A Football365 article by Sarah Winterburn
Roy Keane was one of six managers who reportedly spent over £30m this summer - the others being Juande Ramos, Rafa Benitez, Sir Alex Ferguson, Martin O'Neill and Mark Hughes. One of those number has already gone, three have started the season strongly and the other is under significant pressure for only being mid-table. So why does nobody question Keane when his team are in 14th - a massive one place above where they finished last season - despite investment on the scale of Champions League hopefuls this summer? [Ed. After this weekend Sunderland are 19th].
Roy Keane was one of six managers who reportedly spent over £30m this summer - the others being Juande Ramos, Rafa Benitez, Sir Alex Ferguson, Martin O'Neill and Mark Hughes. One of those number has already gone, three have started the season strongly and the other is under significant pressure for only being mid-table. So why does nobody question Keane when his team are in 14th - a massive one place above where they finished last season - despite investment on the scale of Champions League hopefuls this summer? [Ed. After this weekend Sunderland are 19th].
Sunderland have the biggest squad in the Premier League - with 33 players having squad numbers and another ten players out on loan. That's more than all the clubs who are competing in European competition as well as the Premier League. They have a grand total of 12 strikers on their books - including forgotten men like David Connolly and Rade Prica - and still only Fulham have scored fewer goals in the Premier League. And they managed just one shot - on or off target - against Chelsea at the weekend.
They have won only one of their last six league games and are yet to earn a single point from a losing position this season. And yet, when it comes to questioning what progress Keane is making at Sunderland, the silence is deafening. The truth is that Keane is immune to criticism through a mixture of fear and respect. Not respect for his achievements as a manager but respect for his achievements as a player, and a fear not only of an angry reaction from a man with a celebrated temper but a withdrawal of media co-operation from one of the most quotable managers in the game.
Just as there was scant condemnation for Harry Redknapp's second exit from Portsmouth despite his earlier protestations that he would never leave the club, there are no questions being asked of Keane's management despite his vast summer spending (£12.5m on two West Ham defenders for a start) and results that have not reflected that spending. If any other Premier League manager had fielded an 18-year-old striker who has been out injured since February against the title favourites while leaving Djibril Cisse and El-Hadji Diouf on the bench, people would be queueing up to ask whether said manager had lost the plot. Keane does it and - outside of local newspaper reports - you will struggle to find a mention of Martyn Waghorn's name in reports until you get to the bit at the end that says 'Waghorn, 4'.
I'm not saying Keane is a poor manager and of course I accept the notion that Keane is trying to 'build' a team and that will take time, but I will be very interested to see whether there are any dissenting voices in the press if Sunderland are still only a point clear of relegation in January or February. I suspect not.
They have won only one of their last six league games and are yet to earn a single point from a losing position this season. And yet, when it comes to questioning what progress Keane is making at Sunderland, the silence is deafening. The truth is that Keane is immune to criticism through a mixture of fear and respect. Not respect for his achievements as a manager but respect for his achievements as a player, and a fear not only of an angry reaction from a man with a celebrated temper but a withdrawal of media co-operation from one of the most quotable managers in the game.
Just as there was scant condemnation for Harry Redknapp's second exit from Portsmouth despite his earlier protestations that he would never leave the club, there are no questions being asked of Keane's management despite his vast summer spending (£12.5m on two West Ham defenders for a start) and results that have not reflected that spending. If any other Premier League manager had fielded an 18-year-old striker who has been out injured since February against the title favourites while leaving Djibril Cisse and El-Hadji Diouf on the bench, people would be queueing up to ask whether said manager had lost the plot. Keane does it and - outside of local newspaper reports - you will struggle to find a mention of Martyn Waghorn's name in reports until you get to the bit at the end that says 'Waghorn, 4'.
I'm not saying Keane is a poor manager and of course I accept the notion that Keane is trying to 'build' a team and that will take time, but I will be very interested to see whether there are any dissenting voices in the press if Sunderland are still only a point clear of relegation in January or February. I suspect not.
1 comment:
What business is it of the press? The relationships that matter are with the board and with the players. End of. The press know that they can't affect him so why bother. What is a more interesting question is why (with such a big squad and perhaps a strange selction policy) there are no reports of him 'losing the dressingroom'. The players seem to believe in him. The board seems to believe in him. The fans' opinions don't seem to bother him. I think it is clear that if he doesn't succeed he will go himself - he is his own worst critic.
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