Ex-Manchester United captain, Roy Keane (image courtesy of Wikipedia)
After a hundred games in charge, Roy Keane resigns as Sunderland manager.
Following a 4-1 drumming at home to Bolton Wanderers last weekend, and five defeats out of the last six games, Keane’s resignation feels inevitable.
In his 27 months in charge, Keane saw the club promoted from the Championship and saw off relegation from the Premiership last season.
That is no easy feat.
Particularly when you consider that Sunderland was his first managerial job.
At 37, he was the youngest Premiership manager, and heralded as one for the future, and yet London radio station, talkSPORT, were questioning today if he would ever return to management.
Where did it all go wrong?
Given his inspiring and combative performances as a former Manchester United captain, people expected him to transfer this approach to his players when he became manager.
And when Sunderland won the Championship title in 2007, Keane’s winning mentality certainly looked like it was rubbing off.
Run out of ideas
But this season, Keane seems to have run out of ideas.
Highly supportive chairman Niall Quinn invested heavily in the squad in the summer, bringing in experienced, able Premiership players like Steed Malbranque from Tottenham Hotspur and Anton Ferdinand from West Ham.
More of a surprise than Keane’s resignation today, is that ‘Mr Motivator’ hasn’t been able to get more out of his talented squad.
Nyron Nosworthy is a powerful defender that can make life hard for the best of attacking players.
The rather weighty midfielder Andy Reid - often dropped this season – has great passing vision and movement and makes things happen in the midfield.
And Pascal Chimbonda – despite inconsistencies – did put in some impressive performances for Spurs at right-back and I would have thought a disciplinarian like Keane might have able to keep him under control.
Kenwyne Jones
Following a 4-1 drumming at home to Bolton Wanderers last weekend, and five defeats out of the last six games, Keane’s resignation feels inevitable.
In his 27 months in charge, Keane saw the club promoted from the Championship and saw off relegation from the Premiership last season.
That is no easy feat.
Particularly when you consider that Sunderland was his first managerial job.
At 37, he was the youngest Premiership manager, and heralded as one for the future, and yet London radio station, talkSPORT, were questioning today if he would ever return to management.
Where did it all go wrong?
Given his inspiring and combative performances as a former Manchester United captain, people expected him to transfer this approach to his players when he became manager.
And when Sunderland won the Championship title in 2007, Keane’s winning mentality certainly looked like it was rubbing off.
Run out of ideas
But this season, Keane seems to have run out of ideas.
Highly supportive chairman Niall Quinn invested heavily in the squad in the summer, bringing in experienced, able Premiership players like Steed Malbranque from Tottenham Hotspur and Anton Ferdinand from West Ham.
More of a surprise than Keane’s resignation today, is that ‘Mr Motivator’ hasn’t been able to get more out of his talented squad.
Nyron Nosworthy is a powerful defender that can make life hard for the best of attacking players.
The rather weighty midfielder Andy Reid - often dropped this season – has great passing vision and movement and makes things happen in the midfield.
And Pascal Chimbonda – despite inconsistencies – did put in some impressive performances for Spurs at right-back and I would have thought a disciplinarian like Keane might have able to keep him under control.
Kenwyne Jones
Sunderland’s opening part of the season was undoubtedly hampered by the injury to their brilliant centre forward – Kenwyne Jones.
Certainly Keane’s best purchase as manager from Southampton for 6m, any of the top four would be lucky to have his pace and assists.
Roy Keane is a proud man, and therefore it is unsurprising that he resigned if as he himself said, he felt he’d taken the club as far he could.
Timing wise, a fixture against his old boss Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford this weekend, seemed a good one to miss given the club’s current decline.
Hopefully the pundits are wrong in thinking he might not return to management. His honesty will be missed.
Certainly Keane’s best purchase as manager from Southampton for 6m, any of the top four would be lucky to have his pace and assists.
Roy Keane is a proud man, and therefore it is unsurprising that he resigned if as he himself said, he felt he’d taken the club as far he could.
Timing wise, a fixture against his old boss Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford this weekend, seemed a good one to miss given the club’s current decline.
Hopefully the pundits are wrong in thinking he might not return to management. His honesty will be missed.
No comments:
Post a Comment