Evans on loan. He has also carried on the strict trend of discipline by putting Liam Miller (one of Sunderland’s apparently more consistent players) on the transfer list for being regularly late for training and other team meetings.
In September 2008 Keane became embroiled in a row with FIFA Vice President Jack Warner over the withdrawal of Dwight Yorke from the Trinidad and Tobago national team. Warner accused Keane of being disrespectful towards small countries.[50] Keane responded by calling Warner “a clown” and insisted that Yorke was retired from international football.[51]
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 and that the organisation was biased to players originating from Dublin or other Leinster regions. 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.”[52]
His former manager Sir Alex Ferguson, currently Manager of Man Utd FC, 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.”
Source: Roy Keane, Sunderland AFC Manager, Barclays English Premier League Football Club information at wikipedia.org