Sky Sports TV pundit Gary Neville has revealed that he is not sure whether the appointment of former Swindon manager Paolo Di Canio as the new Sunderland manager is the right decision.

After the 1-0 defeat against Manchester United last weekend, Sunderland took the drastic step of sacking their manager Martin O'Neill after just over a year in charge. Results have been extremely poor under the former Aston Villa manager, which have left the club only a few points above the relegation zone. There is real danger of Sunderland being relegated to the Championship with just seven matches remaining in the season.

It did not take long for Sunderland to name a successor for O'Neill, as they appointed former Swindon manager Paolo Di Canio, who has been one of the controversial characters in football. He only recently resigned from his previous job. During his playing days, the Italian has represented several British clubs including West Ham United. He was known for his controversial remarks back then, which has also not changed after becoming a manager. Di Canio was involved in several fights with his own players, but he produced the results. Swindon were one of the inform teams in English football under his reign.

"I do not know what is going to happen. It is very un-Sunderland-like when you think of [previous managers] Peter Reid, Niall Quinn, Roy Keane, Steve Bruce and Martin O'Neill. You could argue it is very different from those appointments. It is a change of tact. Maybe that is something Ellis Short was very conscious of and wanted to do. It is a risk but life is about risks. We will only know in a few weeks' time," said Neville. Sunderland are just above the relegation zone only by a one point with Aston Villa and Wigan close.

The right back of Reading FC, Stephen Kelly, has said that he is shocked with the recent statements of Giovanni Trapattoni, the manager of the Ireland football team.
In a press conference on Thursday, Trapattoni had questioned Kelly’s commitment for his national side.

Trapattoni said, “I am really disappointed with Kelly’s attitude. He wants to be included in the squad only if he is assured that he would get a playing opportunity. It’s not the right attitude to have in a team game.”

Kelly looked very upset with Trapattoni’s statement. The Reading defender said, “It’s hard to believe that an experienced manager like Trapattoni has given this statement. I hadn’t expected him to say these things.”

“I am really upset. I have always been fully committed to the Ireland team and have never tried to go against the decision of the manager. I have always respected his decision. I don’t know why he has said all that.”

“It has hurt my family members as well. They know how passionate I have been to play for my country.”

“To play for Ireland was my childhood dream and I am privileged to have got the opportunity to play for my country. I also got the opportunity to captain my national side and that’s the greatest achievement of my career.”

“I am always available for selection. I have never forced the manager to give me the playing opportunity. I have always followed his instructions and I will continue to do the same in the future as well.”

Kelly had a controversy with the assistant manager of the Ireland team Marco Tardelli as well in October last year and now, the manager has given controversial statements about him. So, it will be interesting to see whether Kelly gets included in the Ireland team for the World Cup qualifying matches against Sweden and Austria.

Roy Keane is in line to become the new manager of Nottingham Forest. Sean O’Driscoll was surprisingly terminated as the manager of Nottingham Forest after Forest’s thumping victory over Leeds United on the Boxing Day.

Currently, the officials of Nottingham Forest are looking for a new manager and the former Ireland international Keane is a strong contender to be appointed on that post.

Roy Keane has managed a couple of teams before. He managed Sunderland for two years between 2006 and 2008 and then, he was the manager of Ipswich Town between 2009 and 2011. But, neither of his two tenures as manager was that successful.

Interestingly, Keane was out there in the stadium to watch the match between Nottingham Forest and Leeds United.

Talking to the reporters after the sacking of Sean O’Driscoll, the chairman of Nottingham Forest, Fawaz Al Hasawi said, “Sean is a great individual and he did a lot for the club. He was given the job at a tough time, but, he accepted the challenge and did a fine job.”

“Sean can consider himself a bit unlucky that he had to lose his job, but, we have our own reasons for taking this hard decision. I think we have got a bunch of highly talented players, but, even after that, we haven’t been consistent in the Championship so far. We are yet to win more than 2 games in a row in the ongoing Championship. So, consistency was bit of a worry for us.”

“With the mid season transfer window coming close, we thought that it’s the right time to make a bit of change in the management. We are currently looking for a young manager who has the experience of managing any Premier League team.”

