Roy Keane yesterday explained his reasons for putting Liam Miller on Sunderland's transfer list, saying the midfielder's main failing was being late for training.
Despite seeing Miller become one of Sunderland's most important players in their battle against relegation, Keane revealed ahead of tomorrow's crucial game at bottom-of-the-table Derby that he could no longer tolerate the Republic of Ireland international's time-keeping.
In his first season as manager of Sunderland last year, Keane instructed the driver of the team bus to leave without three first-team players before a trip to Barnsley and dropped them from the starting line-up because they were a minute late for the scheduled departure. But the former Manchester United captain has come down even harder on Miller.
"It's not a question about Liam the lad and it's nothing to do with him as a player," said Keane. "He is a talented boy but I'm employed by Sunderland and I have to do what is right for Sunderland. We need every player we can. But I have to look at the bigger picture for this club. I have to look at his team-mates, players who come in regularly on time and train, the supporters who spend a lot of money up and down the country.
"I don't go around with a stick, threatening people. We have given players the benefit of the doubt but enough is enough. There comes a time when you have to say 'Move on'. Liam is very happy here but if you can't get in on time for training then it doesn't matter if he is happy or unhappy."
In the past Keane has been protective of Miller, a player once viewed as his natural successor at Manchester United. The two men hail from Cork and Keane was highly critical of the former Republic of Ireland manager Steve Staunton this season for failing to select Miller for the national team.
"He is a Cork man, like me, and I have looked out for him on a number of occasions," said Keane. "But there's no room for sentiment. I have been more than fair."
Whether Miller will leave this season on loan remains to be seen and it may be that the decision to put him on the transfer list is shock therapy. "As long as he is under the roof [and] he is working hard, he might get an opportunity," Keane added. "It [his career] is not over. If I don't get the calls from other clubs, he keeps training well and is on time, he will be in my thoughts."
Miller's agent, Eamon McLoughlin, denied his client had behaved unprofessionally, insisting that, although the 27-year-old was late to training three times in the past week, two of those were out of his control because of accidents on the A19. "If the punishment fitted the crime Liam could accept this more easily but he doesn't think it does," he said. "He'd still love to play for Sunderland but that is obviously not his decision to make."
Keane goes to Derby seeking his first league away win this season after equalling the club record by losing 10 games in a row. But the manager is confident that the attitude in his squad will provide the basis for Sunderland to stay in the top flight.
"If you haven't got that, you have got nothing," he said. "If you want to be a top footballer, you have got to have drive and passion. That has no doubt helped us in a lot of games when sometimes our quality has let us down."