We hadn’t seen anything like a MIGHTY QUINN

Niall’s light-bulb moment of deciding to go from player to chairman of a club meant some brilliant days and sleepless nights

ASK Niall Quinn the difference between player and chairman and he paints a vivid picture. He’s done both jobs in the Premier League era at Sunderland. A towering centre-forward and the man who revived the club after its worst-ever season. Quinn said: “As a footballer you turn up, stay fit and try to perform – it’s a one-dimensional life. As chairman you have to be all things to everyone. “Each day had its revolving door of issues and problems to be sorted. Agents, media, fans, sponsors, banks, shareholders, referees, I could do a list that would upset the applecart every day. You have to be on guard at all times. “I was there six years. It was exhilarating but hard work. I had sleepless nights. The good days are few and far between but make up for the bad days. “You could have a brilliant day, something great happening commercially. You’d think ‘great...’ then open the door and someone would say one of your players has been arrested and you have to go to the police station.” Quinn’s revival of Sunderland kicked off in February 2006. He had lunch with chairman Bob Murray and it was clear to both of them that the club had gone flat. On the pitch Sunderland were heading for a thenrecord-low points total of just 15, and relegation. Yet Quinn says he had a “light-bulb moment.” By the end of the lunch he was thinking big. His idea was for a consortium of Irish and local businessmen, who came to be known as Drumaville, to buy the club. Quinn felt he had “unfinished business” because as a player he “left in the wrong way.” He added: “I said to John Fickling (then vice-chairman) that one day I might beback.andhe said, ‘Ah we’d love to you back as a manager’. I said, ‘No it might be more than that’. It was prophetic. “There was unfinished business about it. They got rid of Peter Reid, and I wasn’t being involved. I didn’t feel it was the right exit and I left quickly so to get back in and have a go at it myself was great. That ambition was always there.” Quinn recalls Sunderland “were in dire trouble on and off the pitch.” His Irish backers were sold on the club when seeing the Stadium Of Light crowd give a standing ovation to Arsenal striker Thierry Henry near the end of the season. Quinn recalls: “The potential was there to see. But what was more evident was the sporting hearts and minds of people who loved their football.” As the club faltered on the pitch, Quinn pushed on to buy up 86 per cent of the shares from “thousands and thousands” of stakeholders. He needed 90 per cent to trigger a full takeover. The inevitable relegation happened but Quinn and Drumaville pushed on and got over the line. The question was how to get the club back to the Premier League. The answer was Roy Keane, but only after Quinn stood in as manager, unsuccessfully, at the start of the season. He said: “We thought Roy was coming one day but he took three or four. I said, ‘What’s that all about?’ And he said, ‘My sister saw you on the telly and thought you were going to have a heart attack as the manager. So I thought I’d wait a few days...’ “It was classic Roy. “Roy was one of the most influential sportsmen in the British Isles at the time. Even though he was inexperienced we said we’d give him every chance we could. “But, Roy being Roy, once he got the team on a roll we scooted to the top and got promoted. It was incredible.” Quinn (above left, with Keane) sees parallels with the Sunderland of last season, a club in desperate need of someone to give them the kiss of life. He added: “I feel for them now. It is a tough time and they need some positivity from somewhere. I wish them well. “I got a young, fresh Roy Keane and the whole thing kicked on. I hope they can rediscover that positivity with what they have now. “The doom and gloom of being relegated is there. The down-trodden fan looking for inspiration. The next few weeks will be critical. “When the players come back they have to have shaken the negativity away. “I didn’t get it right all the time. It is hard for me to tell people what to do because I know how difficult it is. I just hope it falls into place.”

Once Roy Keane got the team on a roll we scooted to the Premier League