Keane has instilled a sense of pride

IT seems like ages since our last game so Sunday’s trip to West Ham is most welcome. International football isn’t, as a rule, something that really captures the imagination around Wearside.

Quite why that is I’m not sure; having players ignored by most England managers since the game was invented might have something to do with it. The best case we’ve had of late was Euro 2000 when the country’s leading domestic goalscorer, Kevin Phillips, didn’t even get onto the pitch, despite Kevin Keegan’s side looking unusually toothless up front.

In my time supporting Sunderland we’ve always had more Scottish and Irish internationals than English ones, so the southern media’s insistence that there’s a real rivalry between the home nations simply isn’t true in the North East. We see far more of our own players watching Scotland and Ireland and avoid the patriotic nationalist and sometimes right wing charade that is England.

Whilst the national side fail to really instil a sense of pride amongst some supporters, the same can’t be said of SAFC at the moment. It’s the one thing we’ve been missing for several years and that we’ve desperately wanted back. Now Keane has instilled it. There’s no rolling over, no heavy defeats, no wondering what might have been.

The only regrets we have had so far have been that we’ve not performed as well against the lower sides such as Wigan, Middlesbrough and Blackburn as we have against teams like Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United. Realistically, excellent displays against clubs in the bottom half of the table will bring us far more points than those who are challenging towards the top.

Whilst Roy Keane wouldn’t even entertain such thoughts, putting in gut-busting performances to limit ourselves to one goal deficits at the Emirates and Old Trafford will be a waste of time if we’ve lost easier home games and matches against fellow strugglers.

January looks like bringing more joy by way of the transfer window, with Niall Quinn this week revealing that the Drumaville consortium will be backing Keano to the hilt, which will mean taking our season’s spending beyond the £50m barrier, something unheard of in Sunderland’s history.

Indeed, by the end of January’s Transfer window Keane will have spent more money in his year and a bit at the Stadium of Light than Peter Reid did during his entire seven years at the club and Mick McCarthy after him.

The one thing we do need to acquire in the January sales are experienced players. The last time we were successful in the Premiership, we based it around the know-how of the likes of Steve Bould and Stefan Schwarz. Now, with experience one of the few things really lacking in our starting 11, we desperately need a few wise old heads. It’s a waste of time investing a British record fee in a goalkeeper and leaving him exposed.

The only legs that have been there and done that in our defence are those of Ian Harte. Whether his spell in La Liga has taught him the art of defending remains to be seen because he’s hardly figured, but unless we invest in another centre half, a relatively strong position in terms of numbers, he looks our best bet. We’ve seen Dwight Yorke’s emergence as a genuinely valuable team player in the middle in recent weeks. That sort of know-how at the back would really bring us on.

Despite struggling rather than flying, there’s still genuine optimism around Sunderland. We’ve seen the days get about as dark as they can possibly get. We have witnessed experienced pros who couldn’t care, limp to 19 points in 2003, then gutless youths scrape 15 points in 2006.

Now we have a hungry and determined bunch who will fight tooth and nail for the red and white cause. Roy Keane has brought pride back to the Stadium of Light and you can bet we won’t give in without a fight.