Hoping to reach promised land using rub of the green

Sunderland revolution: Mary Hannigan talks to owners Charlie Chawke and Niall Quinn about their plans for the Championship club.

Three weeks into the season, after Sunderland had lost five consecutive games, Charlie Chawke was beginning to wonder quite why he had accepted Niall Quinn's invitation to join the Drumaville consortium that took control of the club back in July.

"I started to wake up at four o'clock in the morning, it reminded me of a few of the pubs I bought down the line, waking up in the middle of the night, wondering how the hell am I going to get out of this mess," said the owner of the Charlie Chawke Group of pubs.

Now? "Now it's great, we're all relaxed, and everything is going fine. We have 10 points, we had none two weeks ago, so we're on the crest of a wave."

Along with fellow publican Louis Fitzgerald; developers Jack Tierney, Patrick Beirne, Patsy Byrne and Paddy Kelly; and John Hays, owner of a Sunderland-based travel company and the only Englishman in the consortium; Chawke was persuaded by Quinn to buy out Sunderland chairman Bob Murray and set about rebuilding the debt-ridden north-east of England club.

"Niall was the common denominator for us all. We all know him and we all respect him, maybe love is too strong a word, but he's a great guy, a gentleman. He picked the syndicate and I was only too delighted when he asked me - he didn't have to ask me twice.

"He just wanted to get guys who have a love for sport, and I think we all have, so we were just delighted to come on board. And now that we have Roy (Keane) with us we have the two foremost sporting people in Ireland at this club, as well as the Irish investors - so I think we have the biggest thing in Irish sport for a long time.

"We hope to take over from Man United now, we're going to set up supporters clubs around Ireland, Niall will be over working with PR people to get that up and running."

The charm offensive began at the weekend when the consortium chartered a plane and flew over a large group from Dublin, including a section of the media.

Upon spotting the Irish football reporters wandering through the dressingrooms on a guided tour, two hours before kick-off, Kenny Cunningham could only declare: "**** me, it's like a bad dream!"

Quinn is hopeful Cunningham and co will be see plenty more Irish faces at the Stadium of the Light in the coming months, convinced that the "greening" of Sunderland will result in a substantial fan base in Ireland.

"We'll be over talking to airlines," said Quinn, "we don't just want to see people coming from Dublin and Cork, we want to see them coming from Galway, Tralee, Derry and so on.

"We want to put something on special here for Irish people because we think they'll enjoy their football here with Roy Keane and in a city like this, as opposed to being one of the multitude in a bigger pond like Liverpool or Manchester."

Has Quinn felt less pressure since handing the managerial reins to Keane? "Absolutely! It goes without saying, chairmen know nothing about football, as my record in management shows you. But there's a great passion around the place again, which was missing, the fear is gone and we have a chance to build on that.

"Roy isn't a miracle worker, but there will be no time limit on him whatsoever, what he's done here already is worth every day of the three-year contract we've given him."

Was Chawke surprised, considering the history between the chairman and manager, that they agreed to work together?

"No, I wasn't surprised at all, ye're the people who kept that going, they're the best of friends really. They hugged and made up and they're both going for the one ambition now. Together they will be great.

"You can see in Roy that he's determined, that he's a professional at the game. He's learning at the moment but there's no doubt that he will be a leader and he will take us to the promised land.

"I'd be happy to finish in the middle of the table this season, and go up next year, but for now we just want a good decent team that will satisfy the ambition and the demands of the people of Sunderland. I look on them like Munster rugby fans, they love the game, they love their sport, and all they want is a team that they're proud of. I hope that we will be able to provide that for them."

Promotion this season, Niall? "I would have thought if I mentioned that word Roy Keane would have me up against that wall, so we'll stay nice and quiet about it," he laughed.