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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Vincent Whelan

Roy Keane among the favourites to land Sunderland job after Alex Neil departs for Stoke

Roy Keane has been installed as joint-third favourite to take over the vacant managerial job at Sunderland in the wake of Alex Neil ditching them in favour of Stoke City.

Sean Dyche is a fairly clear-cut number one among the bookmakers at 4/1 while Keane's former Man United teammate Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is second at 10/1.

But right there in the next rung is Cork's most famous son at 12/1 alongside Grant McCann, Darren Ferguson, Tony Mowbray and Gareth Ainsworth.

READ MORE: Steven Gerrard outwitted by David Moyes as pressure mounts on Aston Villa boss

Of course it's far from the first time Keane's been linked with a return to the club whom he managed with mixed results from 2006-08.

When it last became available in February there was clear interest on both sides with Keane confirming that talks had taken place.

However, he ultimately withdrew from the process as he wasn't completely happy with the terms of any potential contract with the north-east club.

Alex Neil is replacing former Northern Ireland boss Michael O'Neill ((Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images))

The 51-year-old has also repeatedly intimated that he's satisfied enough with his current role as a pundit although he is still open to giving management another crack if the right opportunity arises.

Speaking to Gary Neville on The Overlap, he said: “There’s always offers of work, but the deal just didn’t fall into place last week.

“There’s lots of pitfalls as an ex-player but you’ve got to keep yourself busy.

“But everything has got to be right: the contract and the challenge. I’ve said it before: the deal has to be right for everyone.

“It didn’t fall into place last week. It wasn’t meant to be.

“Everything has to be right. The right challenge. The right contract. You have to fancy it.

"I’ve not had that opportunity the last few years. There has not been a club where I think, ‘I’m the right fit for that club.’

He added: “If I don’t get another chance, it’s no big deal. You need a bit of luck. The right club has to give you the call. That hasn’t happened. It’s no big deal.

“I did ok at Sunderland, it wasn’t easy at Ipswich, but I’d like to get back into management. But there’s some brilliant managers out there and it’s not easy.

“But if I don’t get another chance then it’s not the end of the world.”

Realistically, the Championship outfit, who currently sit on eight points after six games, are about as good of a job as the Ireland legend will get so if he again drags his heels over the monetary terms it's likely we never see him as a manager anywhere again.

He hasn't held a top job since 2011, however, he did briefly serve as a number two for Aston Villa in 2014 as well as of course being Martin O'Neill's right-hand man for Ireland between 2013-18.

Himself and O'Neill also presided over a shirt stint at their former club Nottingham Forest in 2019.

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