Keane possesses both the criteria that Hasawi mentioned in his statement and he is also reported to be linked with the officials of Nottingham Forest. So, he might be appointed as the new manager of Nottingham Forest.

The midfielder of Manchester United, Ryan Giggs, has hailed his former team mate Roy Keane and has said that Keane was one of the best midfielders he has ever played alongside with.

Giggs has been playing for Manchester United since the last 22 years and he has played more than 600 matches for the club so far. He became 39 years old on Thursday and on his birthday; he talked to the reporters about his long career.

One of the reporters asked Giggs if he has to pick his dream team, who would be the midfielders in that team, Giggs said, “In my dream team, I would like to pick Cristiano Ronaldo, Roy Keane and Paul Scoles as midfielders. Roy Keane was fantastic. He is probably one of the best midfielders of all times. Scoles was also world class. So, these two would be the automatic pick for me in my dream XI.

“As far as the third spot is concerned, if you had asked me three years ago, I would have liked to pick David Beckham on the place of Ronaldo, but, the way Ronaldo has played in the last couple of years, he certainly deserves a place in my dream midfield.”

When asked about his toughest opponent, Giggs said, “For me, Lee Dixon was the toughest player to compete with. He was a great right back. It was very hard to get past him.”
When asked who is better between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, Giggs said, “I think both of them are amazing players. It’s not fair to say that one of them is less capable than the other. Both have been pretty consistent in the last 4-5 years and have won a lot of matches for their respective clubs. So, I think both of them are up there.”

The former Newcastle United striker Alan Shearer has said that the Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney is definitely one of the best in world.

There have been a lot of questions raised over the form of the 26-year-old, despite the fact that he finished as the top scorer with 36 goals in all competitions for Manchester United last season. However, there has been criticism that he is slightly overweight at the start of the new season, which has meant that the former Arsenal striker Robin van Persie – brought into the club for £ 24 million – has been getting the headlines.

The England international Wayne Rooney recently returned to the first team action after a month out due to an injury. Since his return, he has been in spectacular form and he has also struck a great partnership with Robin van Persie up front for Manchester United. Alan Shearer watched Wayne Rooney produce a great performance in the 3-0 win over his former club Newcastle United. After the match, the former England international said that Wayne Rooney is easily one of the best strikers in the world and still has the hunger to do well in the game. He has said that it is difficult to keep a player like Rooney quiet for a long period.

"The season started horribly for the player — poor against Everton, dropped, then injured. The star of the show was Robin van Persie and Rooney’s Old Trafford future was coming under the spotlight. But you cannot keep a player of this man’s ability down for long. Looking fit again and firing on all cylinders, he was everywhere at St James’s Park. Helping out his defence, available for a ball from the back, on a wing to cross the ball and in behind Van Persie directly through the middle," said Alan Shearer after the 3-0 win for Manchester United.

Roy Keane is in the race for the post of the new manager of Nottingham Forest. The manager of Nottingham Forest, Steve Cottrill, has been terminated from his post by the new owners of the club i.e. Al-Hawasi family. After that, there have been reports that Roy Keane could be appointed as the new manager of the club. Nottingham Forest is not a new name for Keane. He has been with the club before as a player. He played for the club from 1990 to 1993.

Roy Keane has been the manager of Sunderland and Ipswich town before. But, he was terminated from the post of the manager of Ipswich in January 2011 due to the continuous poor performance of Ipswich. Since then, he has been without a job. However, Keane is not the only candidate for this post. Glenn Hoddle (The former manager of England) and Darren Ferguson (The current manager of Peterborough United) are also in this race.

The new owners have said that the main target of the club in the upcoming season would be to get a promotion to the Premier League. Roy Keane has a very good record as the manager of Sunderland. The Sunderland team performed brilliantly under his guidance and was promoted to the Premier League in 2007. This is a strong point in the favour of Keane.

Meanwhile, the agent of Roy Keane, Michael Kennedy, has made it clear that the authorities of Nottingham Forest haven’t yet contacted Keane. As per Kennedy, Keane hasn’t been offered the job till now. But, he said that, if the authorities of Nottingham approach him, he would definitely be interested to do the job. Kennedy said that he is not sure if Keane is in the race or not. As per Kennedy, Glenn Hoddle is the strongest contender for this post.

