Born on this day is former Manchester United captain and ex-Sunderland manager Roy Keane. The tough-tackling midfielder has an illustrious playing career, and was a serial winner both as a player and manager.
He won everything at Manchester United, and was widely tipped to take over from Sir Alex Ferguson eventually. However, Keane left United under a cloud of controversy which essentially ended those rumours. He joined Celtic where he then retired, again rumoured to take over the managerial role.
Keane ultimately decided against the Hoops, joining Championship club Sunderland instead. He was reunited with chairman Niall Quinn, who had fallen out with the midfielder during their international duties for the Republic of Ireland. Quinn had given himself the role of caretaker manager while he searched for a permanent replacement, but after five games we’d only won one and were second-bottom in the second division.
He spent no time making changes, and was involved in arguably the club’s craziest deadline day ever. It saw the arrival of six new additions, including Dwight Yorke and Liam Miller. Keane oversaw a steady improvement on Wearside, and by January we had made it to the top half of the table. Sunderland were active again in the winter transfer window, signing an additional five further player. This included Jonny Evans and Danny Simpson on loan from Keane’s former club Man United. The gaffer had clearly not let his high standards drop. When three players were late to the coach for a trip to Barnsley, Keane simply left them behind!
Despite the shaky start under Quinn, Keane’s men were crowned champions of the Championship. The achievement also earned the Irishman the Manager of the Year award for his troubles, as well as two consecutive Manager of the Month accolades in February and March. The following season, Sunderland survived in the Premier League and brought in even more United players; Kieran Richardson, Paul McShane, Danny Higginbotham and Phil Bardsley all coming to the SoL.
Despite Keano being a fan favourite until the very end, inconsistent results led to the side being 18th in November, and in poor form. Keane held talks with Niall Quinn, and the decision was made for him to leave Sunderland. Ricky Sbragia took over on Wearside, but Roy had to wait until April 2009 to find a new job.
He was appointed Ipswich Town manager, but after a brief and inconsistent spell the no-nonsense manager was sacked not long after. More notably, Keano was Martin O’Neill’s right-hand man on the international stage with the Republic of Ireland. He was constantly the target of the media, and eventually Keane was asked to stop doing interviews to end the circus of media attention. Both Keane and O’Neill left their roles in 2018, and after a short stint as Nottingham Forest assistant Keano threw himself into punditry.
His high standards have, even to this day, remained high and that shines through as a pundit- particularly when he talks about Manchester United. But his comedy duo act with Micah Richards was nearly broken up after the sacking of Lee Johnson, as Keano was massively linked with a shock return to the club. However, despite what felt like weeks of speculation he eventually decided against a return to management. Sunderland appointed another no-nonsense straight-talker in Alex Neil, and the rest is history. We will never know if we’d have won promotion with Roy Keane in charge, but, just like the Jermain Defoe signing, it is perhaps best if we leave the past in the past and look forward to an exciting future instead...
