Keane's managerial success no surprise to Carroll

Derby goalkeeper Roy Carroll has revealed he always believed former Manchester United team-mate Roy Keane had all the credentials to make it as a manager.

The pair spent four years together at Old Trafford between 2001 and 2005 and shared success when United won the Premier League in 2003 and lifted the FA Cup a year later.

Carroll arrived at Pride Park in January following spells with West Ham and Rangers, while Keane has since gone on to manage Sunderland after ending his playing career at Celtic.

The former Republic of Ireland international turned the Black Cats' fortunes upside down in his first season in charge, guiding them from the Coca-Cola Championship relegation zone to champions.

His success has come as no surprise to Carroll, who will come face to face with him tomorrow when Sunderland visit Pride Park.

He said: "He was a top captain when I was at Manchester United, I spoke to him a lot about football.

"It's great to see him doing so well in his first manager's job. He speaks well about football and knows a lot about the game."

Keane earned a reputation as one of the most daunting players of his generation for his hard-line approach on and off the field.

Carroll admitted he was fortunate enough to never receive a telling off from his then skipper and believes his approach has softened somewhat since becoming a manager because he has a youthful side.

"That's the way Roy is, he gave 100% on the pitch and on the training ground, but I never saw the 'hairdryer' treatment!" he joked.

"I know what he was like as a player. I suppose he has to act like that because Sunderland have a very young side, you can't keep shouting at young players all the time so that's the type of manager he probably is."

Keane may have found it more difficult to repeat last year's success this time around - they currently lie 15th - but the Wearsiders have certainly fared better in the Premier League than their previous stay in the top flight.

With 11 games remaining they are already 11 points clear of the record low tally of 15 set by Mick McCarthy's team in 2005/2006.

Ironically, the rock-bottom Rams are desperately trying to overhaul that total, but remain six short of equalling it at present.

Manager Paul Jewell laid into his County players after last weekend's 2-0 defeat at former club Wigan, calling their performance a "disgrace".

Carroll, who signed a three-year deal with the Rams last week, admits the players owe it to themselves and the supporters to put up a better fight against a Sunderland side with an away record even worse than their own.

"The way we played against Wigan I think anybody would have been disappointed with the performance. We are a professional team and should have played better than we did," he added.

"You talk about it, you can't just sweep it under the carpet. We've come in and worked very hard this week and we're now looking forward to the game.

"We have to move on now to the next game with Sunderland, they haven't won away but they'll be thinking the same thing with us having won one game this season.

"They'll be thinking they can come down here for an easy three points but we will be ready for them.

"We owe it to ourselves. When we walk over that white line we have to perform the way we should do and it just wasn't good enough.

"I feel sorry for the supporters because they come and pay good money and watching us play that way is not nice.

"We just have to go out there and play a lot better than we did last Saturday."