Close sidebar

Let’s hope David Jones had his notifications turned off on Sunday because the Sky Sports presenter was inundated with requests to convince Roy Keane to entertain the idea of returning to Sunderland.

News broke on Sunday afternoon that Sunderland had parted company with manager Phil Parkinson and the search has already begun for his replacement at the Stadium of Light.

With Roy Keane making headlines on punditry duty for remarks about Fred, Jose Mourinho and Arsenal; viewers were desperate to see the Irishman comment on the vacancy at Sunderland.

Keane does not have a Twitter account but the man sat closest to him when the news broke, David Jones, does and his mentions were quickly flooded with requests to get the Irishman tapped up as the Sky Sports presenter is also a Sunderland supporter.

Keane spent over two years with Sunderland but divided opinion with his no-nonsense style of management before he walked away from the job citing issues with the club’s majority shareholder and chairman.

Speaking on his Sunderland exit in a 2009 interview with The Irish Times, Keane said: “It started with a demand to know where I had been the previous day, that he wanted me available at all times. It was a disappointment. Then there were accusations about how often I came in, about moving my family up. And it was the tone.”

Keane went on to manage Ipswich Town for a couple of years before assistant roles with the Republic of Ireland, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest.

Roy Keane

The Corkman left the door open for a return to management when quizzed on his future by Ryan Tubridy during an appearance on The Late Late Show earlier this year and Keane was linked with the Salford City job as recently as last month.

“I hope to have another crack and I think I deserve another crack,” Keane said.

“I’m very lucky, I have a really good life now I can pick and choose what I want to do. It would have to be a good offer and the worry is it probably won’t be a good offer.

“My CV doesn’t warrant Real Madrid calling me. But I also don’t want to go down too low because the jobs I took weren’t exactly the easiest.

Roy Keane

“Going to Sunderland wasn’t exactly an easy job or Ipswich, these were tough jobs. Ireland don’t qualify for tournaments that easily. You know, these are tough, tough jobs.

“So I think the next offer I might get, I know it’ll be a tough job. So I’ll just have to weigh it up.

“I honestly don’t think you know until you’re asked . I’ll feel it and go with that gut feeling.”

Related posts

Norwich manager says Adam Idah is making “big steps” this season

Caoimhin Kelleher helps Liverpool to Europa League win over LASK

“Because of me we didn’t win” – Onana takes responsibility after latest Man United defeat

This is a cookie notice. You can replace this cookie notice easily using the theme options from within your WordPress control panel. It will only appear once, with acceptance of the form stored locally.