Inside Roy Keanes spell at Sunderland – from furious team talks to brutal texts

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Tactics boards flew, a young Jordan Henderson was terrified, and Sunderland players were told “enjoy being s***” during Roy Keane's explosive reign at the Stadium of Light.

However, to the potential horror of the dressing room furniture, the former Manchester United captain could be set for an astonishing return to the Black Cats.

The League One side controversially relieved Lee Johnson of his services, after their 6-0 defeat by Bolton Wanderers.

Keane enjoyed an astonishing first season in management by guiding the Black Cats to Premier League promotion as champions in 2006, but departed the club when they became embroiled in a tight relegation battle in 2008.

But with the tough tackling, tough talking, and truly intimidating figure reportedly 'offered the Sunderland job', Daily Star Sport look back on five memorable moments during his first spell at Sunderland.

Matty Taylor's brutal text message

Keane’s career is characterised by a litany of astonishing physical and verbal takedowns, but the Irishman was afforded a taste of his own medicine by Matty Taylor.

At the time, the former West Ham star looked to be on his way out of Portsmouth, and Keane wanted to bring him to the north East – and it is fair to say, Taylor took no prisoners with the Sky Sports pundit.

“So I met him at the stadium, in the boardroom, gave him all the talk for an hour or two… he said he’s got a lot to think about,” Keane recited to TalkSPORT.

“I said: ‘Of course, you take your time, it’s a huge decision. I’ll walk you down to the car park’. As we walked down he says, ‘listen Roy, it’s a huge decision, thanks for the chat’.

“I saw him walking to his car and say, ‘brilliant, thanks for coming’. He turns his back and I’ve got a text, and not many people text me.

"It says, ‘Hi Roy, it’s Matty Taylor, ‘I’ve decided to go to Bolton’. And I’m there waving him out the car park!”

HAVE YOUR SAY! How do you think Roy Keane will do if he becomes the next Sunderland manager? Comment below

The poor tactics board

A dressing room tactics board is the perfect canvas to map out your opposition attacks – that is unless you are Keane.

The Irishman ‘kung-fu kicked’ the defenceless board so hard across the dressing room, that it has probably only just hit the ground.

"After one game, he asked our kit manager if he can get the tactics board," former player Dwight Yorke wrote in his autobiography.

"'Sure', he said. The board goes up. And Keano takes a running jump and smashes it over with a kung fu kick. He screamed at Danny Collins. 'Never come and ask me for a contract again.'

“And then the captain, Dean Whitehead, is next. 'Captain? Captain? Some f***ing captain you'."

Well, at least he did not boot any of his players.

"Enjoy being s***"

As Sunderland edged ever closer to those dreaded dotted line, Keane furious anger gave way to acceptant, exasperated sarcasm.

In a fantastic dressing room speech, Keane motivated the troops with serenading, passionate speech of “enjoy being s***”.

'''Listen lads,' he said. 'Basically you're s***. Try and enjoy the game,” former Sunderland ace Danny Higginbotham wrote in his autobiography.

“You're probably going to get beat. But just enjoy being s***."

Incredibly, Sunderland were not defeated, as they went on to secure a 1-1 draw against Aston Villa.

Scaring Jordan Henderson

Henderson has entrenched himself as one of the finest captains in the Premier League, but he was reduced to ‘buckets of sweat’ when a wide-eyed Keane strutted in his general direction.

At the time, Henderson was a young academy star at Sunderland, who was a part of a “shocking” defeat to Gateshead.

“He got us back straight from the game to the Academy and we were all in the lounge area. He started: 'This is your f*****g problem. Get together',” Henderson said to Jamie Carragher’s 'Greatest Game' podcast.

“He pointed at me and went: 'Do you think you are good enough to play for the first team?' I was a young lad and I looked up to Roy a lot as a player and as a manager and to be fair I went, 'yeah, I do'.

“He said 'good answer' and moved on. After that game I got a phone call saying I was in the first-team squad for a pre-season game at the Stadium of Light and that was where it all started.”

Humiliating Craig Gordon

The gloves were always off when Keane was angry, but on this occasion, the Irishman proceeded to take them off his goalkeepers and wear them himself.

After what may have been hours of staring at his goalkeepers with that all too familiar disapproving look, Keane decided to haul them out of the goal and show them how it's done.

While Keane was certainly not known for his goalkeeper prowess, Keane put his money where his newly acquainted goalkeeper gloves were, to show Craig Gordon and co how its done.

"I put the gloves on and I said that if they could get the ball past me I’d give them £1,000 each but, if they missed, they’d have to give me £100," Keane recalled in his autobiography.

"Eight or nine players lined up, and I knew that Craig and the other goalkeepers were pissed off with it. They didn’t even look at my goalkeeping skills. They just did their stretches.

“I tipped a few on to the bar, on to the post, and I kept a clean sheet. I won £800 off the players – I could have lost eight grand. I was trying to generate a bit of banter, but I’d embarrassed, and maybe belittled, the goalkeepers. I hadn’t meant to. But I didn’t think the keeper should be beaten from 25 or 30 yards."

  • Sunderland FC
  • Premier League
  • Manchester United FC

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