Roy Keane speaks to Sunderland fans at a Sunderland foundation Lunch - interesting

madds

Just took this from redissue.co.uk from a guy who in turn got it from a Sunderland forum, where he was at a talk with Roy Keane. Interesting stuff.

Roy Keane speaks to Sunderland fans at a Sunderland foundation Lunch


Players

On Danny Collins:

All credit to Danny but he isn’t a left back... he was great last season which is a credit to danny.

On Chopra:

Chopra is the best finisher at the club by far but to play 90 minutes in a premiership game you need to have more than that in your locker like hold up play, winning headers etc etc....

but also we need someone up there with him to get the best out of him and had no choice but to play him right wing last season as there was nobody else.

Chops had no qualms about this as he was doing a job for the team and at the end of the day that is there job and one for which they get extremely well paid but 'no-one needs to tell me that Chops isn’t a right winger'

On Leadbitter:

Leadbitter was good on the ball but didn't have the physical attributes to play 90 minutes consistently in the premiership and also that Whitehead had the pace, strength and physical attributes but lacked a bit of quality on the ball'

On the new players:

Malbranque and Diouf have been absolute quality in training and some of the 'important players' from last year are being left behind, 'but that’s progress for you'
Never spoke to Diouf once during negotiations, Diouf wanted to come to SAFC and the lad is a top professional.

When asked about El Hadji Dioufs dress sense and Bling Roy replied.....

'i never see any of the players in their clothes'

'Not bothered what they wear or who they sleep with, but as soon as they pull the training kit on with the Sunderland badge on their chests they are ready to train hard. If not they won't be in my team and they know that. I can only be fair to the players'

On the current Team:

We lack pace and power in the team.
Certain players lack certain things, whitehead on the ball, leadbitter strength etc etc but attitude is first class in training every day and know's exactly what he is going to get.
We lacked the ability to get in behind teams last season and teams knew we didnt have the threat to do this but diouf / malbranque and richardson all players who can do this.

'On fridays we sometimes take the players to the pictures, have a card school or set them a quiz’


On the Youngsters:
Very high hopes for our batch of youngsters.

he needs to watch younger players / he used to like a bevvie etc so fine line.

On Players we need:
Talking about coaching staff / scouting networks / financial backing / the required quality we need and are after. Alot of our forwards are much of a muchness, we need a top top class centre forward.
Some players arent capable of playing in front of 40k .... expectations to much but new players he knows will do it easily... may not play well or do the business as no guarentee's but no problems mentally


On undisciplined Players:

Has told players they would be sold '10 seconds' after finding out they'd been up to mischief' but some were harder to get rid of than others as you then have to wait for other clubs to take them....

On Premier League Players:

All top players must posses pace and look at Man Utd or Arsenals players.

He then said Scholes was not the quickest in the world but he is over 10 yards and spoke very highly of him.

When he's talking about pace he wasn’t suggesting about just the kind that are quick all over the pitch, he meant with their speed of thought as well as he then mentioned about Andy Reid not been like the typical kind of player but mentioned about his ability on the ball and said he would be perfect for opening teams up and getting players in behind opposition defences


Transfers

On Transfer targets/dealings:

The next Striker to come in will be on a different level to anything we've goy as already enough strikers at club with similar ability....

We have had a very good offer turned down for Johnny Evans.

We need 3 more players as everyone knows a left back, centre half and centre forward.

We had a 16.5 million pound bid rejected for a player last week the clubs we've made 'big bids to' don't need the money so it’s harder to get them to sell....

'I will only bring players into the club that are better than i already have. I made mistakes last year by bringing in players who were of similar ability to what was already at the club. However i still needed to swell the numbers of the squad not least for training purposes as you can't train everyday with a squad of 12-13 players'

'The trouble when trying to sign the top players is that if you want to sign someone from a big club, they will only take a step down if they are at least still playing in the UEFA cup'


On making poor signings:
'After signing certain players and watching them for 30 seconds in training iv'e seen that iv'e made a mistake but instead of trying to cover it up iv'e just started thinking how we can get rid of him'

Made loads of mistakes with signings last season, our club was far too big for certain players, others not good enough, others not better than what we already had.

