Quitter Keane Is A Big Surprise
For such a tough character, Roy Keane's surrender as Sunderland's manager was as embarrassing as it was surprising. The Irishman who has always maintained he would never shirk a challenge, appears to have quit at the first sign of major trouble on Wearside.
Yet, while criticism of him has grown steadily all season, Keane's departure will still be a blow to many supporters who believed he would not only guide the team out of their sticky patch, but also come good on his top half of the table objective this season. Unlike most who part company with a football club, Keane retained the support and admiration of the vast majority of those who follow it.
Instead, the former Manchester United midfielder and one of the finest players of his generation has decided he has had enough, walking away from a half finished job with his reputation, perhaps, in tatters.
Quitters never win and winners never quit, isn't that right Roy? A winner as a player, Keane looks a loser for the first time in his football career. Is he simply going to be another Bryan Robson or Bobby Charlton, magnificent players who failed to cut it in the dugout?
Having fought to raise expectations at Sunderland, striving to end the club's yo-yo reputation as he deliberately helped foster comparisons between himself and the late great Brian Clough, Keane spoke confidently about building a football club, not just a football team at the Stadium of Light.
Sadly, having spent more than £70m on new players in less than two and a half years, after one win in seven games and with a new contract still unsigned, Keane decided it was a construction project he simply didn't have the tools, or the will, to complete.
It is easy to take cheap shots at a manager when they have left, but we should remember Sunderland have benefited enormously from Keane's presence. The club is a completely different one to when he arrived in August 2006, with better players and a better reputation.
He took the Black Cats out of the Championship and became the first manager since Peter Reid to keep them in the Premier League. Sunderland were, for perhaps the first time, a fashionable club, the new darlings of the national media fascinated by the Irishman they had appointed as manager.
It is only a few weeks ago that Sunderland, fresh from a derby win over Newcastle United were hailed as the new dominant force in regional football. And yes that included myself.
Newcastle were in turmoil following the departure of Kevin Keegan and the angry protests it provoked against owner Mike Ashley, Sunderland, in contrast, were stable and secure with an ambitious, but sensible chairman in Niall Quinn and an ambitious and inspirational manager in Keane.
The ground is always capable of shifting quickly under your feet in football, but this has been a remarkable turnaround in a season which is proving to be tumultuous even by North East standards.
So who next for the Black Cats chair? Former United boss Sam Allardyce will be an early favourite given he is a former Sunderland player and is out of work following his failure to impress at St James's Park.
And what about Phil Brown, Allardyce's former assistant at Bolton and now the manager of this season's surprise package Hull City? Allardyce may have been a former Sunderland player, but Brown, from South Shields, is a lifelong fan!
Other names may also appeal. Alan Curbishley is also out of work after leaving West Ham in the summer. The Cockney's reputation remains largely intact, despite a difficult time at Upton Park, where he quit in protest at boardroom interference in transfers.
And what about the strong Irish links? David O'Leary anyone!? Thought not!
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Luke Edwards - is Chief Sports Writer of The Journal and uses his blog to give a unique and entertaining insight into events at Newcastle United and Sunderland.
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I have to agree with your summing up at the start of the piece, Luke.
Since he went to Sunderland and got into the job, I've regarded him as their major asset. Not for his transfer activity, not for his tactics but for the presence he brought to the club. Granted, Niall Quinn is really the major asset but in a quieter, behind the scenes manner. But my thinking was that Keane had the right character to take them forward. He had the character which meant players wouldn't mess him around, they'd work hard and if things started going wrong, he'd have the character to handle it and be given time to get it right.
As a Newcastle fan, I'm quite pleased actually. Not to rub it in or anything, but if it were my club who woke up this morning with Keane and by lunchtime was faced with the prospect of Allardyce and his anti-football policy, I'd be gutted. Then again, £70m buys a lot of 0-0s - he'll be straight down to Jewson's to get that goal bricked up!
Hi Luke,
I`d laugh my socks off if they appointed Big Sam.
Only Keano bought more rubbish for the Premiership than Allardyce.
Reckon Keano has a serious problem if he tosses in the towel so easily. My lasting memory however will be off Alan Shearer winding him up at SJP and Keano getting sent off.
Always rated him as player, real tough nut, but never thought he had much upstairs.