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Quinn: I respect Keane's decision

04/12/2008

Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn insisted he respected Roy Keane's decision to resign as manager of the club despite not wanting to see him leave.

Keane left Wearside today after seeing his club slip to 18th in the Premier League after losing five of their last six league games. The former Manchester United captain had questioned his future at the club in recent weeks and it seems the 4-1 home loss to Bolton on Saturday was the last straw for Keane.

Quinn, who was instrumental in bringing his former Republic of Ireland team-mate Keane to Sunderland, admitted he was "reluctant" to accept Keane's resignation, but understood his former manager's belief that he had taken the team as far as possible.

"Roy, as he says himself, is his harshest critic. He just felt he had completed his journey here, and he just felt he didn't want to get it unstuck any further and find ourselves in deeper, darker territory," said Quinn.

"I tried for two years to keep as much pressure off him as possible, but obviously the Premier League is the Premier League and I guess it came to the point where Roy thought he had reached the end of that journey.

"Reluctantly, I accepted that. It was not the easiest thing to do, but I think it was the best thing to do in the circumstances at that point."

Quinn revealed that he had spent the past three days with Keane trying to find a "solution" to the club's problems and in the end they came to an "amicable decision".