On mercenary players:
Keano said he would talk to players after agreeing a fee with their clubs and they would say 'I don't really want to come to Sunderland but if you offer me a good financial package i'd consider it'

He would then basically tell them to '**** off'.... 'Players must want to come to Sunderland 1st and foremost and if they do then the financial side will look after itself.....

He also went onto say that if in such meetings he was getting 'bad vibes' from a player he would purposely offer them low financial packages knowing fine well they would turn us down!
Cant believe any footballer would choose club on shops and location... they have plenty of time to shop when retired.
'I don't lose any sleep when a player turns us down because after speaking with them more often than not i don't feel they are right for the club anyway'

'2 players turned us down in January and went to smaller clubs than Sunderland for more money, but the way their careers have gone since makes me think i'm ****ing glad i never signed them'

On the Area:
Also said a few ex players of our club Newcastle and Boro had been bad mouthing the area and with football being a small world news travels fast in certain cases this has made it harder to attract players

On Wages
'While we are willing to pay the big wages for the right players we have to be careful we aren't offering silly money to players who only want to come for financial reasons, there is a fine line and its my job to get the balance right because i can guarantee that if we are 2-0 down and up against it, the players that don't really want to play for the Shirt and only the money will be the ones that go missing'

Scouting
On the Scouting system:
The Reason he brought players in from Utd / Celtic / Irish players as we had no scouting network set up so needed players he knew about.
You can watch players / have scouting reports etc but can't judge until you see them in training, knew some were not good enough after 20 seconds.

Got scouting network setups in Germany / France / Italy etc. Fergie said it took him over 5 years to get his networks set up.

Club
On Club relations:
Very happy here and has very good relationship with quinny and is well backed in all departments

On how he was brought here:
Lovely story about when he was approached by us. Had told his agent that he wanted to take two years out from football. Turned down a couple of "smaller" management opportunities saying wanted a break. Out walking the dog when his agent rang to say someone wanted to talk to him-at first he said didn't want to know who it was but agent persuaded him to listen. Found out it was us and felt he could do something and make us a big club. Said Quinny and the board "did it right"-flew him to Dublin, private helicopter to pick him up etc

Team

On when he first took over:
When he took over last song in dressing room was dancing queen by Abba which the masseurs used to pick, no leaders in dressing room at the time and we lacked character.

Spoke about losing mentality in club / cancelling bus ride / in New Zealand with all blacks
Spoke about how hard a league the championship is / was but said its poor quality and he knew if we could get on a run we would do ok.


On our aims:
Top four worlds apart from the rest at the minute but we should be challenging the Villa's, Everton's, Spurs etc

The gulf between top 4 and rest of Premiership he says it will take years to bridge the gap...

So far we have spent £16million in transfer fees whereas the top 4 can spend that on 1 player and not bat an eyelid.

'We must raise the bar at all levels within the club, our reserves lost 2-0 to Gateshead recently and that is totally unaccaptable, no matter what capacity you are representing the club, whether it be in training or a practice match you must set high standards'

Things at top clubs need to be right from the players to staff / to medics / cleaners etc

Everyone at club plays there parts and everything must be right.

On the Fans

Also praised the fans saying that we had a knowledgeable and understanding support

The games last season he mentioned in particular were Everton away, Man Utd home and Newcastle away..... saying that the fans could have turned on the team after these games and had a go but because the fans knew we lacked quality and that the players we had were giving their best we went easy on them.....

This stood us in good stead and kept confidence up. He could sense that in tight games we were going to get late goals with the crowd backing the team all the way'

Team

On Formations:

He played 4-4-2 all his career and that is his favourite formation but we have to be versatile and there is thinking behind every formation and selection we ever used.

On Last Season:

Spoke about **** away and said always open to criticism when get beat with that kind of performance etc
Spoke about the Man City / Blackburn games last season and how we lost both but never should have
1 of the new lads has picked up a slight injury and is 50/50 for Saturdays game.......

On Team selection:

He picks the team on what the players have done in training Monday-Friday not on reputations or what they have done in the past....

Any player who puts his lot in Monday and Tuesday and then 'tiptoes' through training for the rest of the week will not be picked and the players know that in no uncertain terms.....

