Roy stays keen on strong characters

Aug 30 2008 by Mark Douglas, The Journal

Roy Keane knows that his man-management skills will play a vital part in Sunderland’s success this season. Mark Douglas reports.

HOWEVER impressive their transfer business has been this summer, Roy Keane knows that Sunderland’s ascent to the Premier League’s ‘next level’ has barely passed base camp.

Signing established top-flight talent with a liberal sprinkling of international caps represented an important breakthrough for Sunderland, a crucial statement of intent from a club that just 12 months ago struggled to convince David Nugent they were a credible Premier League force.

But Keane will be aware that assembling an arsenal of talent is no guarantee of success in itself – especially when it checks in with the sort of baggage Sunderland’s new arrivals have.

The transformation of Keane in the public imagination from snarling Manchester United captain to cerebral touchline presence on Wearside has been remarked on extensively, but his sharp football mind will be exercised more than ever this season.

The likes of Pascal Chimbonda, El-Hadji Diouf, Djibril Cissé and Anton Ferdinand have all not led a blameless life and knowing when to massage the egos of his new stars and when to cut them down to size – as with Chimbonda last weekend, who was left out of the squad for missing a pre-match stroll – is going to play a vital part in Sunderland’s success this season. Passionate and driven professionals they may be, but you only had to witness Cissé berating misplaced passes at the City Ground on Wednesday to see the Stadium of Light dressing room will not always provide a cosy environment this season.

Keane has been accused of playing with fire but, typically, he views dealing with spiky personalities as an essential part of his and the club’s development.

Ahead of a game against Manchester City tomorrow that will be a decent barometer of how far Sunderland have progressed in the four months since they last played them, Keane staged a passionate defence of his team building.

“I have not been put off by players’ reputations,” he said. “ Look at all the managers who have been successful – they seem to enjoy the challenge of different people.

“I do like that it challenges me. If I thought I was coming to work every day and every game and not face issues or decision making then I’d be wrong – that is management. You have to manage staff. I have made so many mistakes but you have to learn fast.

“I have no problems with having a loud dressing room. The club has evolved in a short space of time. There is a different feel to it. That is what different characters bring to it.

“Whatever they’ve done at previous clubs is none of my business and that’s the challenge I have as a manager. But if I thought I was going to have a long, successful career without facing different characters I’d be kidding myself.

“I saw a lot as a player and it’s different as a manager, I have to deal with it but I dealt with it a lot when I was a player anyway. We had some decent strong dressing rooms and if we saw anybody who had taken their eye off the ball we would deal with it.

“That’s why management is not a big shock or change for me – when I was playing I dealt with many players one-to-one if I felt they weren’t pulling their weight. I was lucky that if I wasn’t stepping in some other senior player was.” While the reaction to Chimbonda’s indiscretion illustrates that disciplinary standards remain high, Keane accepts his exacting standards have been toned down since his playing days. As the Sunderland manager acknowledges, they have had to be.

He said: “Maybe that was the downside of me before I finished. I though everyone should be like me and they are not. I have to let people be themselves, what they drive, how they dress. I have to let people have the freedom to do what they want as long as it is not affecting their football. Maybe I didn’t do that as a player, and was maybe too intense.

“People talk about Dwight Yorke and his lifestyle but these people love their football. These so called characters flamboyant, dress different. They still want to win.”

With a neat symmetry, Keane will get the perfect chance to assess the progress of his team when City return four months after a listless defeat that provoked a seething Keane to accuse him team of complacency.

Seven days after securing a pivotal victory at Fulham there was a palpable lack of urgency against a City team beginning to unravel – and it resulted in a 2-1 defeat that was among the lowest moments of the campaign.

“I regard our defeats to Manchester City last season as two of the most disappointing of the campaign,” he said. “When I look back on last season there were a lot of games where we should have drawn or could have won and we ended up losing.

“The two games against Manchester City were like that, as were the defeats to Blackburn Rovers – games where there was very little in it, games where we were often the better side, but didn’t have what it took to get over the finishing line. This time, I just have a feeling that it’s going to be a very good Premier League game.”

With the dressing room Keane has assembled, complacency shouldn’t be a problem this time around.