Keane undermined his own reputation
Feb 24 2009 by Mark Douglas, The Journal
LIKE seeing a former girlfriend in the arms of a new man, Roy Keane’s weekend exit interview could be the best thing to happen to Sunderland AFC.
Some Black Cats supporters have come across as heartbroken teenagers after the sudden break-up of their relationship with Keane – but his slightly jarring interview with the Irish Times might snap them out of their lingering yearning for his return.
While Keane made some valid points about the unfair tone of the criticism that followed his exit, at other points he appeared not to have learned the lessons of his untimely demise. He admitted mistakes in the transfer market, and said he would never again sign players that he didn’t rate. And his point of being exploited for his ‘box office’ appeal was a sound one, too. But Keane’s rapier-sharp criticism of Sunderland’s majority shareholder Ellis Short was clumsy and made him look hopelessly out of touch with reality.
He was indignant that Short had tried to ring him after the Bolton game, when Keane was engrossed in a two-day bout of introspection.
And he was even angrier that when Short finally got through to him, he posed him questions about the amount of time he spent away from the training ground. His ‘tone’, apparently, was offensive. Those gripes will have raised a chuckle among other managers in the footballing fraternity, who are used to spending more than one day a week training the team they lead and who have got by with a transfer kitty considerably smaller than the one Keane frittered away.
His former nemesis Mick McCarthy, for example, would have loved even a fraction of the money Keane lavished on players not good enough to make an impact in the Premier League.
The former Sunderland boss said he will definitely be back in the game in the near future – and will even consider returning to the Championship if the club is right. But that contrasts with his touchy reaction to Short’s criticisms, and Keane must realise that he was indulged to a huge extent by the Irish businessmen that made up the Drumaville consortium.
Keane deserves an exalted place in Sunderland’s history for the way that he hauled the club back from the doldrums during two phenomenally successful years.
His success should be placed in context, however. For all the many millions he spent, the last team that he picked included three players that McCarthy had managed to pick up for a pittance.
History is sure to be kind to Keane, but his first interview since leaving the club may end up being seen as an unwanted postscript to a glorious chapter in the life of Sunderland.
