'Unlike Niall, I heard Keane had quit by text message'
A LOT has happened since our last column – which just goes to remind us how long a week can be in football.
No more Roy Keane.
Which, I have to say, came as a real surprise. Unlike the Sunderland chairman, I did hear the news by text.
A friend sent me a message saying he had gone and although a lot of people went on say it was inevitable that he would leave, that's not the way I saw it.
Granted, results hadn't been good, but I'd certainly not lost my faith in him and I think that was true of most of the fans.
Usually when a manager goes, the fans want him out and 90 per cent of supporters are happy to see the back of him when he leaves the club.
But that wasn't the case with Roy.
He still had the majority of fans behind him and I still felt he would turn it around. Losing six games out of seven was a real worry – don't get me wrong about that – but you sensed that there was quality enough in the team to turn it around.
In the end my overwhelming feeling was one of 'what a waste.'
He'd brought something to the club in terms of its stature over the last couple of years and he had also done as well as could be expected – especially considering he was so knew to the job.
He had got them up in his first season, taking them from the bottom to the top; then he kept us up in a tricky first season back in the Premiership.
And even though this season had gone a bit pear-shaped of late, there was nothing to say he might not have turned it around and finished higher than last season's 15th spot – after all, there's barely a third of the season gone.
I know he'd had a bit of stick from some fans but I've seen a lot worse over the years and generally he had fans behind him.
Overall, things could hardly have been set up better in his favour.
He had been given amazing backing by the board, he had brought in a lot of quality players and he had a great club to mould in whatever way he saw fit.
We'd had some decent results this season – away wins over Spurs and Blackburn Rovers, home wins over Middlesbrough and Newcastle United.
On top of that he had a massive and passionate fanbase that was proud to have him at the helm and overall the club still had the potential to go forward under him.
Like I said – what a waste.
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Print this page- Sunderland’s astonishing rise even surprising Martin O’Neill
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Weather for Sunderland
Friday 10 February 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: -3 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: South
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Cloudy
Temperature: 1 C to 3 C
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