English League Championship:The commercial department might have appreciated a mention but instead it was a case of "all credit to Roy" at the Stadium of Light yesterday where the dramatic transformation of Sunderland's fortunes, engineered by the Corkman since he took charge seven months ago, was widely hailed as paving the way for the club's latest new sponsorship deal.
The terms of the four-year contract with Boylesports were apparently hammered out at Cheltenham in the absence, one presumes, of the Sunderland boss, but the numbers involved were very much influenced by the sense that under Keane, the club could be destined not just for promotion in a few weeks time but for substantially bigger things.
Before he arrived at the Stadium of Light the club had lost its opening four league games of the campaign and already been knocked out of the League Cup. The contrast with the period since could hardly be more stark with the team climbing from bottom to top of the table thanks in no small part to their current unbeaten run of 16 Championship games from which they have taken 42 points. Predictably enough, though, Keane is not exactly getting carried away.
"Basically my job is to run the team," says the Corkman coolly after breaking away from his schedule yesterday to attend the sponsorship announcement. "There are a lot of people, including Niall, who are doing a lot of hard work in the background but ultimately the team is important because these people who come in, they want to be associated with winners and that's what I want people to think of Sunderland football club."
His days as a player at Manchester United ended under something of a cloud after he had criticised less able and, crucially from his point of view, less committed team-mates. A couple of years on, he is full of praise for the group he works with now although, after making clear that he takes trouble to ensure that his is a happy ship, he leaves little doubt regarding his continuing intolerance of those who fail to live up to his standards.
"You have to focus on the job in hand and that means working with the players and making sure they're all happy," he says. "If the players aren't happy with anything then we do our best to make sure they are happy. If they're not happy with the pillows at the hotel," he observes to some laughter, "then we make sure that they're soft enough for them. Basically we are doing everything we can to make it a happy dressing room and I have to say we have a very good dressing room.
"When you have that you have a chance but," he adds, "there were one or two lads that weren't happy earlier in the season and clearly we couldn't work together so we sold them. There was no indecision on my part. If you're happy at the football club then fantastic. If you're not then we'll let you go. There are no hidden agendas. They should all feel honoured to play for Sunderland."
Quinn insists that Keane's achievements to date have provided people operating in other areas of the club to start maximising its potential again after what have been some difficult years. Of course, there is the prospect that the Corkman's achievements will simply persuade a rival club, Manchester United commonly crops up in the speculation naturally enough, to whisk him away to bigger things.
Keane, though, recently hinted that he would be happy to stick around as long as he felt he was allowed to do the job in the way he wants. He is, he insists, happy with the way things are done behind the scenes at the club and well satisfied, too, with the way things are going on the field. Indeed, the only time he says he felt disappointed with his players was at Sheffield Wednesday where "for 20 minutes they played like individuals and nearly got caught out. On Saturday they showed great character after going a goal behind (to Wolves) and then to see them out on the pitch at the end celebrating, that's what impressed me most".
Keane claimed after the game that he would allow himself no more than a "10-second smile" if his side does win promotion but even with just four games to go he is careful to talk about that cherished prize as the most distant of prospects. "We've gotten ourselves into a very nice position but you can't take anything for granted. Now, I'm just focused on Saturday's game. If we can do that then we'll still be top of the table but it'll be hard. QPR have won their last few games.
"Since I've got the job people come up and say the next game is a must-win situation. But you find that at every big club, the next game is always a big one; the biggest challenge. Saturday is a big challenge because it's the next challenge and I'm not going to look beyond QPR. I've never underestimated a team in my career - I don't think any of my players will either or they won't be playing on Saturday."
