Break over, time now to halt slide

SO, an international break meant no matches for a lot of the first team squad at the Stadium of Light this week, but if there’s one man who won’t have had his players laughing and joking around and enjoying a few days in the sun, it’s Roy Keane.

Whilst the last fortnight will no doubt have provided us with some vital rest and relaxation, you can bet your bottom dollar that some serious work will have been done on the training ground.

While most teams have spent the last week watching their players from afar, hoping and praying they don’t suffer injuries, we’ve had the benefit of most of our squad staying together.

Whether or not it says much about our summer spree that we’re the fourth highest spenders in the league, but had less than a handful of players in action for their countries this week I’m not sure; I suspect it says more about our previous regime and our attempts to succeed without any genuine quality.

I hope that doesn’t come across as me having a dig at our transfer window acquisitions. Whilst no new arrival at the Stadium of Light has taken our breath away, we’ve shown our intent having only been outspent by three other sides over the summer.

If fans weren’t convinced by just signing promise, then Niall Quinn’s comments as the window closed shut just about everyone up: “The big mistake that happens in football is where signings are made for headlines and season tickets and then football is in there somewhere. At this club, football comes first in everything. If Roy Keane fancies a lesser known player in favour of a ritzy-glitzy player, then that is the player I will go for every time.”

This is a man who saw fans clamour for a big name to replace his aching limbs in 2002, only for us to waste £8 million on Tore Andre Flo, a player so bad that even supporters who rushed to have his name printed on shirts quickly went back to the club shop to have the letter “p” added at the end. The feeling on Wearside is that we’ve went out and spent our cash, now we have to wait for the fruit of our labours.

One player who looks like spending more time in Sunderland than Ireland during international weekends from now on is Anthony Stokes. The striker spent most of last week having a go at Don Givens, calling the row “silly”, with the U-21 gaffer having a pop back. Childish from both ends, but Stokes will have to work hard now to get his foot back in the international door.

You can only hope this extra time together will benefit us against Reading, who are next up, one of the division’s top sides last year, but struggling this time around. One thing is for sure, we can’t afford to turn up unprepared and take a gamble, it’s time for the cliché book to get a dusting off, but if we give anything less than 100% we’ll get beaten. The speculation over who may or may not be arriving is now finished. We have over three months until the next window to work with this squad and the hard work begins on Saturday. A win will really kick-start our season.

It’ll take time for everyone to bed into the side, the club and the city, but we need to get on a roll. We’re anticipating some disjointed performances while the new boys settle, but for the prices we’ve paid, we’re expecting some quality in the meantime. Roy Keane has been in the job for a year now (happy anniversary, pet) and overseen 56 player transactions. He has his own players in, let’s hope they do him proud and fire us away from danger.

Keane made most of Wearside happy recently. Of his first year at the helm, he said: “I was born to manage Sunderland. It’s part of my path in life without a doubt. Sometimes you think the man upstairs has great plans for me.” Let’s hope he has big plans for Sunderland too.