Championship/Roy Keane's first match as manager: Michael Walker hears the new Sunderland manager's plans to reinvigorate the Championship strugglers

And if you know your history . . . It is one of the great songs of football, a Glasgow Celtic anthem that has been enthusiastically adopted south of the border by the likes of Everton and one imagines that when the cameras are away, it is a chorus that Roy Keane has sung lustily.

The narrow perception of Keane as an introverted warrior is undergoing alteration and yesterday in a pre-match press conference, the first of many that will pepper his routine, Keane spoke of work under way at Sunderland, of "history", of "attachment" and of "being part of something".

This was no dry analysis of how Sunderland might defeat Derby County at Pride Park today. That is Keane's imperative, of course, for his first game as a manager, but this was a man already sounding embedded on Wearside, a man here for the long run, a man, as he said, "looking at the bigger picture".

There will be feverish speculation among Sunderland's 4,600 fans at Derby - their original allocation had to be increased by 1,000 - about the starting XI Keane selects following the arrival of six players on transfer deadline day. But he has broader policy issues racing around his mind, embracing architecture, environment, emotion.

Keane was sitting in Sunderland's £10 million training ground but he is not at ease with its minimalist message. "These are very good facilities," he said, "but you've got to make it a good environment. It's well and good having the nicest building in the world but you have to make it a football environment, you've got to know you're at Sunderland. The building, nice as it is, it's a bit cold. Someone could drop you in here and you wouldn't know it's Sunderland Football Club.

"We're looking at all aspects of the club, so people know what it's about. In a sense it's cold, you want pictures up, past players, past teams, whatever, different sports people that might inspire, the history of the club, so that you know what you belong to, where you're at, that you are attached to something.

"That won't be done today, that will take weeks and months but we're looking at all that, the first-team dressing room, the tunnel area. You'd be surprised what you can do. The young kids, are they feeling part of the club? Are the staff? What you want is everybody feeling that we're in the same boat, from Niall (Quinn, the chairman) to the owners, to myself to the groundsman, that's how I want it to be."

At one point, when asked if he feels like a Sunderland man already, Keane glanced at the club crest on his shirt and said: "I have to say it's been good, even putting on the gear, playing in a challenge game, getting your tracksuit out.

"All that is credit to the people and staff, they've made us feel very welcome. That can change very quickly of course, a few bad results. But, generally speaking, when I was thinking about the job, you just sometimes have to believe gut feeling. This certainly feels right. I have bought into it, it's an important aspect of any job. Speaking to the groundsman, to Niall, to everyone, you get a nice warm feeling. There has been a lot of disappointment here. The best thing that happened to the club last week was winning. When I was a player, if you got a bad result, it affected everyone. That's a great sign. If you win, everyone is on a high, from the chef to the cleaner to the groundsman. You speak to these people and they are big Sunderland fans. It means a hell of a lot to them. You have to plug into that."

These are not unique aims, but nor does every manager say them with such sincerity. Keane and Quinn know their task is nothing short of a complete rebuild but after the victory over West Brom 12 days ago and the influx of players, there is a let's-get-going mood.

Keane could joke about numerous phone calls to Alex Ferguson ("I didn't make that many, Jesus!"), about his anticipated behaviour in the technical area ("Cool and calm, that's the plan," said with a wry smile) and of relations with officials ("I've never really had a problem with referees over the years").

There was also a mention for Brian Clough. He scored 54 goals in 61 league games for Sunderland and was Keane's manager at Nottingham Forest. Keane recalled Clough bragging about the record on Forest's away trips "and obviously I'm going to Derby, Brian Clough was there and I'm an ex-Forest player. For this club it's a new beginning, but you never ever forget the past, never."