Keane pays homage to Brucie
Interesting. The last sentence is a bit of a joke though from Keane, considering his past history, and also the stuff about it not being about the medals :confused:
From the BBC Website:
By Rob Stewart
Roy Keane, the Sunderland manager, paid homage to Birmingham counterpart Steve Bruce yesterday and expressed astonishment at the amount of criticism his former Manchester United colleague had received from supporters at St Andrew's.
"He's getting criticised down there, a lot which I find pretty amazing," Keane said ahead of their promotion-chasing sides' meeting tonight.
"They should appreciate they've got a top manager there. Of course they had the disappointment of going down last year, but they're still clear favourites to go up. He's built a new team, really, and has done a great job. You can't worry too much about what the fans and the media have to say, you just have to focus on the job. Look at their last couple of results - they have been very good, and they will be a team peaking at the right time.
"Brucie's a top bloke and he's helped me as a manager with bits of advice. As a player he was great to play with and a real character. He's done a great job at Birmingham, and I see them as real favourites to get promoted."
Keane added: "When I look back on my career, I don't get the buzz at looking back at medals or money, but looking back and appreciating the players I played with, and Brucie was one of them.
He was always a really good character in the dressing room and seemed to spend more time in the manager's office towards the end of his career chatting to him about different stuff, so you always felt he had a chance of becoming a manager."
Bruce's cause has been hampered by his board's decision to sell Matthew Upson to West Ham, and Keane would not toe the line in similar circumstances. "I dictate who leaves and who comes to the club and that's my job, otherwise I'd be gone in two seconds," he added.
Despite suggesting he was capable of being intemperate, Keane insisted that level-headedness was central to his brand of management.
"I've not been one for ranting and raving on the sideline, and that was my mindset when I took the job," he said.
"I can rant and rave in the dressing room at half-time or after the game. It's not been difficult to keep to it, I'm quite a cool dude, really.
When asked if other managers should adopt his approach, he added: "They seem to, yes. They all need to cool down, they're all getting stressed for no reason, it's just a game of football."
