Roy Keane in Profile
By TownFans.co.uk
October 27 2012
Roy Keane was appointed to the role of Manager of the club on 23rd April 2009, replacing former boss Jim Magilton who was sacked 24 hours previously.
The Irishman signed a two year contract at the club with the aim of returning Town to the Premiership within the period as Marcus Evans attempted to raise the profile of the club by Keane's appointment.
Keane took over with Town laying in 9th position in the Coca-Cola Championship and in the last two games of the season he was in charge for, secured a 3-0 away win against Cardiff City and rounded off the home campaign with a 2-1 win over Coventry City at Portman Road giving fans plenty of optimism for the new season.
2009/2010 however never lived up to expectations. Despite the big money signings of Tamas Priskin, Lee Martin, Carlos Edwards and Grant Leadbitter, Town spent almost the first half of the season occupying the bottom three places in the league. In addition, young striker Jordan Rhodes was sold to Huddersfield Town in a move which angered many fans. Whilst the second half of the season brought some much needed improvement in form, the club could only manage 15th in the final standings in what was a season of underachievement.
At the start of 2010/2011 Keane was placed under some pressure not to repeat the mistakes and underachievement of the previous season and Town did indeed start better, spending the majority of the first third of the season in the top six of the league. However a run of nine games returning just four points saw Town slide to 19th in the League. With rumoured fallings out between Keane and some of his playing staff and supporter unhappiness the club took the decision to terminate the contract of Keane on 7th January 2011.
| Season | Division | Pos | P | W | D | L | F | A | Pts |
| 2009/2010 | Championship | 15th | 46 | 12 | 20 | 14 | 50 | 61 | 56 |
| 2008/2009* | Championship | 9th | 46 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 62 | 53 | 66 |
| * Roy Keane took over for last two games of the season | |||||||||
Keane as a Player
Keane was regarded as one of the top players of his generation and enjoyed considerable success with Manchester United in their domination of the English Game in the 1990's who he joined from Nottingham Forest after starting his career at hometown side Cobh Ramblers in Ireland. After 12 years at United Keane spent his last season as a player in the 2005/6 season at Celtic, a club of which Keane is a lifelong fan.
During his playing days Keane was often at the centre of contreversy with several notable incidents such as the pre-medidated revenge tackle on Alf-Inge Haland which all but ended the Norwegian's career, the blazing row with Ireland boss Mick McCarthy that led to Keane being sent home from the 2002 World Cup, and the explosive outburst on Manchester United's TV station where Keane issued a strongly worded rant against several of the club's first team players.
Keane as Suderland Boss
On 30th August 2006, Keane was appointed as manager of Sunderland, ironically succeeding former nemesis Mick McCarthy who left the club in March 2006, with Kevin Ball and Niall Quinn caretaking at The Stadium of Light in the intervening period. Keane aided by large investment from the board, secured promotion to the Premiership in his first season as a manager.
With survival very much the target for Sunderland on their return to the top flight, Keane achieved the aim with distinction, guiding the club to 15th place with 39 points. The next season however would not prove to be as successful for the Irishman and with Sunderland sitting in 18th in the Premiership in December Keane resigned from his position, later citing differences of opinion with the club's shareholders being the main reason behind the decision.