'Frightened' Murphy Keane to impress
Daryl Murphy admits he was frightened meeting Roy Keane – but the mere presence of the new Sunderland manager sparked one the club’s finest performances since promotion two seasons ago.
Keane only finalised his deal after the Bank Holiday Monday victory over West Brom, the Black Cats’ first points of the season but the Manchester United legend was introduced to his awestruck new players on the previous day.
“He didn’t say much, we were introduced to him briefly and he shook hands with everyone. I’ll be honest, I was a bit frightened myself,” said Black Cats forward Murphy, who came off the bench against the Baggies.
“It has given everyone a lift, I think we needed something like that with the experience he is going to give us. He is not going to settle for anything but the best from us and everyone is ready to work hard for him. We’ve already started.
“It was a buzz to see someone of his character and to know he is going to manage us, it’s something we’re really looking forward to.”
Murphy added: “That was our best game for a number of years, so he knows what we’re capable of – I think we’ve set the standard but we would like to improve on that. We have to take that great performance into each game now.”
Chairman Niall Quinn claimed after the victory that the squad were playing for their futures, with training now expected to be more intense under the former Republic of Ireland midfielder.
Murphy, who is Irish himself, expects the level of professionalism to be raised throughout the club.
The 23-year-old added: “It’s great for the club but from my point of view, being Irish, it’s also great and to work with Roy will be fantastic. He’s someone I’ve looked up to while growing up, everyone knows all about him and I’m looking forward to working with him.
“We’re going to be working with one of the best players who has ever played, it’s going to be great for everyone – it’s all about standards from now.
“We’ve set the standard by beating West Brom and how we played so we have to keep that going and he’ll put us in the right direction.
“We’ll have to impress again with the new manager coming in, so I think people will be hard at it in training, that’s the way it should be really.”
