overwhelmingly positive infuence on a Sunderland club mired in gloom
seem like some of the stuff he did he was going off a Brian Clough template,’ Anderson says. ‘Occasionally it felt like he was trying to play at Brian Clough, but Keane is the most charismatic man I’ve ever met in football. He has an electrifying presence and he was phenomenal for Sunderland.’
One of his signings for that first season in the Premier League, Danny Higginbotham, recalls how the manager held the respect of every person in the dressing room. ‘He got the best out of the players and instilled a belief in ourselves that we were never beaten. Not all managers can do that. ‘Training was absolutely spot on, too. There was an intensity to it and that’s what he expected. He didn’t have to be there every day, he knew the work would be done the right way.’
His absences from the training ground became more of an issue during that second difficult season in the top flight – not that he would see it out. But there were other problems, too. The squad was bloated and Keane found it difficult to move players on.
‘There were some on big contracts who had no problem sitting in the stands,’ Anderson explains. ‘I don’t think Keane could understand that mentality.’ Sunderland survived the first season in the Premier League but the ownership dynamic changed at the start of the second. Irish-American businessman Ellis Short took control from the Drumaville Consortium and, as results floundered, the pressure grew, resulting in Keane’s resignation in December 2008.
When he heard the news, Yorke texted a message of goodwill but was met with a blunt response: “f**k off”.
‘I don’t have any issue with Keano and I never will. In the heat of the moment we all say things, and that’s one of Keano’s problems right there,’ Yorke feels. ‘If he could have sorted that out and boxed a little bit cleverly, he would be one of the top managers today.’
It is why, eight years after walking away from a job in the Premier League, he fears Keane may not get a chance to return, regardless of what he has learned in the intervening period at Ipswich Town, Aston Villa and alongside Martin O’Neill with Ireland.
‘He boxed like it was a house on fire. That’s all well and good but not with owners. There’s only going to be one winner. Keano has presence and an aura. The respect he gets from players, those things are priceless and all the ingredients that you need as a manager.
‘But you’ve got to deal with people on all aspects. And Roy is not a people person. The reality of it, if you’re not prepared to deal with owners and go to meetings and deal with the club on an everyday [basis], you’re not going to get very far. And that is one of his biggest problems. He doesn’t deal with people very well.
‘However, I think international management is more suited to him, where he can get people for a period of time and then F them off, literally. That will work because when he comes in he still has that aura. That’s Keano. That’s my opinion.’
Niall Quinn promised Sunderland fans a ‘magic carpet ride’ before Keane’s appointment, but once he pulled the rug from underneath himself the dream was over. Ten different people have been in charge since he left and current boss David Moyes is bracing himself for another relegation battle.
Not much has changed in that respect, but Sunderland certainly has. ‘I will never, ever forget the contribution Roy made to Sunderland,’ Quinn says. ‘On paper there was promotion and survival, but what it really meant was the club had its dignity again. It rediscovered its heart.’