SUNDERLAND boss Roy Keane has branded some of his fellow Premier League managers "hypocrites" for urging their players to respect the referee while they themselves are being punished for using foul and abusive language.

Keane, who was sent off 13 times during his own playing career, has grown increasingly frustrated as a succession of managers and coaches have attempted to claim the moral high ground in the wake of high-profile displays of dissent from Chelsea defender Ashley Cole and Liverpool midfielder Javier Mascherano.

The Sunderland manager's withering criticisms were not restricted to one manager in particular, but his comments have widely been interpreted as a response to Sir Alex Ferguson's musings on increasing indiscipline last weekend.

Ferguson described the haranguing of referees as "ridiculous", and cited Keane's infamous pursuit of referee Andy D'Urso in January 2000 as a defining moment in his own attempts to improve discipline at Old Trafford.

The Manchester United manager has attempted to portray himself as a defender of both tolerance and respect, yet his own disciplinary record this season has been far from immaculate.

Ferguson was sent to the stands at Bolton last November following a half-time rant at referee Mark Clattenburg, and recently railed against another official, Martin Atkinson, after a number of controversial decisions went Portsmouth's way in United's FA Cup defeat at Old Trafford.

"There are a lot of hypocrites out there in football," said Keane, ahead of this afternoon's home game with West Ham.

"There are managers saying we've got to respect officials and yet they're being sent off themselves.

"I'm on about their behaviour. A manager was talking last week about respecting referees, but the same manager has been sent off himself for foul and abusive language."

As Ferguson is one of only two managers to have been dismissed on such a charge this season - Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill is the other - it is not difficult to identify the principal target of Keane's comments.

The two men enjoyed a close relationship during their time at Old Trafford, but when asked to comment on Ferguson's actions in the wake of Portsmouth's FA Cup win, Keane said: "Nobody has earned the right to speak out on issues like this.

"I don't think any manager should have any power (to criticise) anybody else.

"United had 20 chances to score and didn't take them against Portsmouth.

"It surprises me, but he (Ferguson) wasn't the only one. Carlos Queiroz (complained), and I think (Cristiano) Ronaldo came out and commented as well.

"Man United always taught me to be a gracious loser, but they weren't that day."

Many will interpret Keane's comments as hypocritical, given his explosive relationship with referees during his playing career, and the former Manchester United midfielder accepts that his reputation precedes him whenever he discusses officials.

It should be noted, however, that Keane has never been charged by the Football Association as a manager, and that the Irishman has kept his criticism of referees to an absolute minimum, even though Sunderland lost to a controversial last-minute winner at Reading in December just a week after they had a last-minute goal of their own disallowed against Aston Villa.

Not for the first time, Keane appears to be following in the footsteps of his managerial mentor, Brian Clough, and just as the former Nottingham Forest manager explicitly forbade his players from arguing with officials, so the current Sunderland boss has instructed players at all levels of his club to respect authority.

Crucially, he has also imparted the same advice to his coaching staff, a policy that does not seem to have been mirrored by other Premier League managers.

"Sometimes, it's more the staff than the managers anyway. There are one or two clubs where the staff are a disgrace, an absolute disgrace to football. And their managers are worse because they stand back and let it happen and say, 'It's nothing to do with me'.

"If I thought for a minute that Ricky (Sbragia) and Tony (Loughlan) were abusing officials, I'd stop it in a second. I've told them that. I don't want anyone abusing officials at this club. I spoke to my staff about respecting referees in my very first week in the job."

As a result, Sunderland's disciplinary record is one of the best in the Premier League. How Keane must be wishing their results were similarly impressive.

Last weekend's 1-0 victory at Aston Villa ended a two-year wait for a Premier League away win, but you have to go back 126 Premier League matches to 2001 to find the last time the Black Cats recorded back-to-back successes in the top-flight.

Today's game with West Ham offers an opportunity to end that sequence, and with 18th-placed Bolton entertaining Arsenal, Sunderland could be seven points clear of the drop zone by the end of this afternoon.

"I have to admit I didn't know the statistic about 126 games," said Keane, who confirmed his interest in signing centre-half Jonny Evans on a permanent contract at the end of the current campaign. "But I suppose it sums up what's happened at this club in the last few years.

"We have been a yo-yo club and the stats back that up. We obviously need to be more consistent but, in terms of where we're at with the season, there is no better time to start doing that than now."

Winger Carlos Edwards is rated "50-50" for today's game as he continues to recover from a leg injury, but Kenwyne Jones is expected to start after Keane personally persuaded Trinidad & Tobago chief Jack Warner to withdraw his threat to call for a five-day ban after the striker failed to report for international duty this week.

2:03am Saturday 29th March 2008

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