Keane eyes window opening

THOSE who claim Roy Keane is a reformed man since swapping his shinpads for a suit and tie gathered more evidence for their cause on Saturday when the Sunderland manager sauntered into the Stamford Bridge press room half-an-hour before his side’s meeting with Chelsea.

There was a time when Keane would not even have countenanced leaving the sanctuary of the dressing room prior to an A-list game but the Cork man is a more studious soul these days. He wanted to watch the last 20 minutes of Portsmouth’s victory at Aston Villa, mindful, no doubt, of Saturday’s date with Martin O’Neill’s side.

The cynics would suggest Keane had already written off the visit to west London as a lost cause and that theory gained an element of credibility when he admitted it was games against the Premier League’s third tier of sides which would determine Sunderland’s fate this season.

“Every side after Newcastle is in danger,” he said. “There are three divisions in the Premier League — the big four, the sides like Portsmouth, Villa and Everton and the rest of us. Thank God, this last league is getting bigger: there are eight or nine teams in it now and that should give us a better chance of staying up.”

Keane at least showed some of the old fire still burns bright by accusing Chelsea of over-reacting to Liam Miller’s 88th-minute challenge on John Terry, which sparked a minor melee that ended with the Irishman pushing Claudio Pizarro in the face. A red card was the inevitable result. “It seems that you’re not allowed to tackle the England captain these days,” Keane remarked caustically. It would be unfair to gauge Sunderland’s hopes of success on this uninspiring evidence — better teams than they have come to Stamford Bridge and been ground into the dust — but this is a squad crying out for reinforcements in the January transfer window.

To say Keane’s transfer record is patchy would probably be generous. Of his summer signings — which totalled around €60million — only Kenwyne Jones can be called an unqualified success, and even he was withdrawn mid-way through the second half at Chelsea.

The former Manchester United midfielder admits his teams chances of survival depend on his own judgment in the market-place.

“January will be important,” he added. “The big teams seem to spend their money in the summer, while the ones at the bottom are more active in January. Their squads are being tested in a different way and a lot of us will be after the same type of player.

“It’s about identifying the right characters. It will be very important and we do need to strengthen. I have a few people in mind but it’s not always easy to get the guys you want.”