Black Cats get history lesson from boss Keane

ROY KEANE has evoked the memory of Sunderland’s fairytale FA Cup final triumph over Leeds United as he prepares to make his managerial bow in the competition at Preston today.

On the eve of the third-round tie, Keane spoke of the history lesson he felt was needed for Sunderland’s Johnny-come-latelies — himself included — after surveying the set-up on his arrival in August.

Portraits of the club’s most memorable day — May 5, 1973 — when Bob Stokoe’s Second Division side defied all the odds to humble Don Revie’s legendary Leeds, have been hung in the tunnel and dressing rooms at the Stadium of Light on Keane’s insistence.

He said: “A few people who have been to the club have commented on it. It’s just a little change we wanted to make at the club.

“We’ve done it around the dressing room and the tunnel area, and obviously there are lots of tours for people to have a look around.

“You just want to educate a lot of people — and I wanted to educate myself — on the history of the club.

“I felt the building was a bit cold when I came here. You can’t forget the history of the club, and I think it’s important for the older generation of supporters.

“If you mention Nottingham Forest, suddenly Brian Clough springs to mind. There’s no way you can erase that.

“You want to instil your own bit of history at a club, but it’s a balancing act. You don’t have to have millions of pictures around the place, but you can have a nice reminder for people who are coming to the club — the new signings, agents, guests or players — so they can see what Sunderland is all about.

“Maybe clubs like Sunderland are underestimated in terms of the history and the size of the club.

“I haven’t been surprised — I’m pretty clever like that! But I’ve been to a few functions and met lots of different supporters and, like any decent club, you have passionate support here.’ Keane, of course, hasn’t always shown such respect for the FA Cup’s heritage: he was a member of the Manchester United squad who were controversially withdrawn in season 1999-2000 to compete in the World Club Championship in Brazil.

Alex Ferguson’s side were accused of devaluing the Cup, and Keane admits it was viewed by many as an “insult’ to the competition’s rich tradition.

He said: “I suppose the FA Cup was number three on our list of priorities when I was at United. Promotion is the priority now — so the Cup has gone up to number two! “I can’t remember my thoughts at the time when we pulled out. We just accepted it as players and trusted the manager and the club that they had made the right decision.”

Keane recalls that the Cup also led him into trouble in his Nottingham Forest days, when he incurred the wrath of Clough for an excessive goal celebration.

“The FA Cup got me into a lot trouble, actually,” said Keane. “I scored in the quarter-final against Norwich when I was at Forest and I did some silly somersault.

“It wasn’t even a somersault. It was more a roly-poly! I got a clip round the ear for it from Cloughie, don’t worry.

“But it wasn’t all bad, of course. I won four FA Cups, but it should have been seven. I lost in three finals.”