Source: SKY_Sports
Quinn - We will miss Keane
iall Quinn has admitted that Sunderland's profile is likely to suffer following the departure of manager Roy Keane. Keane left the Stadium of Light in December after more than two years at the helm, with Ricky Sbragia stepping in as his replacement.When Keane took charge of the Black Cats they were struggling at the bottom of the Championship and Quinn remains grateful for everything his compatriot did for the club.Quinn also accepts that Sunderland will miss Keane's box office appeal, with the former Manchester United player often making headlines thanks to his forthright views.TeamQuinn told the Sunderland Echo: "We needed box office at that time when we were at the bottom of the Championship and at a low ebb, and Roy brought it - and then some!"But, at this stage of the journey, I believe that box office is neither here nor there. It's all about the team now, about improving the side and the results."Now doing that is all down to Ricky, but it's also about how we support Ricky and how we help give him the best chance we can."We don't need the sort of worldwide audience that we originally needed whenRoy first took over and we were struggling in the Championship."Situations where the world's media would descend on the place were a major help to us then."I have to admit that Roy Keane's press conferences, their unpredictability and the box office nature of it, yes, we miss that too."But it's now all about us getting up the table and what we do on the pitch more than anything else."ProgressSunderland have moved into a more secure mid-table position since Sbragia was appointed and Quinn is confident the club will continue to progress.He said: "Our aim is to keep the club going, maybe to look at European football."At the moment, our aim has got to be to somehow get ourselves into the top half of the Premier League."There's no reason why we shouldn't be saying that, and with the squad that we have now, with their ages and their profiles, it's not unrealistic."No-one foresaw Roy and the demise and the six weeks we'd had where we weren't winning, but we have come through and Ricky needs to be applauded for that."