Roy Keane has held ‘positive’ talks with Sunderland over a potential return to the club as manager.
Keane has held discussions with the Sunderland board over the role after the club’s decision to sack Lee Johnson, following the League One side’s 6-0 thrashing at Bolton last weekend.
The Guardian are reporting that the talks between Keane and Kyril Louis-Dreyfus – Sunderland’s 25-year-old billionaire owner – have been positive and the former Manchester United captain is now poised for a return to management.
Keane has not managed since being sacked at Ipswich in 2011, but has always retained a sense of unfinished business in the dugout and looks set for a second opportunity over a decade later.
The 50-year-old’s first managerial position came at Sunderland between 2006 and 2008, in which he led the Black Cats to promotion to the Premier League. Since leaving Ipswich he has had coaching roles with the Republic of Ireland, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest, in addition to his punditry work on television.
He has spoken previously of his ambition to return to management and could be offered a short-term deal until the end of the season, in which he will be tasked with winning promotion as Sunderland – currently third in League One – look to end a four-season stay in the third tier.
Sunderland are two points behind second-place Wigan in the automatic promotion positions, but have played three more games than the Latics.
