Sunderland must have done enough to fight another day in the Premiership and should certain their sustain their top flight status for one more season at least. Much of the credit must go to their manager, the one and only Roy Keane who took over the Black Cats when they were flirting with relegation to the League One last season.
Keane then seared Sunderland to promotion to the Premiership from the Championship and now Sunderland are ready to stay on in the Premiership next season too. All are impressed with Keane and suggest that the former Manchester United midfielder is set for greater things in his managerial career in the future but Newcastle United manager Kevin Keegan goes one step futher.
Newcastle confront Sunderland in the Premiership this weekend and speaking ahead of this Tyne-Wear derby at St. James’Park Keegan says:
“You can’t argue he’s done a great job there. It’s different to when I did it last time. You could come up and then really make a charge, but that’s not possible any more.
“You’d be amazed if that happened now because of the finances of the big clubs, the players they can attract and the size of the squads. Because of those differences, what Roy has achieved is similar to what I achieved when we finished third.
“In my view, one day Roy will be given the opportunity to do what I did with Newcastle - and that is manage a club he played for in Manchester United.
“You wouldn’t bet against it. Sir Alex Ferguson will probably still be there for another 30 or 40 years, but it’s like I said to Alan Shearer - you know this job will come for him at Newcastle and it will come for Roy at Manchester United at some stage.”
Which should happen a few years down the line provided Roy Keane can keep his temper under check!