Guide dogs shown several shades of Keane

MARY HANNIGANfinds the Sunderland manager in fine form and eloquent as ever on a variety of topics, from sports to politics

IDEALLY WHEN charities launch fundraising campaigns they coincide with slow news days, thus boosting hopes of getting a front page or two and a reasonable chunk of media time and space.

The timing of events, then, at Government Buildings yesterday morning was hardly ideal for the launch of the Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind/Specsavers SHADES 2008 campaign a couple of miles out the road.

Being the issue of the day, though, the question had to be asked.

Any thoughts on Bertie?

"Good luck to him," said Roy Keane. "I hope he enjoys his retirement. All things come to an end, don't they?"

Any preferences on who his successor should be?

"John Delaney?"

Even the guide dogs in the room were close to barking with laughter.

Padraig Mallon, the chief executive of the IGDB, seated beside Keane at the top table, shook with mirth, the Sunderland manager's stony expression giving way to an outbreak of the giggles.

No one quite had the heart to ask what qualities Keane thought the chief executive of the Football Association of Ireland would bring to the job.

He was, though, asked for a response to Delaney's suggestion back in February that Keane's frequent criticisms of the FAI were simply an attempt to "deflect from his own issues" at Sunderland. Even the guide dogs in the room took cover. Keane shook his head and smiled.

"I do a press conference every Friday in England, for about 45 minutes to an hour," he said. "Every now and then an Irish reporter will turn up - he'll obviously get a cheap flight on a Thursday evening. He'll ask me one question at the end of all my questions about Sunderland and we'll be reading that for the next two or three weeks. And they'll twist it and they'll turn it.

"If I'm asked a question about the FAI I'll give my opinion every now and then, but it's far from a running commentary. If I've been trying to distract from Sunderland's results that would be very hard to do because they've been that bad. I would have to give the press conferences naked to take the attention off the results, so I don't think the FAI are helping me out with that. Just look at the league table every weekend, that tells you where we are. So that's rubbish. That's my opinion."

Keane did, though, offer an enthusiastic, if cautious, welcome to the appointment by the FAI of Giovanni Trapattoni.

"His CV is there for everyone to see, he's got a great track record so hopefully that will continue. But only time will tell. Please God he'll do well.

"The media and the Irish fans were looking for somebody with a higher profile than the last one or two managers and they (the FAI) have certainly got them that. His track record is absolutely fantastic. I think international management suits an older manager because it is a very, very difficult job - club management is hard, but international management is probably 100 times harder."

Will the language barrier be a problem?

"I wouldn't have thought so. He's got a translator there, hasn't he? Liam Brady? He should be good," he said, eyes drifting heavenwards.

Apart from his linguistics skills what can Brady add to the set-up?

"I haven't got a clue what he's going to add. I haven't got a clue."

Later, Keane was asked to expand on his comments about the man who was one of his harshest critics during the Saipan saga.

"I don't really know Liam Brady, I've no comment to make."

But you don't think he will add anything to the Irish set-up?

"I don't think he will add anything to it; he's just a translator." (Even the guide dogs in the room said "miaow.")

What's that view based on?

"Gut feeling. Which I follow. A lot."

His gut feeling on Sunderland's prospects, meanwhile, is that, so long as the club avoids relegation, it will need its Irish owners to dig deep into their pockets.

"I'll only be looking for £40-£50 million in the summer," he said.

Cue laughter.

"I don't know what you're all laughing at; that's the least we need if we want to go to the next level, which is competing with the likes of the Aston Villas, the Blackburns and even the Spurs of this world. You can forget about the big four; they're in a different league altogether.

"I believe there are good days ahead for the club, but some days are just about survival, you just get through it."

"International management suits an older man because it is a very difficult job - club management is hard, but international management is 100 times harder