A YEAR ON THE WEAR:Three consecutive victories have eased relegation fears around the Stadium of Light as the club looks ready to retain its Premier League status
SOMEONE SAID "boll****" to Roy Keane yesterday morning and even though the expletive came from a local reporter in the course of Sunderland's regular pre-match press conference, Keane smiled. It was that sort of day. Those three consecutive victories have rinsed away a lot of tension that would have been present otherwise. Keane may have no desire to get to know anyone in the North-East press pack but he is rarely worked up in front of the Wearside regulars. When he disappears down the corridor, it could be a different story, of course.
The boll**** came towards the end of another lengthy Q&A. Sunderland have a new kit out and Keane was involved, allegedly, in its design. So it was said by the club, though he laughed off any serious input. "They showed it to me and I said: 'Fine'. That would be my contribution." Yet the kit mattered, Keane said. "You don't see teams with bad kits win the European Cup, do you? Barcelona, United, beautiful kits. I think it's important to have a nice kit, I really do. I think we need a beautiful kit. I wasn't too happy with it last year, or the training kit. It's part of the package, the pictures, the kit. When was the last time you saw a good team in a bad kit?" The answer came back: "Man United. Grey."
"That was their fourth-choice kit, not their main kit," Keane countered. "They still sold it." A knowing smile. "Ask David Gill about that."
Now, given that Keane had gone down the David Gill route with Tom Humphries in these pages last Saturday, there was little appetite for more Manchester United debate. Anyway, some people are obsessed by jerseys and the like and so the show moved on.
"What was your first replica kit?" Keane was asked. "Tottenham?" (He was a Spurs fan as a boy).
"No, you couldn't get that in Ireland because they were made by Le Coq Sportif and you had to send away for that. I wasn't going to do that. I can't remember, not sure." This felt a bit like a politician's answer, as if Keane knows there is some photo of him locked away in a Cork drawer showing him in Liverpool gear.
Hence: "Boll****."
Another smile. "No, where I lived it was mainly Liverpool, United, Arsenal, Leeds. My younger brother had a United kit. I wasn't a great one for kits, I had vests, for boxing. Jesus, get over it." And up he got.
It would be stretching interpretation to read too much into the exchange, but what it felt indicative of is relaxation at Sunderland. Not complacency; mathematically they remain uncertain, but you could foresee them beating Manchester City today at the Stadium of Light - or at least not losing - and there is then the Tyne-Wear derby at St James' Park tomorrow week. That penultimate game of the season at Bolton does not carry the sense of anxiety it did a month ago.
There is a feeling that even within the Bolton and Fulham dressingrooms there is draining belief they deserve to still belong to the Premier League. At Sunderland it is the opposite, belief is rising. There is always the risk of premature assessment but yesterday Sunderland and Keane seemed to be growing into their skin and into the status that comes with being a Premier League club, Premier League players and a Premier League manager. There have been times this season, some of them quite recent, when that statement might not have sounded credible.
After losing 7-1 at Everton in November for example, Sunderland looked Championship-bound.
But Keane was adamant that at no time this season did he lose faith in his players or think that they had lost faith in him.
Even after Everton? Some of his certainty gave way. "Well, after Everton I had to lift them a small bit. The dressingroom that day was a horrible place to be. I wouldn't expect it any other way. Everton was a big one but in defence of the players that was my fault that day, not theirs. I mean that, my fault, 100 per cent. That was easier to cope with than other games, maybe, because I got that call wrong.
"The dressingroom has been the least of my worries this season. I have had other ones but I have never thought: 'We have lost the dressingroom'. I have never gone on the training pitch and thought 'I need to lift these lads'. Trust me, you have setbacks and that's where you need a strong dressingroom. If we didn't have a good dressingroom we'd have been down with Derby, adrift."
Dwight Yorke was mentioned by Keane as being one of the influential voices in there and his experience has been valuable. For Craig Gordon, Grant Leadbitter and Kenwyne Jones, this has been a first taste of England's top-flight. They should be better for it.
Others such as Nyron Nosworthy and Dean Whitehead had been in the division previously but it was during Sunderland's wretched 15-point season. Individually and collectively that was unpleasant and potentially damaging.
It is easy to forget that was just two years ago. That it feels like ancient history is a mark of Sunderland's progress this season. Few think now they will implode. And they have a shiny new kit, and a manager who can tolerate being informed that he is talking boll**** .
