Roy Keane is building a team in his own image as he plans for sustained success. The Cork man has spent two years - and in excess of €90 million - assembling a squad he believes is capable of competing in the Premier League.
He has conducted that mission in his own way and freely admits he has made mistakes. But as he prepares for Saturday's derby clash with Middlesbrough, Keane is hoping to instil the intensity and passion which fuelled his own playing career into his team.
He knows that will take time after another flurry of transfer activity this summer, but he is convinced all the hard work will pay dividends.
Keane said: "Ultimately, you always want your teams to reflect your personality. Sometimes that takes a bit longer, especially when you are trying to build a new team, like I am.
"I think I have tried to build about 10 teams in two years, which is quite hard to do. But in terms of the nucleus of my squad now and the players I have got available, I am absolutely delighted.
"What we do have to understand, though, is these players need to get used to each other, need to get used to myself, the club, the expectations. Hopefully, in the long term, that will be good for the club, and I am sure it will be."
Keane knows the turnover of players at the Stadium of Light since his arrival has been too high.
Of the 11 men who started in the derby at Boro in September last year, five — Danny Higginbotham, Greg Halford, Paul McShane, Dickson Etuhu and Ross Wallace, all his signings — have left the club either permanently on loan.
However, he is confident that process, while not sustainable on a longer-term basis, has provided him with a firm foundation for future rebuilding.
In the meantime, he will set his sights on a first home win of the season in this weekend's Wear-Tees showdown.
Liverpool and Manchester City have both left the Stadium of Light with all three points so far this campaign, with the Black Cats having failed to score against either.
While Keane will hope recent recruits Djibril Cisse and El-Hadji Diouf, as well as Michael Chopra, who is available after completing a three-match ban, can help to address that situation, he will also be aware that greater resilience is needed at the back.
Anton Ferdinand and George McCartney are likely to make their home debuts in a defence which was pierced all to easily as City ran out 3-0 winners on Wearside, and Keane is relishing the kind of selection headache he has not had in recent times.
He said: "I have got more options. We came back for pre-season and we had probably four defenders on our books, maybe five. Now we have Anton and George coming on board, we have Phil Bardsley, Pascal [Chimbonda], Danny [Collins], Nyron [Nosworthy] - I have better options, shall we say."
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