SOCCER NEWS:ROY KEANE confirmed yesterday that he still sees himself as having a future in football management despite having resigned his position at Sunderland last week having, it appears, concluded that he could bring the club no further at this point in time.
"I am grateful to the club, players and fans at Sunderland, and most especially the staff, for their support during my first management appointment," said the Corkman in a statement issued through the League Manager's Association (LMA) in England.
"I have experienced and learnt a tremendous amount in the last 27 months and enjoyed the rigours of being a manager. I look forward to building on those experiences and sometime in the future returning to football management."
The LMA also confirmed that Roy Keane had accepted an apology from Sunderland's majority shareholder Ellis Short in relation to comments made to the Guardian newspaper by one of the American's business advisors.
Per-Magnus Andersson, whose remarks were subsequently widely reported, had been critical of particular aspects of Keane's management style at the Stadium of Light but Short was quick to dissociate himself from the comments and to express his respect for Keane and the job he had done over the past two and a half years.
"I have nothing but admiration for Roy Keane," he said, "and am grateful for all he has done for the club and I wish him well for the future."
Keane's comments regarding his intention to return to management, meanwhile, come after days of speculation over whether he would want to work in the game again.
His former boss at Manchester United, Alex Ferguson, had expressed doubts about whether he would ever return to management while former team-mate Mark Hughes expressed confidence that he would.
Sunderland will draw up a shortlist of candidates to replace Keane later this week - but former boss Peter Reid will not be on it.
Reid, currently in charge of the Thailand national team, moved to clarify his position after watching Thailand beat Laos 6-0 at the Suzuki Cup in Phuket.
"I said that in a certain amount of time I want to go back to England," Reid said. "But I have a contract in Thailand that I want to fulfil. I didn't say I wanted to go back to Sunderland, sometimes in England you get misquoted."
Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn and his fellow board members are understood to be assessing more than 30 serious candidates before meeting in the next 48 hours to reduce the field to a handful of contenders.
As a result, there is no guarantee an appointment will be made before Saturday's crucial home clash with bottom side West Brom, and that could mean an extended stay at the helm for coach Ricky Sbragia and assistants Neil Bailey and Dwight Yorke.
Keane's departure has prompted a deluge of applications from around the globe.
Former Black Cats defender and coach Sam Allardyce remains the bookmakers' favourite, but sources on Wearside have suggested he does not necessarily enjoy the same status with the men who will make the decision.
He and second favourite Alan Curbishley were in Sunderland's sights before Keane was appointed in August 2006, and are currently out of work following their respective departures from Newcastle and West Ham under very different circumstances.
Former Chelsea boss Avram Grant is leading a list of overseas candidates in the betting stakes, with Martin Jol and Gerard Houllier hot on his heels, while reports over the weekend threw the unheralded NEC Nijmegen boss Mario Been's name into the ring.
Meanwhile, Blackburn chairman John Williams insists no decision has yet been made regarding Ince's future as manager. Ince is under pressure at Ewood Park after a run of 10 Premier League games without a win.
"The board will make decisions it feels are in the best interests of the club," said Williams.
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