HE has planned for every eventuality in his first season as a Premier League chairman, but there is one scenario Niall Quinn is refusing to contemplate as he turns his thoughts to Sunderland's development over the next two or three years - life without Roy Keane.

With Friday's deadline for season-ticket renewals and purchases looming large, the man charged with plotting a course for the next stage of Sunderland's rebuilding project has been forced to envisage a range of possible developments this summer.

Should the Black Cats secure their Premier League status over the next seven matches, Quinn and his financial backers in the Drumville consortium will implement Plan A. Further investment will be guaranteed, and the top half of the table will be a viable target.

Should Sunderland be relegated in mid-May, they will turn to Plan B. Ambitions will be adjusted, but thanks to months of pre-planning, there will be no repeat of the financial meltdown that accompanied the club's last relegation from the top-flight.

Should Roy Keane walk away from Wearside, however, there is no Plan C. The former Manchester United midfielder, who will enter the final year of his current contract in June, has become so integral to Sunderland's rebirth that it is no exaggeration to suggest that his continued presence is the single biggest factor in both the success of Quinn's long-term vision for the club and the willingness of Sunderland's supporters to back it to the hilt.

So when Keane spoke of a need for Sunderland's owners to match his own ambitions yesterday, it is safe to assume his message was received and understood. Talks are scheduled for the start of the close season, and everyone accepts they will be vital to Sunderland's future.

"Once it comes to the summer, there will be lots of things for us to talk about," said Quinn. "The summer will be the right time for Roy to set out his requirements. I don't for one minute think that personal finances will come into it, but I'm sure he'll want to talk about the structure and the ambition.

"When I first spoke to Roy, the financial discussion took 60 seconds. The main thrust of Roy's conversation and preparation for coming to the club was all about ambition and structure. There were certain steps that we had to make and tick off along the way to make sure we were going the right way.

"We've achieved some of those steps, but the next big one is to be in the Premier League after year two. That will be the time to sit down with Roy again, and I guarantee you that the financial side of it will be sorted very quickly again. It will be a case of discussing where we're going and what the next three years might hold.

"Please God all those years will be in the Premier League and we'll be talking about a good, strong Plan A. But (even if Sunderland are relegated) I know what the fans mean to him too and I know that he came to this club because of the potential.

"He came because he came here as a player and couldn't work out why we were at the bottom of the league when we had 47,000 supporters. He understands that there's something that could explode here."

Keane has consistently spoken of Sunderland's potential, and in his 19 months as manager, the Irishman has successfully overseen the early stages of a process of regeneration.

The Championship title was a staging post, and while Premier League survival is far from assured with seven games of the season still to play, the Black Cats are on course to secure a second successive season of top-flight football for the first time in six years.

Add in an average attendance of more than 42,500 - the fifth highest in the Premier League - and there is ample evidence of light at the end of the tunnel following more than half a decade of under-achievement.

"There's not a minute of any day goes by where I don't think of Sunderland and where we can get to," said Keane. "If we're getting 44,000 on a regular basis and we're near the bottom of the league, then the potential has to be fantastic.

"The whole football club could take off, and I believe I am the man to do that. Others have tried and had bits of success, promotion. But promotion wasn't success for me, it was a stepping stone.

"If we can stabilise this season, then people keep asking me, 'Do you want to carry the challenge forward?' I have to ask the people who own the club the same question, 'Are we prepared to go to the next bar?' It works both ways."

Ambition is the name of the game on Wearside, but unity also appears to be playing a pivotal role in Sunderland's progress.

In the wake of last weekend's 1-0 victory at Aston Villa - Sunderland's first Premier League away win in more than two years - it was noticeable that each and every member of the club's squad went straight over to the 3,000-strong travelling support to celebrate their achievement.

Seven days earlier, they had been applauded from the field at the Stadium of Light despite having suffered a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea, and the strength of the bond between players and fans stands in marked contrast to the strained relationship that exists at a number of clubs in the bottom half of the Premier League table.

"The supporters have bought into everything we'd tried to do in the last couple of years," said Quinn.

"The idea that this club could be roaring again, the idea that this club was in a terrible place and the only way to sort it out was to have people like Roy Keane and everybody who works here rolling their sleeves up and starting to work hard again.

"The fans have looked at it and thought, 'Okay, we want to be together on this'. That's the great thing. If we get over the line this season, I for one will never under-estimate the value of that connectivity. I know what it's like when everyone is one, and I also know what it's like when they're not."

Such "connectivity" will be vital whatever league Sunderland are playing in next season, and having pegged season tickets to the prevailing 2007-08 prices, Quinn is hoping that more than 30,000 supporters will have pledged their support by the time Friday's deadline passes.

"What I'd say to the fans is, 'Just be part of it," he added. "Take every step of the road with us.

"Sunderland fans have proved that they're not waiting to see us get into the top six before they fill the stadium - they're doing that now.

"The support we've received so far has been fantastic and I just want that to continue."

2:03am Saturday 29th March 2008

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