Sunderland Football Club

• Nickname:Black Cats
• Founded:1879
• Manager:Paolo Di Canio

• Ground:Stadium of light
• Capacity:48353

Axe rumours upset Keane

18 Mar 2008 - 11:19:22

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Sunderland boss Roy Keane has slammed rumours suggesting that a trio of players were left out of the 1-0 weekend defeat by Chelsea due to disciplinary reasons.

Reports in the North-East had suggested that Keane had axed Kieran Richardson, Michael Chopra and Daryl Murphy due to off-field antics, but the Irishman says that that is simply not true.

He commented: "It is absolute nonsense. They've done nothing wrong.

"For those players to be labelled is wrong. I've been in football a long time, but there seems to be something about this area that rumours go round about different players.

"We must stop these rumours because it is unfair on the players and their families.

"Trust me, if they had been disciplined or not included for anything other than footballing reasons, I would be prepared to tell you about it.

"Maybe in the last few months certain people have thought they are always going to be in the team.

"But I pick my team on what I see week in, week out on the training pitch, not what I hear from agents or reporters or players' fathers or girlfriends."