Roy Keane has opened out about the response he got after joining Sunderland.
In an interview with Stick To Football, the former manager acknowledged that his playing career’s success was “lucky” for him to win the Sunderland position.
The Irishman spent 12 years with Manchester United and developed into one of the greatest midfielders in Premier League history. Keane was selected in the PFA Team of the Year five times, and he won seven league crowns, four FA Cups, and the Champions League.
After leaving Old Trafford, Keane took just two months to become Sunderland’s new manager despite having no prior coaching experience.
Despite being well-remembered on Wearside for being promoted to the Premier League in his debut season, 52-year-old Keane has insisted he was fortunate to be hired right away after hanging up his boots.
“These are lucky boys, but you have Lampard, Gerrard, and Rooney,” Keane remarked on the podcast.
Although 52-year-old Keane is well-known on Wearside for getting promoted to the Premier League in his first season, he has maintained that he was lucky to be employed as soon as he hung up his boots.
Keane said on the show, “These are lucky boys, but you have Lampard, Gerrard, and Rooney.”
Roy Keane: was he lucky?
Regarding managers being thrown in at the deep end just because they were good players, Roy Keane is absolutely correct.
A far better illustration of that is Frank Lampard, who after a passably good season at Derby County received an offer from Chelsea to take one of the largest positions in European football.
Despite his dismal performance at Everton and his much terrible second term at Stamford Bridge, he has recently been strongly linked to the Rangers position.
Fans will be happy that we didn’t manage to get Keane back when Alex Neil left, even if he got us promoted. Keane was extremely fortunate to begin his managing career at Sunderland.
Although I would wager a lot that Keane would not lead us to the same heights as we have when we were promoted to the Championship, everyone was devastated when we decided to go with Tony Mowbray.
