SUNDERLAND HAVE closed ranks against their former manager Roy Keane as players and board members delivered their retorts to the Irishman's scathing attack over the weekend in The Irish Times.
As the chairman, Niall Quinn, defended the American investor Ellis Short’s presence on the board after Keane claimed it was his interference which had been one of the main reasons behind his departure, one of his own signings, the left-back George McCartney, claimed Keane had lost the dressingroom long before he walked away from his first manager’s job.
With Keane’s man-management upsetting rather than inspiring, McCartney claimed his replacement, Ricky Sbragia, has rebuilt shattered confidence and restored the self-belief Keane had destroyed.
“We had a shaky period under Roy Keane when we didn’t win for about seven matches which dragged us towards relegation,” said McCartney, a €5.6 million purchase from West Ham United in the summer. “But the last four or five games under Rick we’ve started playing better football and got more confident with each match we’ve played, and that showed against Arsenal. I think under Roy Keane the lads were a bit disheartened and he went about things differently from the way Ricky does.”
Despite spending more than €45 million on new signings in the summer, Sunderland had slipped into the relegation zone when Keane quit following a 4-1 home defeat by Bolton Wanderers, claiming he had taken the club as far as he could.
That money was provided by Short and Quinn, who revealed that the Drumaville consortium which initially funded Keane’s transfer activity has been crippled by the credit crunch in the summer, displayed solidarity with the secretive American.
“Without Ellis coming on board we would not have any of these players,” Quinn said. “It’s great they are here, but the fact of the matter is Ellis was a vital part of the club’s growth at a critical juncture and naturally myself and the board are hopeful that the support will continue. I can say unequivocally, without Ellis Short, we would not be in the position we are today.”
Keane also appeared to take a thinly veiled swipe at Sbragia, who was part of his coaching staff at the Stadium of Light, claiming he was more interested in being friends with the players than controlling them. But Sbragia was diplomatic in his response.
“He has done fantastic for Sunderland,” Sbragia said. “They were bottom of the Championship and he has taken them up and then elected to leave the club. I worked for him for two years and he was good.
“He was a good manager and he knew what he wanted. It was his decision to say, ‘That’s it, I’ve had enough’.”
Sunderland were worth a share of the spoils against Arsenal on Saturday as the London side again could not break down a stubborn top-flight defence and missed the chance to close the gap on the top four.
Wenger, at full time, flapped his arms and, wearing a thunderous expression, imparted a terse line of advice to Sbragia.
“He said something like, ‘You should come here and play football’,” Sbragia said. “That’s difficult to take from our point of view and it’s unnecessary. It just takes the shine off us a little bit.”
Guardian Service
