SOCCER:Football managers have long complained about the drinking, womanising and gambling habits of their players but Roy Keane yesterday identified an alarming new vice - shopping. Or to be specific, the shopping habits of footballers' wives and girlfriends.

Sunderland's manager, known in his playing days for explosive outbursts aimed at team-mates and opponents, is furious after attempting to sign players this summer who apparently turned him down when their Wags became alarmed by a perceived lack of shopping opportunities in the north-east of England. Yesterday's comments came after the Tottenham forward Mido turned down Sunderland for, gallingly, neighbours Middlesbrough.

"If a player doesn't want to come to Sunderland then all well and good," said the former Manchester United captain and Ireland midfielder. "But if he decides he doesn't want to come because his wife wants to go shopping in London, then it's a sad state of affairs. It's not a football move, it's a lifestyle move. It tells me the player is weak and his wife runs his life. The idea of women running the show concerns me and worries me, but the players we're talking about are soft. Priorities have changed in footballers and they are being dictated to by their wives."

Keane fears the wannabe Wags' quest for designer labels and status as the new Victoria Beckham, Coleen McLoughlin (girlfriend of Wayne Rooney) or even Carly Zucker (Joe Cole's partner) is overshadowing the pursuit of footballing glory.

"It's different with Chelsea, Arsenal or maybe Tottenham but if players are starting to go to clubs just because they're in London and they're not even that big a club, it's clearly down to the shops," he insisted. "We had a player who didn't even ring us back (about a contract offer) this summer because his wife wanted to move to London - and, yes, shopping was mentioned. To me it's wrong to sign for a club with half the crowds and less attention (than Sunderland)."

There is little use looking the perfect Wag if your husband is a scruffy sort and Keane fears some players are being forced to reinvent themselves as celebrities by their Hello!-reading women.

"I could name three or four big players now, and clearly their wives are running their lives," he claimed. "They've started doing photoshoots - and they're getting dragged in by their partners.

"You can see quite clearly now with one or two of the big players that their wives and girlfriends are running their lives and that's a bad sign. I might have to start persuading players that Sunderland's closer to London than it really is. The player won't say it but you know what they're thinking because they say, 'I need to speak to my wife'."

It is safe to assume that Keane, married to Theresa, the invariably stylish mother of his five children, switches the television off in disgust when the opening credits of Wags Boutiques roll. A reality show in which fashion-conscious partners of footballers run rival clothes shops, the programme exploits the Wag phenomenon, which entered popular consciousness during the 2006 World Cup, when the wives and girlfriends of the England squad stripped bare the designer shops of Baden-Baden. Drunken singsongs, tabletop dancing and epic shopping sprees became the tabloid story of the summer.

Though immaculately turned out but never flashy (the trendiest item he's been seen in at Sunderland is a slightly retro tank-top) Keane does not subscribe to the idea shopping is the new religion. He was appalled by the reaction when, late in his career, he told acquaintances he might move to Juventus: "A couple of years ago I nearly went to Juve. People spoke to me about Turin, and said it is this and it is that, but Milan would be nice. I said, 'I'm not going for the bloody shops; I'm going because it's Juventus.'

"You have to sign for footballing reasons. If you retire at 35 you can bloody well live wherever you want to then. Your football has to be your priority and you don't have to live in London or Monaco to be happy. You don't need to be surrounded by expensive shops or fancy cafes."

Keane takes his buoyant side to Birmingham to night, to renew acquaintances with his former Manchester United team-mate Steve Bruce, a man Keane would like his players to emulate.

Keane said: "It's important you bring the right players to the club. You can't always be a Steve Bruce but you can be a character who comes in and gives 100 per cent.

"Characters have nothing to be nervous of. There's nothing to be nervous of in the Premier League, nothing to be fearful of.

"You look at Brucie. He was a top character . . . as a centre-half he wasn't exactly 6ft 4ins, and he wasn't lightning, let me tell you, but he had the character and desire to do well and that made him a top player . . . you need that kind of character."

Keane will look for two more such characters before the transfer window closes, with former Newcastle striker Andy Cole emerging as a surprise candidate after the failure to land Mido.

The 35-year-old Cole is a free agent after being released by Portsmouth and Keane said: "That is something I'm looking at . . . There will probably be news on one or two players who will be coming in."