Sunderland Review

Guardian Unlimited writers' prediction: 15th Odds: 2,000-1

Confession time: the GU writers' prediction for this particular club has been skewed by one wildly optimistic yahoo's unwavering faith in Roy Keane's ability to manufacture silk purses from even the most ragged of sows' ears. Considering he transformed Sunderland from relegation certainties into Championship winners in his rookie season, turning one-time byword for haplessness Nyron Nosworthy into an accomplished centre-half in the process, there's no reason to believe Keane can't continue working the oracle and steer Sunderland into the top third of the table by season's end.

Stop your sniggering, stranger things have happened. At the moment, alphabetical order dictates that Sunderland lie one place above the relegation trapdoor before a ball's been kicked, and many of their more circumspect fans will be content if they finish there. "I'd take fourth bottom," declares James Henderson, staff writer at Sunderland fanzine A Love Supreme. "Obviously it's not very optimistic and Keane wouldn't take that, but I will. Then we can work on consolidating and moving towards mid-table."

Not long back from reporting on Sunderland's pre-season charm offensive in the Emerald Isle, where a draw with Cork City was sandwiched between wins over Bohemians and Galway United, Henderson sounds pleased with what he saw. "I think the players we've brought in so far have done well, particularly Greg Halford and Paul McShane," he says. "Michael Chopra's done well too - he scored a good goal against Galway and Kieran Richardson got one too."

Halford, McShane, Chopra, Richardson... names unlikely to strike fear into the hearts of opposing teams or their fans. Yet Keane's achievement last season has earned him implicit trust at the Stadium of Light. One gets the impression he could sign Jean-Alain Boumsong or Titus Bramble to shore up his defence and supporters would merely shrug and assume there's method to his apparent madness. After a dogged pursuit of his man, Keane has finally secured the scrawl of Scotland goalkeeper Craig Gordon, breaking the club's transfer record in the process. His new acquisition will need to throw the ball into the net twice every game to prove more ineffective than Sunderland's previous most expensive signing, Peter Reid's ill-advised £8.2m panic buy Tore Andre Flo.

Keane doesn't do panic buys and has stated time and again that good character and the ability to pass a football from A to B are the two most important qualities a prospective Sunderland player must demonstrate. This policy has served him well, with the side that won promotion last season doing so playing a lightning-fast pass-and-move, counter-attacking game that left many of their opponents chasing shadows.

The comments section beneath Guardian Unlimited articles about Roy Keane the manager tend to descend into squabbles, with many complaining about Roy Keane the footballer's previous in the field of thuggish petulance. It's hardly fair, considering he has been a rock of calm since swapping his jersey for a shirt and tie. Despite what many media caricaturists would have you believe, Keane has always been a thoughtful, intelligent operator blessed with a ready wit, who is not prepared to suffer fools. The quietly efficient manner in which Keane shipped the stars of last season's infamous amateur porn movie out of his club proved that, with him at the tiller, Sunderland are a club determined to go about things the right way both on and off the field.

To date, Keane has only been in charge of a winning team and the first real test of his mettle will coincide with the inevitable losing streak. If his team stumbles out of the blocks in the Premiership, the fans will be patient, but a good start would give Keane a better chance of luring quality players to the north-east during the next transfer window. A lot done, more to do - wherever the winding road of the season ahead takes Sunderland, their progress will be one of the more fascinating Premiership sub-plots.

In: Paul McShane (West Brom - £1.5m), Dickson Etuhu (Norwich - £1.5m), Kieran Richardson (Manchester United - undisclosed), Michael Chopra (Cardiff City - £5m), Russell Anderson (Aberdeen - £1m), Greg Halford (Reading - undisclosed), Craig Gordon (Hearts - £9m).

Out: Stephen Wright (Stoke City - loan), Stephen Elliott (Wolves - undisclosed), Arnau Riera (Falkirk - loan), Dan Smith (Aberdeen - undisclosed), Johnny Evans (Manchester United - loan expired).