ROY KEANE HAS SPOKEN publicly – albeit briefly – for the first time about a potential return to the manager’s job at Sunderland.
Sunderland sacked Lee Johnson after a 6-0 hammering to Bolton last weekend, and it has been widely reported that Keane is the club’s preferred candidate to take charge and lead the club’s attempts to be promoted back to the Championship.
It has been reported that Keane has been interviewed for the job and remains the club’s number-one choice, with former Hull boss Grant McCann also reported to have been interviewed.
Keane appeared on ITV’s coverage of the FA Cup tie between Manchester United and Middlesbrough tonight, and was asked about the links to Sunderland at the top of the show.
“I have no control over that, so no comment”, said Keane initially, with a slight smile breaking across his face.
Presenter Mark Pougatch followed up by asking whether Keane would like to get back into management.
“Yeah, I’ve made that clear over the last few years that I’d like to go back in as a manager. But, of course, a club has to want you, you have to want to go to that club, and just as important, the contract has to be right. Listen, we’ll see how things take shape over the next few days.” A more perceptible smile was evident on Keane’s face at the end of that sentence.
It would be a sensational return for Keane to the club at which he was first a manager: taking them from the bottom to the top of the Championship in his first season and then staving off relegation from the Premier League in his second campaign before resigning amid souring relations with new club owner.
Keane’s most recent job in management was an ill-fated stint at Ipswich Town, which ended in 2011. He has not worked as a manager since, though served as Martin O’Neill’s assistant with Ireland and Nottingham Forest along with a brief spell with Paul Lambert at Aston Villa.
Sunderland are third in League One, one place and one point outside the automatic promotion places, though both of the sides ahead of them have games in hand.
