On this day, in 2006 Roy Keane made six signings on deadline day, just days after taking over Niall Quinn’s temporary management with us sitting in the relegation zone.
DWIGHT YORKE - £200,000
The first of the six signings was Dwight Yorke. Keano signed his old Man Utd teammate for around £200k from Sydney FC but he wasn't the same player. I mean, technically he was, but Roy deputised him in midfield where he made 62 appearances and scored six goals.
GRAHAM KAVANAGH - £500,000
The next signing was Graham Kavanagh from Wigan for £500k. Graham spent three of his 19 years in football with us, and he only got on the pitch 15 times, scoring once. All of his appearances came in the first season with us, but due to injuries he barely featured. We then shipped him out on loans to Sheffield Wednesday and Carlisle. He would eventually join the latter side on a free where he would see out his career. Not a great signing.
STANISLAV VARGA £1.1 MILLION
Next up is a double swoop from Celtic, signing two more of Keane’s former colleagues. We brought in former Mackem Stanislav Varga for a second time and with him came Ross Wallace for a fee of around £1.1 million. Varga played about 20 games and did what he did best, went for everything in the air and booted everything around him out the way, ball or man. The Slovakian was released in 2008 after a loan to Burnley in his final season and he would retire following his release.
ROSS WALLACE - PART OF VARGA DEAL
As for Ross Wallace he was with us until 2009. In his first season we of course gained promotion to the Premier League and Ross played a major role in that accomplishment. He alternated between left midfield and left back but regardless he always delivered wicked crosses into the area. He got his Wearside career off to a flyer, playing well week in week out, and then he went through a dip in form before ending the season back in the good form he started the season with. Once we were in the Premier League Keano kept him in our starting eleven for the first game of the season against Tottenham. As I’m sure many of us will remember this day as it was this game where Michael Chopra scored the 93rd minute winner in our first match back in the top flight. Wallace was the one who provided Chopra with the assist for the memorable goal. After this he carried on impressing, he did have one major injury but once he came back he was back to his best. Eventually he would leave to go to Preston North End, followed by Burnley, Sheffield Wednesday, Fleetwood and St Mirren. A good signing for Sunderland in my books, he had versatility, worked hard and could whip in a belter cross.
LIAM MILLER - FREE
Liam Miller was the only signing of the day that didn’t cost a penny in transfer fees, we signed him on a free following his release from Manchester United. Like four of the six that were signed on this day, Miller also departed in the 2008-09 season. He left in January to go to QPR. Out of the six players we signed, the four that left during the 08-09 season were: Liam Miller, Ross Wallace, Stanislav Varga and Graham Kavanagh. Seems like Keane must have thought they couldn't cut it in the Premier League and to be fair, he was probably right. They all left to go to teams in lower divisions or retire.
DAVID CONNOLLY - £1.9 MILLION
Last but certainly not least is our most expensive signing of the lot, David Connolly. We signed the striker from Wigan for almost two million pounds and I’m not really sure why. The two seasons prior to joining he had three goals in 23 games, not an impressive output. Before he joined Wigan he had a decent return though, and Keano was hoping to reignite the fire in Connolly, and if Keane can’t get you fired up then god knows what’s wrong. At Wimbledon and Excelsior he was a goal machine, so it was a bit of a punt if we could get that kind of form, and in his first season he scored thirteen goals, which was actually decent. Once we were in the Prem he wasn’t relied on, putting on the shirt only three more times before being released the following season.
It was a clear transfer strategy from Roy and his team, he obviously wanted to work with players who he already had a rapport with. When you look at all the players signed on this day they all have previous history with Roy. Yorke and Miller had the MUFC link, Kavanagh and Connolly had worked with him previously with the Republic of Ireland and then Varga and Wallace knew him from his Celtic days. The approximate total spend on this day is £3.7 million. All in all it was a successful day of transfers, they came in and knew what they had to do to get us back into the top flight and they all played their part somehow as we achieved our common goal.
