Stephen Elliott: Why Roy Keane is wrong and under-fire Sunderland boss Phil Parkinson needs results now

I listened to my former boss Roy Keane a few weeks ago speak about how he felt players shouldn’t need motivating by their manager to go out and perform on the pitch.
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From my own perspective, I couldn’t disagree more with Roy on this one!

I feel it’s hugely important to motivate your team as a manager because the overall performance on the pitch represents the qualities of whoever is in the dugout.

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Motivation can arrive from many different places when you’re a player, but it is vital that it comes from the manager too, as he is the team’s figure head.

Sunderland manager Phil Parkinson.Sunderland manager Phil Parkinson.
Sunderland manager Phil Parkinson.

Now Roy may not realise it, but when he was at Sunderland, he motivated players massively.

He wasn’t a huge pep talker but he did it by the standards he set.

Roy had more to him than just ‘ruling by fear’ and was spot on with tactics at times, but it’s accurate to say that he had us performing well because we did have that worry of feeling the wrath of his nasty tongue should we under-perform.

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So, whether he realised it, he motivated us and that was the biggest reason we achieved promotion under his stewardship at the Stadium of Light.

When I watch this Sunderland team play at the moment, the body language of the players is noticeable.

It suggests to me they don’t look totally happy with the way the games are panning out.

While this squad is not full of world beaters, it is one of the strongest squads in the division and frankly these players should be performing at a much higher level than they are.

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Defeats to Mansfield, Fleetwood Town, and now MK Dons, all in the same week is not acceptable.

With all due respect to these teams, it shows us all exactly where this football club is currently.

The manager needs to find a way to change these results quickly.

If he doesn’t manage it sooner rather than later, then the club can’t wait around for him to do so. Sunderland must get promoted this year.

Failure is surely not an option again.

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