There were many, including myself, who were dubious of Roy Keane’s potential in football management.  And when he decided to begin his trade at Sunderland, who after a humiliating season in the Premiership had started the season in the Championship with four straight defeats, even more doubters circled overhead.

However, the way Keane turned the side around and led them back to the promised land was superb and a testament to what can be achieved with a great deal of determination and more than a little managerial nous.

That he has succeeded in management so quickly is more understandable when one considers that he spent the majority of his playing career being coached and guided by two of the game's finest bosses - Brian Clough and Sir Alex Ferguson.

'The way Keane turned the side around and led them back to the promised land was simply superb'


Keane is always quick to point to these bastions of the game when asked for his biggest influence. The simple but effective approach by both men is perhaps summed up best by Keane's memories of Old Big'ead: "Clough's advice to me before most games was: 'You get it, you pass it to another player in a red shirt'. That's really all I've tried to do at Forest and United - pass and move - and I've made a career out of it." He is now making a career out of management - and a highly successful one at that.

What now for Sunderland and Keane? Well, he himself would be the first to admit that his current squad is not ideally equipped to deal with the Premiership elite, made up as it with Championship-level grit and a good smattering of youngsters looking to impress in the best league in the world.

No doubt chairman Niall Quinn will be eager to give his manager as much financial backing as possible to make the Black Cats' latest foray into the Premiership far more satisfying than their last visit, when they accrued a record low of just 15 points and just three victories

Should Keane be successful in his first big transfer bid - a £7 million offer for Preston striker David Nugent is on the table - then hopefully more will follow. His squad does lack Premiership experience and Sunderland have tried to snap up quality players, such as Bolton keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen and Celtic’s Neil Lennon. But failing to attract the really big names may not be such a bad thing. Keane does not suffer fools gladly and wouldn’t stand for the sort of show-boating that some established Premiership players may resort to.

However, they do have Dwight Yorke, who has made an almost Machiavellian return to top-flight football, playing at least 20 yards deeper than Aston Villa and Manchester United fans will remember. Also on board are fleet-footed, skilful players such as Carlos Edwards, Grant Leadbitter and tricky winger Ross Wallace, along with the steel of Keane-like Liam Miller, who will have a lot to prove following his stop-start career at Old Trafford.

Add to that solid captain Dean Whitehead, Graham Kavanagh, David Connolly and his trio of Irish strike partners Antony Stokes, Daryl Murphy and Stephen Elliot, plus new signing Greg Halford, who arrived from Reading earlier this month, and Keane has a team capable of giving their all week in week out. And that is something that his predecessor Mick McCarthy couldn’t count on towards the end of his reign at the Stadium of Light.

Now there is every chance that Sunderland can be the pride of the North-East once more, even with Newcastle's recent transition of new management both upstairs and downstairs and Boro's reshuffling on the pitch. The Black Cats have a great chance of bettering their neighbours and under Keane they can offer more to the Premiership than simply being the division's whipping boys.

Keane takes the familiar route back Old Trafford early in September when we will learn a lot more about whether he and his Sunderland side can make a lasting impression on the Premiership. I will be hoping that as a manager, he will again become a frequent visitor to the ground which saw him make an indelible mark on many an opponent.