Keane lavishes praise on whole squad

Sunderland boss Roy Keane has admitted he would have struggled to pick his club’s player of the year.

Defender Nyron Nosworthy claimed the honour in a fans’ poll after making the transition from right-back to commanding centre-half as the Black Cats launched their remarkable charge towards the Coca-Cola Championship title.

However, Keane, while acknowledging the 26-year-old’s contribution to a triumphant campaign, insisted he would have been hard-pressed to pick out his man of the season.

He told the club’s website, safc.com: “Nyron summed up the attitude of the whole team in terms of the way the season went.

“He adjusted to a new position. When I got here, he was not even training with the first team.

“I was sussing out different players, but when he got his chance, he took it. He was good as gold.

“Nyron has been as consistent as anybody – but then again, there’s Dean Whitehead, Darren Ward, Danny Collins, the two (Manchester) United lads [Danny Simpson and Jonny Evans], David Connolly, Daryl Murphy…the list goes on.

“It is very hard to pick out players – you could add Carlos (Edwards) and Dwight Yorke to that list.

“I would have to name just about everybody. They have all played their part.”