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Ruthless boss bans lap of honour
ROY Keane has banned his Sunderland
players from staging a
lap of honour in the wake of
Sunday's final game of the season
at home to Arsenal.
The Black Cats bring the curtain
down on a successful return
to the Premier League in six
days time, but Keane does not
see the club's top-flight survival
as a cause for celebration.
This time last year, the Irishman
pulled the plug on an opentopped
bus tour of the city after
the Black Cats claimed the
Championship title, claiming
the victory was no more than a
club of Sunderland's size should
expect. Twelve months on, and
he is adopting a similar stance
to Premier League survival, arguing
that a record of at least 22
Premier League defeats is sufficient
to render a lap of honour
inappropriate.
"I take nothing away from
what the players have done this
season," said Keane. "But I also
feel that it's not a time to be celebrating
too much. What is there
to celebrate? Survival is not a
word we want to be using next
year.
"I remember a few years ago
when Everton stayed up on the
last day of the season, everybody
was out on the pitch celebrating.
People were crying and you were
thinking, That's Everton Football
Club'.
"I don't want my players to be
walking around the pitch next
week accepting the supporters'
applause just because they've
survived. I want us to be bigger
than that.
"Maybe when I'm sitting on a
beach later this summer, I'll look
back and think, Yeah, that was
a decent season and the players
have done remarkably well'. But
we've lost 22 games already, and
I guarantee you that when I am
on my holidays, I'll be thinking
of those 22 defeats."
Next weekend's denouement
draws obvious parallels with the
3-0 defeat to Arsenal in the
penultimate home game of Sunderland's
last season in the Premier
League, a game that persuaded
the Drumaville
consortium to invest in the club.
The comprehensive manner of
that defeat seemed to sum up the
extent of Sunderland's failings
as they became the worst club in
Premier League history - a mantle
that has now passed to Derby
this weekend. But while the current
campaign has not been
without its struggles, Sunday's
match should at least confirm
how far the Black Cats have
come in two seasons.
"I played in that Arsenal game
a couple of seasons ago and it
just seemed to sum the season up
for us," said skipper Dean Whitehead.
"We were well beaten and
it pretty much summed up what
had been happening for the majority
of the campaign.
"We know it'll be a difficult
game - Arsenal will probably
have the ball for long spells - but
at least the mood will be a lot different
this time around."
10:00am Monday 5th May 2008
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