Phew, I thought our key Irish man was gone

WHEN I heard that an Irish icon in charge of all things Sunderland AFC was about to walk, I had a bit of a panic on. Surely we’d struggle to survive as a Premier League outfit; maybe we’d no longer be able to attract players to the club.

It was a worry. Then I discovered that it was Roy Keane doing the walking rather than Niall Quinn, and everything didn’t seem so bad.

You can dress it up how you like, but Royston Keane calling time on his 27 months at the Stadium of Light isn’t the end of the world. It’s not even close. Sure, we’ve lost a bit of pull and the ability to make ourselves headline news with his forthright opinions. What we can’t afford to lose is the structure behind the scenes that allowed him to indulge in a £75m spending spree in his two years on Wearside and enjoy the full support of one of the best boards in the Premiership.