In Keane We Trust - Graeme Anderson

Just 90 weeks after Roy Keane walked away from Manchester United as a player, Roy Keane was back in the Premier League as a manager. A very different Roy Keane. Suited rather than booted, a firebrand transformed into a steady hand following a remarkable first season in management that had seen him return Sunderland to the top flight. He was backed by Niall Quinn, surely the most eloquent and romantic chairman in the game, and supported by a consortium of Irish businessman making up for their inexperience as a board, with a readiness to give the pairing every possible financial backing. Behind them all was one of the most passionate and vast fan bases in football at a club renowned for its unflagging support through what had, for generations, been thin and thinner. Over the years, getting Sunderland into the Premier League had not proven a problem; keeping them there was the challenge. Despite being one of the biggest names in world football, Keane was still a rookie manager, Quinn still a novice chairman and the Irish backers happy to admit they were sports enthusiasts rather than football fanatics. Everyone recognised though how pivotal this season was going to be to the long-term fortunes of Sunderland Football Club. Stay up and, with Premiership status and reputation re-established, the sky was the limit for one of the giants of the English game. Go down and the risk of the club imploding yet again amid the lost momentum was all too real. With so many imponderables to consider, it was always going to come down simply to a leap in the dark - a wing and a prayer. And so a footballing city -- still scarred by the two worst ever Premier League relegations -- put its faith in Roy Keane to make sure it would not be third time unlucky. As the season turned towards home in January, Sunderland had just 17 points -- one point less than they had at the same stage of the relegation season of 2002-03. There was no doubt that both faith and fingernails were to be tested to the limit, come what may. It was to be a roller-coaster ride on Niall Quinn's magic carpet in a season as bewildering, exhilarating and uncertain as any in the great club's history.