A year on the Wear:Tis the season to be thinking of Selhurst Park, clearly. One year ago today Sunderland were losing there 1-0 to Crystal Palace, a result that left Roy Keane's side 11th in the Championship and with no sense of promotion momentum. It was a bleak performance and for Wearside the best thing about is that it feels longer than a year ago.
Given Sunderland's away record this season - no wins, two draws, seven defeats - Keane could have been forgiven for not dwelling yesterday on a previous travel failure and, besides, it was another winter evening at Selhurst that Keane's mind was taken back to. It was the one in 1995 when Eric Cantona decided that one fan's abuse had gone too far.
Cantona's kung-fu kick on Matthew Simmons was a sensation then and led to a ban for Cantona for the rest of the season. It has become one of the landmark moments in the history of modern English football.
Keane was Manchester United's right-back that night and at the time he thought Cantona's action understandable, if not justifiable. Judging by Keane yesterday, that view has not changed. Asked to comment on Sol Campbell's opinion that some supporters are out of control in terms of what they hurl verbally at players, Keane agreed with Portsmouth's centre-half.
"But what can you do about it?" Keane asked. "Are you going to eject forty- or fifty-thousand supporters for abusing a player or a manager? It's very hard to deal with? They love that one about this racism stuff, but there's lots of other stuff going on, players are getting lots of stick about different stuff. I'm an ex-United player and at particular grounds - Liverpool, Arsenal - you're going to get dog's abuse.
"I don't take it personally. You try and forget about it but sometimes you react; you're human. Ashley Cole reacted last week, then people want you to be fined and hammered and banned. I think you should be allowed to give a little bit back, I do."
At this point a memory of Cantona cropped up, for the first time.
"I wanted to do an Eric Cantona loads of times," Keane said. "I wanted to do it everywhere. It's usually built up over a few years; that's when eventually someone like Eric thinks enough is enough. In other sports - hockey, American football, basketball - we've seen people going into the crowd and fighting. I don't sit there shocked.
"You can see when somebody's had enough; you can see it with managers. I saw Brian Clough go onto the pitch after a Cup game against QPR and smack two supporters. It's just the mood he was in. As he said, they ran onto his pitch - it's like running onto his garden - 'Get off!' The people who got the smack probably thought he was right; they shouldn't be running on pitch and doing that sort of thing."
What abuse did/does he get?
"Irish stuff, lots of stuff after the World Cup, being an ex-United player when going to Arsenal, lots of stuff. But there's nothing in particular which has annoyed me because I might have done something about it. I don't think I've ever reacted to the crowd. Have I? I don't think so?
"The best way to react is by beating them, keeping the ball, scoring a goal, making a tackle, winning the game and getting out of there. That soon shuts them up."
Of course Sunderland have not been able to do that this season. Keane's men have been fodder on the road, tasty snacks for the likes of Everton. No Premier League team, not even Derby, have conceded more, and Fulham, who sacked their manager Lawrie Sanchez yesterday, have conceded 11 fewer goals than Sunderland away from home.
With the season reaching its halfway point next week, it's not too soon for Sunderland to start winning. Beginning at Reading today.
"You can have a good chat about this," Keane said of the psychology of playing away from home. "These things are discussed on courses I've been on. A lot of it is about the mindset of players. At home the majority of supporters are cheering you on. Personally, I always liked going away, shutting a few people up. You should enjoy performing on stage no matter who's watching."
Which brought you back to Eric Cantona. Cantona enjoyed the stage, so much so that he became an actor. He cost Manchester United a mere £1 million when controversially, improbably, he moved from Leeds in November 1992. The fee means Cantona has a claim on being the best-value signing in recent times.
Hearing his name again was a reminder that signing players is not all about finance, like away form and abuse, one of yesterday's themes. Alex Ferguson only bought Cantona because Sheffield Wednesday wouldn't sell him David Hirst.
Avenues open and close. Keane was dismissive about a tabloid story linking Kenwyne Jones to Chelsea - "Kenwyne's going nowhere" - and was, for the first time, also quite sceptical about January's transfer window.
"There's an expectation about January, that we should be bringing in certain players or spending a certain amount of money, trying to appease certain people, but we won't go down that road," he said. Quite forcibly.
"No chance. Especially when you're near the bottom of the league, there's a feeling you need to do something, to create something, but you have to say 'No, No.' If we don't get players we want, we'll stay as we are.
"Managers are under pressure to make signings, that's definitely true. I've felt that build up in the last week or two. People want certain players to come into the club just to appease fans, create headlines for a week or two. But then after that you might say he's not really the type of player we were after, now he's on a two- or three-year deal, on big money, cost a big fee."
Who that rules out remains to be ascertained but one thing is for sure: Sunderland need something in January.
Otherwise Crystal Palace will be back on their itinerary. Soon.
