You can feel the spittle of righteous indignation all over the screen of the laptop on which James Lawton penned this article:
Keane stands idle as mob rule shrouds stadium of darkness
I know that the headlines are not always written by the author of the article in newspapers but this one is really scraping the bottom of the barrel.
The stench of yob anarchy is back on the terraces and the field.
Shock news just in: fans celebrated beating their closest rivals for the first time in over 20 years at home by running on to the corner of the pitch after the game had finished.
It is a time, you might think, for every football man of any genuine stature to take his hands from his eyes and exert some of the influence gained in all the years of growing reputation and wealth. Someone like Roy Keane, certainly, someone to show that for all his own offences against discipline and decent order in his playing career, he knows now he cannot afford to pussyfoot on such a vital issue, not as the manager of a club whose fans had just spilt on to the pitch spitting their hatred.
Keano: I thought it was disgraceful our fans celebrating a victory over Newcastle. I mean they’re shit now anyway innit.
Also it was the Newcastle fans who piled on to the pitch wanting a fight in reaction to Sunderland celebrating (albiet I'm sure with some mocking going on)
Here, surely, was the chance for Keane to confirm his new status as a man of the future, fit to hold the highest office, perhaps at Old Trafford, and maybe even to atone for some of the atrocities of his past, and not least the cold-blooded assertion that he had attempted to ruin the career of an opponent against whom he held a grudge.
Yes if you are to follow in Fergie’s shoes then you must uphold the integrity of the game in the manner which he has demonstrated on so many occasions.
Keane's reaction was so spineless it seemed to underwrite all those years of Clockwork Orange violence that made English football the pariah of world sport.
I somehow doubt that most Sunderland fans listen to Ludwig Van on a regular basis, but tenuous link sort of accepted.
It was a stunning abdication of responsibility and if the Football Association does not see it as an invitation to take some meaningful action, some attempt to lay down significant deterrents before the rabble take hold again, it too will be guilty of the most appaling complacency.
I once knew a Sunderland fan when I was at University who shagged around behind his missuses back. I gave Peter Reid some grief for that the adulterous monkey headed scouse bastard.
Keane may say that he is responsible solely for team affairs but that would be nonsense.
Because as the manager of the team he should be what? Responsible for stadium security or fan behaviour? Give me a break
But this was a test of his mettle as a significant figure in a game to which, as a player, he brought both great glory and disfigurement. What would the achievement of Keane's team in beating Newcastle United, of all teams, have meant if it had accompanied, as it could so easily have been, by the death or maiming of some kid caught in the chaos that came at the end of the game.
Death or maiming? That is laugh out loud crazy. Seriously when was the last time anything resembling death or maiming ever occured due to hooliganism inside a football ground in this country? Hillsbrough and the Bradford Fire weren't even the fans fault. I honestly cannot think of any during my lifetime inside this country, inside a football ground. Of course some evidence by way of investigative journalism would prove me wrong but far be it for a Sports Journalist in this country to do that. Don't let that stand in the way of a good story eh?
Would Keane have kept his head so firmly rooted in the sand then? Would he not have been susceptible to the idea that he was completely out of step with all that had happened so sickeningly around him?
Mentalism. Yeah Keano some little child could have been ripped limb from limb as the baying mob spotted the Sunderland badge on his jacket and their bloodlust got the better of them. Won't you think of the children Keano for the love of God? You sicken me you fucking Ostrich.
When he led a pack of Manchester United players in pursuit of a referee he displayed a shocking lack of control and leadership. After making his spine-chilling, premeditated assault on Alf Inge-Haaland, he wrote in his autobiography that he had experienced not a sliver of regret.
One of my all time favourite football quotes: “The ball was there (I think). An eye for an eye.”
Most football fans I know find Keano's revenge mission on Haaland pretty funny. Is that a telling indictment of our culture? Meh.
What happened at the Stadium of Darkness was that the fans of both Sunderland and Newcastle attempted to establish mob rule. They fought on the pitch after breaking through cordons of police and security men.
Newcastle at last! There was another team involved. I thought I was making it up.
I hate to burst James's bubble here (not really) but security men at football grounds are like shop floor assisstants at PC World. They give the illusion of being able to help but when they have to do something you find they haven't got a clue how to do there job in any detail whatsoever.
Breaking through a line of Stewards is as easy as taking cheap shots at sloppy sports journalism. Hazzah!
The Stadium of Darkness should be closed down for two home games. It would send the right message into every corner of football. It might even make Roy Keane think about the immutable difference between right and wrong.
Well I think Keano would not give a flying fuck as actually Sunderland play at the Stadium of Light.
