WHEN Roy Keane sulked away from the Republic of Ireland squad in the run-up to the 2002 World Cup, he felt compelled to part with a withering assessment of Mick McCarthy's managerial skills.

"You were a crap player and you're a crap manager," blasted Keane. It would be interesting to know if he still holds that opinion now.

After all, there can't be many crap managers who have guided a team from the brink of financial and footballing meltdown to the Premiership's promised land.

Praise has been showered in many directions in the aftermath of Sunderland's promotion-clinching win over Leicester.

Chairman Bob Murray, and the rest of the Black Cats' board, have been congratulated for hauling the club back from the financial abyss, avoiding the trauma of administration and providing the funds needed to turn things around in the last two seasons.

The club's fans have been applauded for keeping the faith through the dark days of relegation and play-off defeat. The fact that almost 8,000 of them made the trip to Wigan this month is reason enough to welcome the Wearsiders back into the Premiership fold.

Sunderland's players have also been lauded for their efforts. Despite struggling in the bottom half of the table for the first seven games, a combination of the unwanted and the unknown have lost just three times since the turn of the year to clinch a top-two finish.

But, ultimately, there is one man who deserves a special pat on the back for everything that has happened in the last nine months.

It was McCarthy who turned the unwanted into the wanted and the unknown into the known, and it is he who will hold the key to keeping them in the top-flight next season.

The Sunderland boss does not like to look to the past.

The Keane saga has been strictly off limits since he arrived at the Stadium of Light - it will be interesting to see if it remains so should the fixture computer send the Black Cats to Old Trafford on the opening day of the new campaign - and the club's record-breaking run of defeats is only used as a reference point for everything that has happened since.

But, while McCarthy can rightly claim that his first nine results were nothing to do with him, he is wrong to assume they did not affect his reputation.

Rightly or wrongly, the run-in with Keane created the impression of a decent lower league manager struggling to cope with the inflated egos and incendiary personalities that exist at the very top of the game.

The fact that his Premiership record reads 'Played nine, lost nine' merely adds credence to that image. The next year gives McCarthy a chance to dispel it.

He has already proved that he has an eye for talent and, just as importantly, the nerve to stand by his judgement when it is being questioned from all sides.

Few managers would have signed Liam Lawrence from Mansfield and Dean Whitehead from Oxford. Even fewer would have kept on picking them when they both failed to score in the club's first 14 games.

McCarthy did, just as he also brought Stephen Elliott from Manchester City reserves, Andy Welsh from Stockport, Danny Collins from Chester and Neill Collins from Dumbarton. All six players have made crucial contributions to Sunderland's promotion campaign.

The challenge now, though, is to enjoy similar success when signing the players needed to keep the club in the top-flight.

McCarthy has never spent the kind of money that is likely to be made available to him this summer.

Peter Reid did and, ultimately, his lavish spending got Sunderland into the hole they are only just climbing out of.

McCarthy will not be allowed to make the same mistake. Promotion is worth a guaranteed £25m but, with Sunderland still owing more than £35m, a significant proportion of that windfall will go towards reducing the club's debt.

Nevertheless, an increased attendance at the Stadium of Light and a further improvement in television revenue should mean that around £10m is made available for squad strengthening.

It needs to be spent wisely because, while the current Sunderland side would almost certainly struggle in the top-flight, Norwich and West Brom have shown what is possible with the addition of two or three clever signings.

The forward department is the area that looks weakest, and McCarthy is certain to sign at least one new striker before the transfer window closes at the end of August.

Clinton Morrison is understood to be his number one target and, with the Irish international struggling to hold down a place in the Birmingham team, sources in the West Midlands suggest he will be allowed to leave St Andrews if the price is right.

McCarthy is also a firm fan of Dean Ashton. He tried to sign the former Crewe striker earlier in the season and is likely to renew his courtship should Norwich drop into the Championship next month.

Sunderland's fans are already salivating at the prospect of Kevin Phillips returning to the Stadium of Light.

Such a scenario is unlikely but, after investing in youth last summer, the Black Cats boss will turn his attention towards players with experience of life in the top-flight.

Incorporating those into a squad without stars will be quite a challenge and, if Keane is to be believed, it could be a step too far for McCarthy.

Thankfully, though, the Manchester United midfielder's opinion counts for little. He tipped the Republic of Ireland to fall at the first hurdle in the World Cup - they didn't - and has never recognised his former manager's achievements at club level.

Keeping Sunderland in the Premiership would be the greatest of them all but, while Keane no doubt expects McCarthy to fail next season, the last nine months offer enough reasons to suspect he might make more than a few people eat their words.

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