Roy Keane, ex Manchester United and Republic of Ireland midefielder has resigned from his managerial post at Sunderland after a bad spell of winning only 1 game out of the last 7.
This will be a big blow to Niall Quinn who has been in talks since the weekend after their heavy home defeat against Bolton to convince Keane to stay put as manager of Sunderland after a 2 year spell. Sunderland are currently lying in 18th with 15 points and have had resources financially and board support for Keane. However in recent matches Keane has stubbornly put key players on the bench and this has negatively affected the fans' perception of him as their leader.
Paul Ince, another one of the great Manchester United players under Ferguson will now undoubtedly be under pressure as Blackburn Rovers are now in 19th position. Similarly, he is relatively inexperienced for a Premiership club management position.
First team coach Ricky Sbragia is now the caretaker manager at the Stadium of Light and will have 2 assistant coaches in Neil Bailey and Dwight Yorke. Sbragia has a massive challenge in playing Manchester United at Old Trafford at 5.30pm - not exactly an easy first game in charge.
