Black Cats make mess

SUNDERLAND were watched by 38,395 fans last weekend at the Stadium of Light.

It felt like a show of strength. It proved the Wearside fans were engaged and passionate and still hopeful of better times just around the corner.

A club languishing in the third tier for four seasons shouldn’t get near those sort of numbers.

The prospect of Roy Keane (below) becoming manager, and Jermain Defoe’s return to the club aged 39, put 6,000 on their already impressive average gate.

But Sunderland lost to Doncaster, and again in midweek to Cheltenham.

They’re on a downer, sabotaging their chance of automatic promotion.

And then they failed to land Keane. Many fans now regard last week as one of the worst in their history.

The words shambles and clueless have been used. The process, too public and almost bouncing Keane in to taking the job, has been a cock-up.

What caused Keane to back out of his planned unveiling on Thursday with just a few hours notice? Meddling? A lack of trust? Demands he take the job and then present to the board how he’d set up the team?

Whatever happened, something wasn’t right, and triggered alarm bells for Keane.

Sunderland now have Alex Neil, and he’s actually likely to have a more detailed knowledge of League One than Keane.

He won’t be as box-office. He won’t rattle near neighbours Newcastle’s cage, but it is very possible he’ll prove a more suitable option.

Sunderland fans are rightly disgruntled to have had the prospect of Keane – the nearest they have to a Kevin Keegan-type figure on

Tyneside – waved at them, only for the deal to fail.

But that’s not Neil’s fault, and he deserves respect and backing to give him a chance at clawing back the prospect of promotion.