Sunderland owners have revealed just how close Roy Keane was to taking over as manager.

Roy Keane was rumored to be returning to Sunderland in 2022 to take over as manager, and the owners have officially confirmed his near acceptance of the position.

Co-owners Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Juan Sartori of Sunderland speculate that Roy Keane’s spectacular return to the team may not have been as near as initially thought. This is in response to the former manager’s strong association with the open position in 2022.

After Lee Johnson’s form declined and the new ownership took over during League One’s promotion push, the decision was made to fire him. After suffering consecutive relegations and being denied championship football due to playoff heartbreak, the Black Cats were still trying to bounce back.

There had been a lot of difficulties, and concerns about the choice surfaced because Johnson’s replacement at Sunderland didn’t seem obvious. Keane was soon tipped as the front-runner, particularly considering his past with the team.

Roy Keane Sunderland documentary

In season three of the Netflix documentary “Sunderland ‘Till I Die,” co-owners of Sunderland Kyril Louis-Dreyfus and Juan Sartori talked about the reality of Roy Keane’s possible 2022 comeback. The two seem to have said that it wasn’t particularly close.

“The Roy Keane potential with Sunderland played out much more in the media than it really did in conversations that we had in the club,” Louis-Dreyfus said in an interview with Netflix. I was aware that there would be criticism as soon as we made the change, but all I try to do is make the choices that I believe are best for the football team.

Juan Sartori added: “I think Roy Keane would have been fun, definitely good for the Netflix series, but maybe we had a third season of disastrous finishing.”

Instead, the owners chose Alex Neil, and the Scottish coach made it back to the Championship by way of the playoffs. The pinnacle of his brief stay was a 2-0 victory over Wycombe Wanderers at Wembley; a few months later, Neil left for Stoke City.

Roy Keane Sunderland record

The fanbase at the time was quite excited about Roy Keane’s possible return to Sunderland. A large portion of that will be attributed to the former manager making an impression during his first stint at the team, where he created a lot of memories.

When Keane took over in 2006, the squad was in danger of relegation. By the end of the season, he had turned them into league winners and won Manager of the Year. After managing Ipswich Town in 2009, he would later quit in 2008.