CIN
In England, you can hardly surprise anyone with the rapid transformation from a player into a coach. Mark Hughes, Chris Coleman, Steve Bruce, Stuart Pierce, Gareth Southgate. And here is Roy Keane, who went on the field as part of Manchester United last season, changed his boots, sports uniform and place in the thick of events for shoes, a civilian suit and the position of a nervous observer at the edge.
The many-year-old captain and leader of United left the club at the end of 2005, not without scandal - that is how the Irishman started. Then Roy, as usual, said too much, directly expressing in an interview with the club channel all that he thinks about some of his partners. Got to Fletcher, Rio Ferdinand, Smith. Sir Alex Ferguson was forced to react, and soon, “by mutual agreement” Keene left Manchester. The Irishman moved to Celtic, fulfilling a childhood dream. However, he did not stay long in Scotland: completely undermined health forced Roy to hang his boots on a nail just six months after breaking up with Old Trafford. In the summer of 2006, the sunset of Kin-player came and the birth of Kin-manager.
The already mentioned Ferguson has repeatedly said that Roy will make an excellent coach. Many did not and still do not believe. In his deep understanding of the game, in the ability to make partners, to make them fight to the death in the most ordinary match, even his many detractors will not refuse Kin. But the character of the ex-Mankunian is sharp, quick-tempered, stubborn and uncompromising as a burning poisonous arrow, does not fit well with traditional ideas about coaching virtues. However, a club was found quite quickly, ready to be the first to test the action of the explosive Irish mixture - Sunderland.
SANDERLAND
Last season, 19 teams and one misunderstanding played in the Premier League, the role of which was brilliantly played by Sunderland. Mick McCarthy, who brought black cats to the elite a year earlier, most of the tournament impressed everyone with his all-weather shorts and chronic inability to change the catastrophic situation. The team ended the season with 15-point anti-record, half as much as the closest rival, and Mick himself left the club in the spring, by the will of the leadership, not drinking a cup of shame to the bottom.
Sunderland is a club with rich traditions. The team, supported by the famous Soviet gymnast Olga Korbut and ex-wife of Paul McCartney, Heather Mills, six times became the champion of England, however, five of them - even before the October Revolution. In recent history, Sunderland also has something to remember: at the turn of the century, Peter Reed's team excited the Premier League for two seasons in a row, contrary to its status as one of the top eight. However, the development was not successful, and the club continued to wander between the divisions, more and more lingering in the champion league.
In the summer of 2006, the time for change came to Sunderland. The era of the reign of Bob Murray Club ended, which lasted for nearly 20 years and brought fans mostly undeserved resentment and disappointment. It was replaced by a consortium of Irish businessmen, Dramaville, led by Niall Quinn, a famous footballer who had recently bombarded the rivals of the national team of Ireland and the same Sunderland. At first, Quinn decided to train his club himself, but having suffered five defeats in six games at the start of the new season, he prudently refused this undertaking. And called Roy Keane.
He called, forgetting about past grievances, forgetting about Saipan. In this glorious Korean town, there was the loudest scandal in Kean's far from serene career. A few hours before the start of the 2002 World Cup, Roy finally quarreled with the then head coach of the Irish national team ... Mick McCarthy and left the team. In his autobiography book, Keane called McCarthy "a liar," "a fucking idiot," a disgusting player and coach, and Quinn - his puppet. Sunderland 2006 brought together all the main participants in that lovely story. Roy Keen, at the behest of Niall Quinn, actually succeeded Mick McCarthy, receiving an additional emotional boost at the start of his coaching career.
KIN AND SANDERLAND
Roy Keen was officially introduced to the public as a Sunderland manager at a press conference on August 29, where a series of policy statements by the new coach were announced. The Irishman noticed that during his career he had the opportunity to work with several great coaches, who shaped his ideas about football. He named Clough, Ferguson, Stracan and expectedly kept silent about McCarthy and Jack Charlton. Roy said that he did not intend to change anything with a snap, without really understanding the situation. Kin also proclaimed the main requirements for the wards - to give all the best and not to cheat, and to the team - to tune in to victory in the next match, without looking far ahead. In conclusion, the new manager promised to be restrained and introduced his assistant Tony Lawlen, with whom they had once played together for Nottingham Forest.
However, the situation in which Sunderland found itself forced Keane to slightly adjust its promises and act decisively. In the remaining hours before the transfer window closed, he managed to sign six (!) Players at once, among whom were Keene’s former partner in the stellar MJ Dwight York, another ex-Mancunian Liam Miller, Celtic colleagues Ross Wallace and Stanislav Varga, as well as an Irish couple from the Wigan Connolly - Cavanagh. Transformations did not particularly affect the game, but brought results. Keen began with two away victories over Derby and Leeds, famously deploying the Sunderland tournament movement vector. Then everything went not so smoothly, but no one thought it would be easy.
The routine process of establishing a team game and adjusting coaching views took the next couple of months. Sunderland's results did not differ in constancy, but the club avoided major failures and slowly climbed up the table. A new explosion of interest in the “black cats” occurred in early December, when three of the team's players got into a frankly obscene video. Keane’s reaction was not long in coming: neither Ben Olnwick, nor Liam Lawrence, nor Chris Brown was already in Sunderland. There is no John Steed, one of the key players under McCarthy. But there is the ex-forward of Arsenal, 18-year-old rising star Anthony Stokes, whose move to the Stadium of Light Keen can be considered a personal merit. The decisive argument in favor of Sunderland, which clashed in the fight for Stokes with Celtic and Charlton, was, in addition to 2 million pounds, a personal conversation between the young Irishman and Keane. Roy promised his compatriot a good-natured welcome, the absence of excessive pressure and ... access to the Premier League. Sunderland also did not spare money for the acquisition of Trinidad Carlos Edwards and Tottenham goalkeeper Martin Falope, and decided to add another young Mancunian defender Johnny Evans to the harsh football of the league. Thus, the Irish colony in the club has already 8 players. If you add here Kina and Quinn, you get a whole Irish enclave in the heart of English football.
Today, Sunderland is in eighth place in the league champion, only one point behind the playoff zone, which guarantees a direct fight for promotion. The club is still full of problems, both gaming and financial, but according to Keane, the team is slowly, in small steps, moving in the right direction. Sunderland is gradually becoming the way he wants to see him.
Keene's undoubted success is his growing popularity among fans, most of whom recognized him as “his boyfriend” and a true professional. In general, Sunderland fans are a different story. As many as 6,000 went to a recent match in Sheffield - a very impressive number, even by English standards. In “boxing day” to support the “black cats” in the super-principle battle with the “Leeds” at the “Stadium of Light” gathered about 40 thousand. An amazing figure, considering that the population of Sunderland is 177 thousand. Such an audience cannot be let down.
Roy Keane does not hide the fact that he wants to someday become the coach of Manchester United. But he wanted to start his career in a non-elite club. In general, he was used to doing everything thoroughly and gradually, without relying on the will of chance. Such was Keane’s gambling career, during which he more than once had to overcome the skepticism of others. Due to the steel character. Due to professionalism. Due to unshakable inner confidence in their own right. But the main quality of the Irishman is that he always achieves everything that he intended. His principles remain with him now, multiplied by colossal experience and life wisdom. Roy is only 35, and again everything is ahead of him.