England boss Steve McClaren has warned Roy Keane he will not have to go looking for confrontation if he accepts Sunderland's offer to launch his management career.

The 35-year-old former Manchester United captain is understood to be in talks with Black Cats' chairman and former international team-mate Niall Quinn over the vacant post at the Stadium of Light.

Keane's proposed appointment has sparked a debate over his famously combustible temperament but McClaren - who worked closely with the midfielder during his time as Alex Ferguson's number two - is confident he could handle whatever confrontation came his way.

McClaren said: "In the process of management, you do not have to seek it, it
will come to you. And put it this way, whatever confrontation comes to him, he will be able to handle.

"Patience is one thing that you develop as a manager. When you look at it, temperament is the key. He will demand certain standards but he will know what the players can do and he will know how to get the best out of them.

"You don't get to be a captain at Manchester United for that many years and work with Alex Ferguson for that many years without learning something of how to do the job."

Keane's refusal to accept anything less than the best fuelled his hugely successful playing career, and his response to anyone who fell below his standards was withering.

Just how he would cope with players who have lost their first five games of the season - the last of them a Carling Cup tie at lowly Bury - has been a popular topic for discussion.

But McClaren is adamant that his approach is just what a struggling club needs.

He added: "There's no better way of turning that around. You do not turn that around by putting somebody in there who is not a winner.

"That's how you turn these situations around, by putting somebody in there who is a winner, who has won, who has demonstrated that, who the players respect and who knows what winning is all about.

"There is no-one who has better demonstrated that as a player than Roy Keane.

"No matter what level of player, you forget where Roy Keane came from and how he had to develop all the way through to get to the top. He has worked to play at every level, so he knows how to win at each level. That's a great strength he has.

"As a Sunderland supporter, I would have no qualms.

"In football, sometimes you see one side of the person outside, and then you see a different person inside. Sometimes Alex has been viewed a bit like that. But when you work with them and when you are inside in that family, there is no better person to work with."

Keane launched his career in England under Brian Clough at Nottingham Forest and then led Manchester's United dominance under Ferguson, an education which McClaren believes will prove invaluable.

"He has had a fantastic education, and he has proved it on the field," McClaren added.
"He's a captain, he's been a leader and he led, in that phase with Manchester United, the most successful club in Europe.

"I think he will make a fantastic manager, I really do. He has got all the qualities. He's got everything to be a football manager. I was fortunate enough to work with him for three years and even then he demonstrated his leadership qualities on the field and off the field.

"But also, when you get to know him, he's got other great qualities which will make him potentially a very good manager. He's got a good football brain, he can see the game. He knows what he wants from the game, he knows what to expect from players, he knows what standards, and he demands them.

"Football intelligence is something which is very, very important when you become a manager, and he had that as a player. I have no doubt he can transfer that over into management."