Roy gets down to business

ROY KEANE has finally signed on the dotted line as manager of Sunderland — and went straight to work last night.

Keane signed a three-year contract yesterday after watching from the stands of the Stadium of Light as struggling Sunderland won for the first time this season, beating West Bromwich Albion 2-0.

In the state-of-the-art stadium which can hold more than 48,000 people, there were only 24,000 present for a red-letter day in the club’s history. But the media knew a big story was in the making, the press box full for the first time since England beat Turkey in a World Cup qualifier here in 2003.

After the game, jubilant club chairman Niall Quinn — who has brought Keane to the club with the backing of an Irish consortium — confirmed that the deal had been done.

It represents a most unlikely meeting of minds, given that the two former Irish internationals ended up in opposing camps in the Saipan crisis which rocked Irish sport and split the Irish public in the run-up to the World Cup of 2002.

Inevitably, Quinn was asked at his post-match press conference yesterday if he and Keane were pals now. To much laughter, the Dubliner replied with a grin: “All chairmen and managers have rows — we just got ours out of the way in the last few years.”

Keane had met the Sunderland players at their training ground for the first time on Sunday, having returned from a family holiday in Portugal the previous day.

However, by agreement, he postponed signing his contract until after yesterday’s game, meaning that Quinn had one last match as stand-in manager before stepping back to concentrate on his role as chairman.

According to Quinn, Keane also declined to be presented to the crowd until he had finally signed on the dotted line.

Nevertheless, fans at the game chanted his name throughout, with many afterwards expressing the opinion that Keane’s mere presence in the ground had helped galvanise a team which had been on a miserable five-game losing streak.

Last night, Keane travelled to nearby Middlesbrough to see the home team play Portsmouth, and today he will go public about his new job for the first time, at a press conference at the Stadium of Light, scheduled for 1pm.