'We have paid the price at times with picking injuries up but i'd much rather have it that way than players taking their foot off the pedal'

On his approach:

Said he made a decision to keep calm on the touchlines but he does sometimes lose it big time in the dressing room

Playing days

On Haaland:
Didn't mean to break Haalands leg, 'just meant to hit him hard'

On Contracts:
Contracts mean nothing, when his contract ran out at Man Utd he was going to join Juve but decided to stay with Utd.

People mentioned to him about the city of Turin been industrial etc... his reply i play on grass, not bothered about surroundings etc

On Playing:
Said he was never the kind of player who could beat 3 players but he always gave his all.
Was asked about his character and the Juve game when he single handily pulled them back into the game and put them in champions league final knowing he was banned.
He said it was and should always be about the team, it was his job in which he got paid fantastically well for to drive the team on. Said he couldn’t understand how people went on about the game as they shouldn’t have been 2-0 down anyway.

Savman

What an absolutely impossible read.

SantryRed

The effort in reading that at this time of night.

shane86

I was hoping he would tell certain bitter groups of fans back in Ireland to grow the **** up.

Not on the "we hafta support Roys team" mantra, more the "we despise a club with Irish financial backing and a large group of (admitedtly mostly poor) Irish players".

el rabitos

good read. always had alot of respect for keane, even more so as a manager.

OPENROAD

shane86 wrote: »

up.

and a large group of (admitedtly mostly poor) Irish players".

can see that group getting smaller.

A Dub in Glasgo

Hardly too much, you can easily skim read if you do not find it interesting

Savman

A Dub in Glasgo wrote: »

Hardly too much, you can easily skim read if you do not find it interesting

Not if you don't know who is saying what. Seems like Keans's quotes diluted with some running commentary and opinion.

*Boring*

Mr.Nice Guy

I thought it was an enjoyable read actually. Nice to see him honest about his mistakes in the transfer market. I'd say this has been his biggest weakness.

Skud

i wouldnt be surprised, if they do sign a quality striker, that they'd finish mid table this season. i enjoyed the read anyway

JPA

£16.5 million bid turned down? Who the hell is that?

MagicMarker

Good read, will be interesting to see how they do this season.

Xavi6

Hope they go down.

LuckyLloyd

I'd listen to Keane before every other manager in the premiership. Boring? He's NEVER boring ffs.

LuckyLloyd

Xavi6 wrote: »

Hope they go down.

They won't. And right now one could argue that their long term future is brighter than what faces City.

Xavi6

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

They won't. And right now one could argue that their long term future is brighter than what faces City.

One could argue a lot of things. One could say Roy Keane is a nice guy and a great manager.

LuckyLloyd

Xavi6 wrote: »

One could argue a lot of things. One could say Roy Keane is a nice guy and a great manager.

And one could say he was the best player of our generation and is showing the potential to have a very respectable career in management.

Xavi6

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

And one could say he was the best player of our generation and is showing the potential to have a very respectable career in management.

One can also exaggerate

shane86

Xavi6 wrote: »

One can also exaggerate

Indeed.

And one could say he was the best player of our generation and is showing the potential to have a very respectable career in management.

I know one player cant make a team and all that but Roys contribution for Ireland has been blown out of proportion. Shay Given and even Robbie Keane pre 2003 were better players of the Roy Keane era. And in terms of commitment, professionalism and attitude, again, Given comes out on top. One tournament in 10 odd years of captaincy, calm down like! Man U fans seem to romanticise Roy as this outlaw who played by his own rules. He wasnt particularly thinking of how the team would do without him when he was commiting pre planned on field assaults did he?


*goes to hide from Eamon Dunphy*

Mitch Connor

One could also be fantastically bitter and biased.

One Cold Hand

shane86 wrote: »

Shay Given and even Robbie Keane pre 2003 were better players of the Roy Keane era.

I realise this is your opinion, but it's completely wrong.

Xavi6

Tauren wrote: »

One could also be fantastically bitter and biased.

One could also be a fanboy and biased.

Mitch Connor

One could also support Man City.

shane86

One Cold Hand wrote: »

I realise this is your opinion, but it's completely wrong.

Keane was a better midfielder than Given a GK?

Hmm....

Xavi6

Tauren wrote: »

One could also support Man City.

