Roy Keane departure: Sunderland fans react

Dec 5 2008 by Dan Warburton, The Journal

SUNDERLAND manager Roy Keane yesterday walked out on the struggling club after 100 matches in charge.

A string of poor results since the 2-1 win against Newcastle last month has plunged the Wearsiders into the Premier League relegation zone.

And after a morning of talks with the board yesterday, the 37-year-old’s 27-month reign drew to a close when chairman Niall Quinn reluctantly accepted his decision to go.

Sunderland have won only one of their past six league games and discussions between the club and Keane have rumbled on for three days.

But last night Martyn McFadden, editor of the Sunderland fanzine A Love Supreme, said he was disappointed Keane had opted to leave when needed the most.

He said: “I think he’s just decided that he’s not cut out for a career in football management. He’s just walked out on Sunderland when they needed him.

“It was only last week he was saying he was not a quitter, but now he is not the Sunderland manager. It would have been his own decision, because he’s his own man and he makes his own decisions.

“He put Sunderland back on the map and we’ve improved, but what’s important is that we still have the board and they are the ones who are really going to change the club.”

Quinn said Keane’s decision was a testament to his desire to do what was best for the club. But shocked former players and celebrity fans voiced surprise. Gary Rowell, who scored a hat trick at St James’s Park in February 1979 to guide the Black Cats to a famous 4-1 win, said fans would not turn their backs on the club.

“Like everyone else, I was taken by total surprise. It just seems to me that no matter what they do, they just can’t seem to get the stability at the club.

“Managers lose their jobs for one reason, and that’s because of results. The team have been awful in the past couple of weeks.” But Olympic boxing bronze medallist Tony Jeffries said he had hoped Keane was the right man to bring success. “I got a real shock when I heard – I couldn’t believe it. I would have like him to stay and when we started to win things I would have thought he would have been here to enjoy it.

“The fans loved him. With Niall Quinn he turned Sunderland Irish.

“But if he was not happy, then he couldn’t stay on.

“The team have some brilliant players – it’s probably the best team they’ve had in my lifetime. “

Heralded as the man to bring stability, Keane was appointed in August 2006. He was given unprecedented financial backing by the board and in his first season led Sunderland into the Premier League.

His debut year in the top flight ended in 15th place before he went on a summer of heavy spending, bringing players such as Djibril Cisse, Anton Ferdinand, El-Hadji Diouf, Pascal Chimbonda and Steed Malbranque to Wearside.

But the team have failed to gel and the situation came to a head in Saturday’s disappointing 4-1 home defeat to Bolton.

Afterwards Keane admitted he was starting to doubt his suitability for the post. In a post-match Press conference, he said: “I ask myself every single day if I am the right man for Sunderland.

“I asked myself this morning and I said that I was. Tomorrow morning if the answer’s no, we will have to look at it.”

Keane timeline

June 2006: Retires from playing football after a spell at Celtic.

August 2006: Becomes manager of Sunderland, with the club floundering in the Championship.

May 2007: Sunderland win the title by two points, losing only once in their final 20 matches of the season.

November 2007: Spends more than £40m on players, but Sunderland struggle in the Premier League, the low point being a 7-1 defeat at Everton.

April 2008: The team secure survival with a 3-2 home win against Middlesbrough. Sunderland finish the season in 15th place.

September 2008: Hits out at Sunderland supporters after a section of them boo the team following a narrow Carling Cup home victory over Northampton.

November 8 2008: Defeat to Portsmouth, Sunderland’s third league loss in a row, sees Keane’s side slide to 19th in the table. It only gets worse as they lose to Blackburn 2-1 in the Carling Cup four days later.

November 15 2008: Local radio reports suggest Keane – who has yet to sign a new contract at Sunderland – is close to being sacked.

November 28 2008: Keane admits he may leave Sunderland in "six or seven months’ time". Sunderland lose 4-1 to Bolton the next day.

December 4 2008: Keane leaves Stadium of Light after morning of talks with Sunderland board.