Soccer: Roy Keane will become the new manager of Sunderland football club a little before five o'clock this afternoon with the 35-year-old Corkman set to put pen to paper on a three-year deal worth £10 million immediately after his new side's game against West Brom at the Stadium of Light.
The club confirmed last night that Keane had agreed terms with his prospective employers and the conclusion of the deal is now a formality unless, of course, he is so shocked by what he sees this afternoon that he has second thoughts about taking on a task that even those close to the club concede is "mammoth".
The club's announcement provided little detail with their website revealing only that: "Roy Keane visited Sunderland today where he met players and officials from the club. Keane and the club have agreed terms on him being appointed as manager, and it is envisaged that he will sign a formal contract immediately after Sunderland's game against West Brom tomorrow."
In fact, the visit had been an odd if informal affair with players told they should attend a meeting after training but not told why. The squad were then obliged to wait half an hour after the appointed time before Niall Quinn arrived with Keane and introduced the Corkman to everyone as "the club's new manager".
Keane then quipped that, "I've signed nothing yet, Quinny." That, though, should all change after the former Republic of Ireland captain watches his new team in action up close for the first time. He is likely to be introduced to the crowd before kick-off but will not take charge of team affairs until tomorrow and, thanks to the international break, he will have close to two weeks to prepare for his first game in football management.
It remains unclear who his assistant will be for there was no sign of Brian Kidd yesterday but he has not yet been ruled out. Keane's lawyer Michael Kennedy was the most recognisable figure to accompany the Corkman yesterday but his close friend Tony Loughlin, a flatmate during their early days at Nottingham Forrest, was introduced to the players, suggesting he may be about to become involved on the coaching side of the new set-up.
Keane has little time to address the team's various shortcomings in the immediate future with the current transfer window scheduled to close later this week.
By then under-21 Swedish international defender Per Nilsson is likely to have joined but it is unclear how many of the other players Quinn has been pursuing might complete moves to the Stadium of Light.
Neither the club nor Quinn have given much away regarding how much the new manager will have to spend on players but the Drumaville consortium which has owned Sunderland since the summer had apparently guaranteed Keane at least €15 million to strengthen his squad with most reports putting the figure to be made available at closer to twice that. He will be hampered, however, in his first season by the abysmal start the team have made under Quinn, with the side losing all four Championship games to date.
It has generally been observed that the 35-year-old will have to adapt to the requirements of his new career with both Brian Kerr and Alex Ferguson citing the various challenges Keane will face in the world of modern football management.
Communication with those he has not previously desired to deal with could prove a particular hurdle and the outside world is likely to get its first real idea of how the early stages of the transition are going when Keano, the club manager, fields questions at a press conference for the first time.
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