One could also support Spurs, Shelbourne or Stevenage Borough and still not class Roy Keane as "the best player of our generation".

One Cold Hand

shane86 wrote: »

Keane was a better midfielder than Given a GK?

Hmm....

You said it!

Kinetic^

A very good read, honesty is what you want.

Savman wrote: »

What an absolutely impossible read.

When I seen it last night I thought the same.

Pigman II

madds wrote: »

'i never see any of the players in their clothes'

Steve Coppell tried to introduce that training technique at Man City too.

madds

Savman wrote: »

What an absolutely impossible read.

Sorry bout that. It was late, and my laptop was almost out of power. It was a straight copy and paste, but I did try to bold some headings.

Chardee MacDennis

Xavi6 wrote: »

One could also support Spurs, Shelbourne or Stevenage Borough and still not class Roy Keane as "the best player of our generation".

well he was the best Irish player of out generation, and i always had a lot of respect for him especially his views on the national team...

Xavi6

Pigman II wrote: »

Steve Coppell tried to introduce that training technique at Man City too.

Now, now

Fratton Fred

There's not exactly anything startling in that piece, most of what keane has said is fairly obvious imho.

it will be interesting to see what he does when Diouf spits in someones face again his season though.

The Rooster

JPA wrote: »

£16.5 million bid turned down? Who the hell is that?

Darren Bent?

LuckyLloyd

shane86 wrote: »

I know one player cant make a team and all that but Roys contribution for Ireland has been blown out of proportion. Shay Given and even Robbie Keane pre 2003 were better players of the Roy Keane era. And in terms of commitment, professionalism and attitude, again, Given comes out on top. One tournament in 10 odd years of captaincy, calm down like! Man U fans seem to romanticise Roy as this outlaw who played by his own rules. He wasnt particularly thinking of how the team would do without him when he was commiting pre planned on field assaults did he?

I take Shay Given out of the 2002 WC campaign we still qualify. The difference between him and Alan Kelly / Kiely was minute in comparison to the difference in efficiency between Irish teams including Roy Keane and Irish teams without Roy Keane post 2000.

As much as I love both Shay and Robbie.

Secondly, United fans "romanticize" Keane because he is the most successful club captain in their history and they watched him drag them to victory time and time again through sheer force of will.

Jaysus lads, it's tired at this stage. Every time his name gets mentioned on here whether people respect him or make ridiculous disparaging statements usually can be linked to club allegiances. Credit where credit is due ffs.

And that interview above is far more candid and insightful than any of the rubbish spewed out by just about every other premiership manager.

ntlbell

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

Secondly, United fans "romanticize" Keane because he is the most successful club captain in their history and they watched him drag them to victory time and time again through sheer force of will.

For me it's more to do with the fact he can't kick snow off a rope, and he's still one of the best general's who ever played the game, imagine if he had a bit of skill! :eek:

eirebhoy

The Rooster wrote: »

Darren Bent?

Almost certainly.

Hero Of College

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

They won't. And right now one could argue that their long term future is brighter than what faces City.

Yeah, Cardiff City, maybe.

I just hope Liverpool repeat the trick and put a few past them this weekend. Do us a favour Roy and play Sean McShane.:D:D:D

happydayz182

eirebhoy wrote: »

Almost certainly.

Expect bent to be handing in a transfer quest soo so.....

OPENROAD

happydayz182 wrote: »

Expect bent to be handing in a transfer quest soo so.....

Possible he might now get first team football at spurs so wouldn't be so sure

The Insider

shane86 wrote: »

I know one player cant make a team and all that but Roys contribution for Ireland has been blown out of proportion. Shay Given and even Robbie Keane pre 2003 were better players of the Roy Keane era. And in terms of commitment, professionalism and attitude, again, Given comes out on top. One tournament in 10 odd years of captaincy, calm down like! Man U fans seem to romanticise Roy as this outlaw who played by his own rules. He wasnt particularly thinking of how the team would do without him when he was commiting pre planned on field assaults did he?

Do you actually remember the World Cup qualifying campaign for 2002? Roy Keane was the reason we qualified for that World cup, without him we would never have got there and that's coming from a Liverpool fan!!

Dave!

Good read, thanks OP