Michael Walker A Year on the WearBack on Day One at Sunderland, Roy Keane revealed to the world that his often manic match-day Manchester United persona was something of a creation put on to intimidate opponents; then, a few weeks ago, he used the expression "fake it to make it" to explain getting through the bad hours at work on Wearside. So the man can act.
Yet it was hard to believe Keane was in thespian mode on Thursday morning at the Sunderland training ground. "I have to say" is one of Keane's favourite phrases, and I have to say that despite having not seen Sunderland win since September 15th, despite seeing Sunderland lodged in the bottom six and despite having Manchester City away and then the derby against Newcastle United within the next eight days, Keane smiled, chatted and joked his way through an hour with the local press with remarkable ease.
If it was a performance for our benefit then it was convincing. Towards the end he even recalled a conversation with Dwight Yorke this week in which Keane told his former team-mate: "I have never felt more relaxed in my life." Yorke probably looked as surprised as the rest of us would.
Even Keane admitted that he had been troubled by last Saturday's first half against Fulham, which felt like a must-win fixture at three o'clock. But when he stared at the league table on Sunday and Monday morning, Keane was feeling better. Sunderland had moved up a place due to their second-half equaliser from Kenwyne Jones. "I saw it as a point gained," he said. Down to 10 men, that, and other factors, offered reassurance.
"Would I like six more points on the table?" he asked. "Of course I would. Would I like 10 more? Of course I would. But this is the situation we are in."
Jittery Sunderland supporters already fretting about the visit of Newcastle might sniff complacency, but they would be wrong. Many of them expressed concern about relegation after Fulham, and there is no doubt a section feel fragile just now, but an equal number made the counter-argument. They were using phrases such as long-term. These people, it turns out, were reading Keane's mind.
"We're hoping that we're turning the corner," Keane said, before sending his squad off go-karting - "it might be a long corner.
"But we're getting there. Rome wasn't built in a day. You have to be patient. I can be as impatient as anyone. What I'm learning as a manager is that sometimes you just have to step back and let things progress."
This is the changing Roy Keane, the young manager who goes into the offices of Ferguson, Wenger and Curbishley after games and absorbs their aura and, he hopes, their wisdom and experience. Keane went into each of those offices as a beaten manager. It is all new.
And when Keane has come out, it seems to be with a fresh perspective on the scale of what he has taken on. After promotion he may have declared Sunderland were going up "to make a mark", but that might require readjusting. The mark might be made later rather than sooner, and the impression may not be deep enough to wound the serious, established contenders in the division.
That realisation could suck some of the excitement and energy out of the project, and Keane would not be human if he did not go home the odd night and wonder, like fans, about some of his signings, and - perhaps surprisingly - about whether he has been ruthless enough. The fine line between loyalty and stupidity.
But, if there are moments of flatness, then Keane said that he takes a step back - as opposed to forward, when he was a player.
"If I didn't feel the club was making progress, I think I would be worried," he said. "If the club wasn't making progress, if injured players weren't coming back, if we weren't hoping to add a few players in January, if we weren't digging points out - and we're not just digging them out with pure luck, it's quality play - then I'd be worried.
"I don't really need to say it, I feel it in the pit of my stomach. I don't need to be coming out after every game saying I'm delighted with the way things are going.
"A day doesn't go by where we don't like to make progress, whether it be the treatment of injured players, the scouting system, the young lads. A day doesn't go by when I feel the club has not made progress in some aspect. You keep talking about the Arsenals and Uniteds of this world, but I bet that if you sat down with one of their managers they would tell you that it takes time.
"When we got promoted last year I didn't jump around, I was out walking my dog. I didn't get excited, I wasn't crying, I wasn't ringing all my mates, I carried on walking my dog because I thought 'this is where it starts'.
"I hope from the day I came to the club to the day I leave people will say 'that club has made progress'. That's what any manager can hope for, whatever pace we can do that . . .
"We're all impatient on this planet, we all want success yesterday, but I appreciate it takes bloody time. But I think fans would get fed up if I said that every week, because football fans are more impatient than even me. That's saying something."
As evidence of that, Keane recalled his visit to Bramall Lane on Wednesday night, where he saw Bryan Robson being berated by Sheffield United supporters as Arsenal ran around them. One trudged 50 yards to throw his scarf at Robson's feet.
If he winced at that, Keane won't have been acting.
He knows this is his new world.
