Roy Keane Says Buh-Bye to Sunderland

By: Laurie | December 4th, 2008

Roy Keane is out, and the HABs blog has one less pretty manager to ogle.

Not that I…um…read that blog. Or anything.

As many had predicted, Keane has waved goodbye to Sunderland in the middle of a less-than-great season that currently has the club sitting in the relegation zone, 18th of 20 with an excruciating minus 11 goal differential. All this in spite of spending £70 million on players during his 27-month tenure there.

In a statement on its website the club said an amicable agreement had been reached with the 37-year-old Keane over his departure, two and a quarter years after taking charge. [...]

Chairman Niall Quinn, who was instrumental in bringing Keane to the club, said he was disappointed that Keane had decided to leave and said he had spent three days trying to get him to change his mind. “I’ve got huge respect for what he has done for this club, he lifted it off its knees,” Quinn told reporters at a news conference at the Stadium of Light. “I fully respect his decision. He is his harshest critic and he felt like he had completed his journey here and that maybe somebody could come in and kick it on.

The Telegraph is predicting that Sam Allardyce is at the top of the list to replace him. Allardyce has been without a club since he and Newcastle parted ways last year after a very brief love affair that ended badly.

If that’s the case, expect somewhat ugly, defensive play at Sunderland for the rest of the season — but with a much-improved goal differential.

Life is full of tradeoffs.

(For more on this story, check out EPL Offside.)

Current Odds: Sam Allardyce 11-8, Alan Curbishley 8-1, Gordan Strachan 10-1, David O’Leary 10-1.