Quinn backs Keane’s summer spending spree

SUNDERLAND chairman Niall Quinn is confident Roy Keane’s £35m summer shopping spree will give the club value for money for years to come.

The newly-promoted Black Cats were among the Barclays Premier League’s biggest spenders during the close-season as Keane added 12 new faces to his squad.

A British record £9m fee for goalkeeper Craig Gordon, £6m on Southampton striker Kenwyne Jones, £5.5m for Manchester United winger Kieran Richardson and £5m for Cardiff’s Michael Chopra led the way as the Irishman prepared for life in the top flight.

Keane has steadfastly defended his recruitment policy against charges that he had paid over the odds for some of his new arrivals, many of whom arrived on Wearside with something to prove at the highest level.

A run of four successive defeats has taken the gloss off the four points Sunderland collected from their opening two fixtures, but Keane remains confident things will turn, and continues to enjoy his chairman’s full backing.

Quinn said: “We back our manager – we believe in him and we are prepared to fund that belief. 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.

“The higher you go, the more difficult things are to achieve. That’s because we haven’t been hanging around the top of the Premier League attracting players for the last few years.

“We are playing catch-up again in a way, but we think that the idea of Roy Keane coming up and developing a career in front of 48,000 fans every week is a big thing.

“Roy stands for something and people in football know that, especially after last season.”

Quinn added: “The consortium have been fantastic. They came in at a terrible time for the club, but a great time for an investor and were able to give it the boost it needed.

“Life in the Premiership is life in the fast lane. The consortium are aware of that now and the view is to help Roy as much as we can in establishing the club in the top flight. That’s the brief of myself and the Drumaville Board.”