Keane should have toughed it out

THERE wasn’t a morning I woke up to over the last week without half-expecting to hear that Roy Keane had resigned but I still greeted Thursday’s news with great sadness.

This was the first time in Keane’s managerial career — he’d been in charge at Sunderland for 27 months — that he faced turmoil. And it all came in a bit of a rush.

It’s just a matter of a few weeks since there were great celebrations on Wearside following the derby win against Newcastle and the team was robbed of an even more impressive victory against Arsenal only by a stoppage time equaliser.

But Sunderland have now lost seven of their last eight games and the last four at the Stadium of Light. Crowds are down and boos have been evident as final whistles sounded.

When he was appointed, I thought it could only go in one of two ways. Either Keane would be a mammoth success — just as he was as a player — and put himself in line to succeed Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford. Or he’d quickly look in the mirror and decide management wasn’t for him. After all, it’s not as if he needs the money and certainly not the hassle.

What surprised me in recent days though was how Keane himself was responsible for much of the speculation that engulfed him.

Why did he so publicly question his future? Why did he say that he asked himself every day if he was the ‘right man’? Why was he taking all the blame for the team’s recent poor form?

It was daft. It created a climate of fear and uncertainty around him, indeed around the whole club, and it ran totally contrary to the huge support that he’d been given.

Which managers outside of Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United have been backed to the tune of £80 million? What wouldn’t a manager give to have a chairman like Niall Quinn?

Didn’t Quinn push aside any past differences he had with Keane in order to put the club’s interest first? Didn’t he try desperately to talk his manager out of leaving?

Now you might say that it was admirable for Keane to front up and take the blame but I’d argue that he was letting his players off the hook. They’re the ones that aren’t performing. Why give them an excuse to hide behind?

No one really knows what goes on in Roy’s mind, probably not even Roy himself. It was that way in the years he was the most influential player for Manchester United and the Republic of Ireland and it’s that way now.

But surely he needed to do the precise opposite of what he has done? He never cared about the plaudits he attracted as a player. Why listen to boos that would quickly have been silenced after a decent result or two?

He should have told the board, the players and the fans — the majority of whom are amongst the best in England — that he, as manager, would be around for the tough times as well as the good times: unfortunately he didn’t and now he won’t.