Keane beginning to see the other side

A year on the Wear: It was as cold as you would expect beside the North Sea and he now works for a club chaired by Niall Quinn, but when Roy Keane mentioned Saipan yesterday, no-one shivered. It is almost six years on after all, so maybe time is a healer.

The men of Cork GAA will not be interested in such platitudes, of course. Six years from here it will be 2014 and very few can think that far ahead, never mind sportsmen who live in the here and now. Keane himself was not thinking like that; he was reflecting on current Cork turmoil and from there, Irish sporting troubles. Funnily enough, during this rumination the FAI received another kicking.

It has been that kind of week for Sunderland; the outside influences the inner instead of the other way round. So Liam Miller returned to Wearside from Dublin injured on Thursday while Kenwyne Jones boarded a plane in the Caribbean that was not scheduled to get him back to Durham until yesterday. It happens at most clubs - down the road at Newcastle, Kevin Keegan was asked repeatedly about Michael Owen's non-appearance for England.

Minimising external effects is a club's job in these weeks and Keane said that Jones had been "upgraded" in his travel plans, "so he gets a bed". It is the sort of gesture Keane would have approved of during his international playing days, a show of respect from the governors to the athlete.

Which is why Keane was talking about Cork hurlers and the FAI in general as well as Jones and Sunderland versus Wigan at the Stadium of Light this afternoon.

It is tempting to record professionalism as a common theme but it is not quite as simple as that. We all know, even a man supposedly as black and white as Roy Keane, that complexities bring light and dark greys into the picture too.

Saipan illustrated that, graphically, the ultimate team player exiting alone.

In his public moments at Sunderland, Keane can be understanding of the greys. But there are also glimpses of a manager's inclination towards autocracy. Recently, for example, Keane has bemoaned "players who ask too many questions" during transfer negotiations. He likes "Salford lads" such as Phil Bardsley who "just get on with it". As a player Keane admired such characteristics, perhaps because he was prone occasionally to being slightly more outspoken.

Hence yesterday, when he was discussing the Cork hurlers' strike of 2002, Keane reiterated his sympathy for their cause. He knows there are times when you just can't get on with it.

"I met with the hurlers then, before the Munster final, I think," he recalled. "They discussed their problems but that was more about the way the players were being treated in terms of gear, travel, missing out on money because of work. I was supportive of them because they were talking along the lines of what happened with me and Ireland in Saipan. Obviously I identified with them and them with me. I was very supportive at the time."

Keane's bugbear then was lack of professionalism, governors letting down players. It is something about which he remains emphatic, which is why Jones was last night on his way to the Sunderland team hotel.

"Even little things like staying in a hotel the night before home games does help a lot," Daryl Murphy said last week. "It makes you feel more professional; you're not at home with your mind on other things. You're there to do a job." However, having argued and fought down the years as a player to see that sort of policy established, Keane now sees the other side of the equation. Clearly unimpressed that Jones flew off for a Trinidad and Tobago friendly, forcing Sunderland into an "upgrade" and less than complete training, Keane delivered a quiet warning to his leading striker: "He needs to put on a performance tomorrow."

This was not said gently. Jones has scored once in three months, and so while Keane may retain some of the sympathy of his playing days for Jones and others getting back from internationals, he also sees the perspective of the demanding employer.

This may not have moved him to the other side of the Cork hurlers, but his support is not unconditional either. Just maybe, Keane thinks they have been asking too many questions.

"In Cork, hurling is probably the number one sport," he said, "but you have to get the balance right. It was all well and good a few years ago but when you start thinking players can choose selectors, that can be an issue. But there's more to it than that, I hear.

"I have been following it but I do not know all the ins and outs of it this time. I knew more when they had their first problems. There's obviously more of it going on now. I know they're on strike, a problem with the selectors, the manager, but I don't know the ins and outs. Last time they were getting treated badly."

From there the conversation moved on seamlessly to the "backward" FAI. The fact Miller returned to Sunderland limping may have been a factor in Keane's annoyance - though his criticism is longstanding and famous.

Miller's absence will be felt, if not because he has performed superbly, then because he joined five other midfielders on the treatment table. Andy Reid is one of them and will not be making his debut today.

Given this is another must-win game, and Wigan have twice beaten Sunderland 3-0 this season already - the last time being in the FA Cup four Saturdays ago - that is why Kenwyne Jones's travel arrangements and the mantra of professionalism continue to matter to Roy Keane.