Yours Truly, Angry Man

It's difficult to predict anything in football. Who'd have thought that Manchester United would start the season so sluggishly? Who knew that Portsmouth's Benjani knew where the goal was? How many people believed that Everton would ever be top of the league again? Ever?

One thing that's not difficult to predict though is that on any given day, at any given time, an Irishman in the North-East of England will be angry about something.

Seriously, is Roy Keane ever happy? Even when Sunderland clinched the Championship title last May he denied them the chance to celebrate it, banning their open-topped bus tour. Dedicated professionalism to some, a downright killjoy to others.

His great achievements as a player were overshadowed by his anger. Bizarrely, some Irish fans hold him up as a hero for his hissy fit and subsequent storm out of the 2002 World Cup, when surely the best thing to do would have been to suck it up, play in the tournament and complain later. Keane only has to look at his long time Old Trafford team-mate Ryan Giggs to realise just what a huge honour and privilege playing on the world stage is.

Alf Inge Haaland still bears the scars of getting on the wrong side of Keane's anger, while anyone seen munching on a prawn sandwich in the Irishman's vicinity would be wise to avoid his gaze.

Of course Keane's determination and will to win are hugely admirable qualities, qualities that can be seen in today's midfield master in the English game, Steven Gerrard, but now he's a manager he surely has to tone down the anger a bit.

His latest target are the infamous WAGs (talk about picking your battles). Yes apparently its all the wives and girlfriend's fault that good players don't want to go to Sunderland, and nothing to do with the fact that they are a club that has just been promoted, and have a manager with no top flight experience.

Keane would do well to look at the examples set by Reading and Wigan in the last two seasons. Both came up, kept the majority of their squad together and earned top half finishes. Only after they had established themselves in the top flight did they look to improve their squads, although in Wigan's case it almost proved their downfall.

Sunderland appear to be trying to run before they can walk this season. The fact is that they are a promoted club, and as such their target this season should be just trying to survive. Sure they could finish in the top half, they may trouble Europe, but objective number 1 is staying up. If they lose sight of that they could be in trouble.

Keane's latest tirade is disrespectful to his current players, not to mention the majority of footballers in the country. No doubt there are players out there who are henpecked, but to tar them all with the same brush is wrong.

Who was Keane trying to buy anyway? Leighton Baines was one. He's gone to Everton, the club he supported all his life. These footballers eh? No loyalty. Perhaps Mido took one look around the delights of the city of Sunderland and wanted to move somewhere more picturesque. He's going to, erm, Middlesbrough by the way.

If Keane was going for any one of the raft of players who've gone to likes of West Ham or Man City then I've got news for you Roy; the shopping is probably the last thing on their minds. They've gone there because they'll be playing alongside better players and under more experienced managers.

Roy Keane was a great player, Sir Alex Ferguson's best according to the man himself, but I've got news for Republic of Ireland, Manchester United and Sunderland fans: he can be wrong sometimes.

Good luck to Sunderland this season. They are a big club with good players and a great set of fans. They've got a good young manager too, but do us all a favour Roy, next time just count to ten first...