Keane not afraid of right-hand men

ROY KEANE insists the turmoil at Chelsea wouldn’t put him off appointing a director of football at Sunderland.

Jose Mourinho’s dramatic exit at Stamford Bridge was followed by the surprise news that Blues director of football, Avram Grant, has taken over as manager.

Keane, who has only been in management since August last year, installed Tony Loughlan as his right-hand man.

But he admitted: “I wouldn’t rule out someone like a director of football coming to Sunderland eventually. I’m very open-minded about stuff like that, but it would have to be my choice.

“If there was interference all the time, that would drive me crazy. Anyone who knows me knows you do well to get hold of me on my mobile!

“It’s a balancing act. I think the manager of the club has to be the leader — there doesn’t have to be any confusion. You have to trust the people around you, because I have enough on my plate looking after the first team.

“I have been here a year and we’ve made loads of changes. I’m happy with the way things are, but there’s not a day goes by where I don’t think of ways of improving Sunderland.

“If you’d said to me six months ago, ‘What do you think about a director of football?’ I would have said, ‘You’re mad. But the longer I’m in the job, I know you have to have people around you to share the load.

“We don’t know what has gone on at Chelsea. We can sit here and second-guess all day. People talk about communication problems, but what was made clear when I first took the job here was there would be no interference.

“I have meetings with (chairman) Niall Quinn and (chief executive) Peter Walker every two or three weeks, and that’s enough. It’s very straight-forward. I stick to the football side of it, but if there was an example where Niall was saying we need this or that, I would say that I make the choices and football decisions. There’s no interference — keep it simple.”

Keane insists he isn’t shocked by Mourinho’s departure, but reckons the Premier League will be a poorer place without him.

The Black Cats boss said: “Why is it a shock? In football, you shouldn’t be shocked or surprised by anything. I wasn’t surprised, it’s just the way football is, but he’ll be a loss to the Premiership.

“I’m not going to try to second-guess what has gone on at Chelsea. When you get big personalities, sometimes there are going to be clashes. I’ve had them before myself.”

Keane faces his first derby as a manager today when Sunderland visit Middlesbrough.

Boro boss Gareth Southgate was the victim of a stamp by Keane in the 1995 FA Cup semi-final between United and Crystal Palace.

It resulted in Keane being sent off and fined £5,000 (e7,170), but he stressed: “That wasn’t a personal thing — he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time! I think I caught his stomach — it wasn’t his groin.

“I think it was his teammate who wound me up, but I’ve played against Gareth many times since and we’ve spoken a few times, and it’s not come up in the conversation.”

The game is Keane’s 50th in charge, but he said: “It’s just a number.”

Meanwhile, injury-plagued Ireland midfielder Graham Kavanagh has joined Sheffield Wednesday on loan. Keane said: “He needs games and I think going there will do him the world of good.”