But what we do know is there's no question the current uncertainty surrounding his position is doing nothing to help the stability of the club.

Week after week, we've had coy messages from both sides suggesting the contraction situation isn't an issue.

But clearly it is, even if they don't think so.

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With a new transfer window looming, the club must be in a difficult position when it considers committing a budget into the hands of a manager who has yet to commit himself to the club beyond May.

As a player, Keane famously let his contracts run down towards their conclusion before agreeing to sign another one – not a bad tactic when it came to negotiations and also a rare chance to remind everyone of his value as a player.

But those rules do not apply in football management, where it is vital the man at the helm gives a strong lead to everyone else in showing how committed he is to the cause.

If Keane is stalling on a new contract, then he must realise it does nothing for the short-term or medium-term good of Sunderland Football Club.

For, while he might claim that the manager is not important, he knows that the manager has to be THE most important person at a club. And if the manager is considering his position, then inevitably players start considering theirs and the whole focus of the squad can be lost.

But before we rush to judgment though, it's important to take a step back.

Everyone is making suppositions from what they think they know. But what really is the case when it comes to Keane's contract situation?

Despite the general feeling that the manager has been offered a contract but has yet to sign it, there is also the very strong rumour – which may well have a strong element of truth in it – that, actually, he has yet to be offered a new deal.

If this is the case and there is some sort of impasse, then the picture changes and the board have to ask themselves questions.

If they do not wish to commit to Keane beyond his three-year term, as things currently stand, then when, how or will they successfully resolve that tricky situation?

There appears no easy way out and, in the meantime, a state of limbo ensues because the only people who can really tell us what is going on, are keeping their cards close to their chests.

The bottom line is that this is a talking point that will not go away.

The longer it goes on without any real clarity from either side, the more Sunderland fans will suspect a fracture where previously there was none and doubt whether Keane's future lies at the Stadium of Light.

For the first couple of seasons of Keane's reign, you couldn't insert a shinpad in the solidarity shown by the club's manager, board and chairman.

Now it is not so clear.

And, in the delicate situation Sunderland find themselves in, any sort of mixed messages does no-one any good.

A couple of weeks ago, both Keane and chairman Niall Quinn were extolling the value in their club programme notes of believing nothing unless it comes from official club sources. But the problem is, nothing is forthcoming from those sources.

And on Saturday we had the confusing sight of the manager producing quotes straight out of the Eric Cantona School of Philosophy Handbook, when he was asked about his contract situation.

Mercifully, he mentioned neither seagulls nor trawlers but it was getting there. "Forget about contract talks," he said.

"I ask myself every single day, am I the right man for Sunderland?

"This morning I asked myself and I said I was. I'll ask myself again tomorrow morning and if the answer is no, then we'll have a look at it.

"And I will be honest in my assessment. It's not what's best for me or for Danny Collins or Dean Whitehead or Niall Quinn, it's what's best for Sunderland Football Club.

"If I wake up tomorrow, I might feel I'm the right man – Monday might be different, Tuesday who knows – but I do that every single day of the week anyway."

Hmmm. Pick the bones out of that one, bonny lad!

No-one can hurry contract talks along, of course. No-one can put a contract on the table if there isn't going to be one.

But increasingly the suspicion is that people aren't all singing from the same songsheet at Sunderland and whether that is true or not, it is a view which is gaining more ground with every day and every defeat.

Clearer direction needs to be given by the club if it is possible and fans have to be put more in the picture than they are at present.

Keane faces a huge crossroads in his managerial career right now, with things going pear-shaped on Wearside and him facing challenges he has not encountered in the past.

But ultimately, that doesn't have to be a bad thing for him or for Sunderland.

The manager has made plenty of mistakes, but you learn from your mistakes and he has always prided himself on being a quick learner.

He has bought well but not wisely, it seems right now, though time might prove differently.

Good players have undoubtedly come in, but they have yet to improve the team. Players with talent rarely seen at Sunderland are now at the club, but, while they've demonstrated their quality, it is their character we most need to see.

They are better footballers but they are not producing better results.

And the manager is now facing up to dealing with previous mistakes – bringing in too many players, finding he has players who do not fit into the team's style or their manager's ethos – and finding ways of offloading them at the same time as he negotiates the more important job of constructing an effective, successful and improved squad.

There is a lot to sort out, but we should remember that much of the current problems are a result of Keane's own ambition – by his desire perhaps to achieve too much, too soon.

Football, we are often told, is a simple game.

And it should be simple enough that you bring in better players and your squad improves. But that has never been a cast-iron guarantee in football and that's what the Sunderland manager is finding out right now.

It's a fascinating moment in the Keane story. Perhaps the moment where we find out – where he finds out – if he is the real deal or not as a manager.

He is questioning many things right now.

But the questions which need to be answered above all – more than the beard and the contract – is does he have the stomach for the fight and does Sunderland's board believe enough in him to follow this road as far as it goes?

In the short-term, we could do with more clarity over where the club is heading.

Sunderland supporters are hurting right now. Six defeats in seven games will do that to any group of fans.

But now is not a time to panic.

Supporters need to know where the club is heading, so they can get fully behind them with a clearer sense of purpose – otherwise the wrangling and the dissension will continue unabated.

Personally, I have belief that this spell could be the making of Keane, rather than the breaking of him.

But above all it would be a shame if the love affair between Sunderland and Keane was to end prematurely and with such a whimper.

Keane is not a quitter and neither are Sunderland fans – it is still an intoxicating idea that Keane and Sunderland will rise and rise together in the years ahead.

Now is undoubtedly a time for everyone connected with the club to give themselves a shake and re-connect.

But the first step is greater openess. The fans deserve that.

And once they know where the club is heading, they will give their full backing. It's the only way the club is going to start getting out of this mess.