THE FORGIVEN
MANAGER ROY KEANE today emphasised that there will be no long term repercussions for the careers of the three players who missed Sunderland's team bus on Friday.
And the Black Cats boss has underlined the fact that the guilty men – Anthony Stokes, Toby Hysen and Marton Fulop – will all be considered for tomorrow night's game against Stoke City.
He said: "I've spoken to them this morning, it has been dealt with and we move on.
"I'm not here to crucify footballers.
"They made a mistake, like we all make mistakes, and they had to be punished for that.
"But that's been done now and they will all come into contention for the Stoke game.
"We need as many players as we can get and they can be important for us. I'm sure they'll have the right attitude, if selected."
The two outfield players in particular, had every chance of being involved in Saturday's game against Barnsley. But they will now have to accept the possibility of others being further up the pecking order. The three, who are likely to be fined, also had the anguish of publicly missing the game.
Keane said: "They've been punished of course because they weren't able to be involved in a match I'm sure they would have loved to have been part of. It was a blow to lose them, especially with Carlos Edwards being out with injury. But Grant Leadbitter came in and did a great job on the right wing, capping that off with a vital goal for us.
"It was not an easy game to win and it might have been a game that some people were expecting us to slip up in. But the players worked ever so hard and a lot of them did their chances no harm at all with that performance."
Keane will wait until tomorrow before finalising his team selection. But there's a chance that Dwight York will be available again after a hamstring strain.
Keane said: "Dwight did some running over the weekend and there's a chance that he might train with us today. It will be great for us if he is available because he's a quality player but we are quite well served in midfield at the moment and it's good to know that we don't have to use him if we don't need to.
"There's no point in risking injury to a player. There is a chance that he'll be available for selection but unless he's 100 per cent, he won't be involved."
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Weather for Sunderland
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
Heavy sleet
Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Light sleet showers
Temperature: -0 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 14 mph
Wind direction: South