Former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane has said that he feels that England would have underestimated their opponents Italy ahead of the quarter-final match in their Euro 2012.

In so many occasions in the past, the quarter-final has been the nemesis for England. They will be facing Italy in the competition this time around knowing that there is a real chance that the game might go into penalties. England have been extremely defensive in the opening three matches of the tournament, but they have managed to win the group. As a result, they have avoided Spain in the quarter-final stage.

There has been a feeling within the England camp that this finally feels like the year for the England national team especially after having seen Chelsea win the Champions League in the most spectacular circumstances.

Despite not being the favourite team to win the competition, Chelsea rode their luck to win the Champions League title for the first time in their history. After playing very much the same way as Chelsea in the Champions League, the English players have spoken in many interviews ahead of the quarter-final match that they feel like they can repeat the Chelsea performance against Italy as well. Roy Keane, though, doubts if it would happen.

"I just have a sneaky feeling for Italy. The England boys seem to be on a high from avoiding Spain, and subconsciously they might underestimate the Italians. You would have to stick with Danny Welbeck up front; he's had good chemistry with Wayne Rooney at [Manchester] United this season and has scored an important goal against Sweden. You have to hope he does it on the pitch, and if he's not you have to take him off, but on his days he's a match winner," said Roy Keane.

Former Manchester United captain Roy Keane has said that Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini should quickly think about ways of selling striker Mario Balotelli in the summer.

The Italian, who arrived from Inter Milan for £ 24 million, has been a negative influence on the whole club and the players at the club. It was aptly reflected in the 1-0 defeat at the hands of Arsenal recently, which helped Manchester United open an eight point advantage at the top of the table. Following the match, Roberto Mancini said that Mario Balotelli will not play again for City again.

Former Sunderland manager Roy Keane has said that the decision taken by Mancini with regard to Mario Balotelli is perfectly right, and that he should sell the player as soon as possible in the summer transfer window. Mario Balotelli is widely regarded to be one of the best talents in the game, but it is also his problem. The 21-year-old Italian has caused a lot of problems at his previous club Inter Milan, and is continuing to do the same at Manchester City as well. However, with Manchester City decide to sell the youngster, then they will certainly find no trouble in selling him.

"If I was Manchester City manager, I'd ship out Mario Balotelli this summer. When a manager comes out and says he cannot trust a player, the writing is on the wall. Commentators might love footballers who are unpredictable but, believe me, managers prefer ones they can hang their hat on. Managers don't want to be in a situation where they don't know what they're going to get from one game to the next," Keane said in his column for The Sun. Balotelli has scored a number of goals for City this season, but he has been also causing a lot of troubles as well.

The feud between Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson and Roy Keane has intensified in the last few weeks, with the former Manchester United midfielder claiming that the club does not have any good youngsters.

Such criticism has prompted an angry response from Sir Alex Ferguson, but Roy Keane had the better of his former manager after United crashed out of the Champions League. Roy Keane has frequently said that he does not consider the current squad at Manchester United to be capable of eliminating the success of the club in the past.

He has said that Sir Alex Ferguson has failed to make any signings of important nature during the summer. His facts seem to be backed up when Manchester United lost 2-1 in the match against FC Basel, which ultimately resulted in their elimination from the Champions League at the group stages itself. This has been only the third time in the history of Manchester United that the club has eliminated at the group stages.

However, Alex Ferguson responded to the claims by saying that Roy Keane had the chances to prove himself as a manager, but he failed so. Hence, he should not be criticised in the youngsters, who have been trying a lot for Manchester United in recent seasons.

'People have talked about the young players - you've had Jones, (Chris) Smalling, (Ashley) Young coming in, everybody building them up but they've got a lot to do, it's a reality check for some. I'd be getting hold of some of those lads, saying "you'd better buck up your ideas",' Keane said in a recent interview. He also said that the club's best player on the night was Ryan Giggs, who is almost at the end of his career at 37 years of age.