HE might have escaped the agonies of the play-offs himself, but Roy Keane will be still be keeping a close eye on this weekend's events and hoping that Derby join his Sunderland side in the Premiership.

While the Sunderland squad have already begun their well-earned summer break, Derby's players will be back in action tomorrow as they travel to Southampton for the first leg of their play-off semi-final.

For much of the season, it looked as though Billy Davies' side would gain an automatic promotion place, but Sunderland's 17-game unbeaten surge, allied to Birmingham's late winning run, ensured they finished the campaign in third position.

Third-placed finishers have a dreadful play-off record - Sunderland failed to win promotion themselves after finishing in that position in 2004 - but with Derby having finished eight points clear of their nearest rivals, Keane is hoping that justice is served this month.

"I really hope Derby win promotion because they've finished so far clear of the team in the fourth," said the Black Cats boss, who has held preliminary discussions with chairman Niall Quinn regarding his summer transfer targets.

"It will be very hard for them to pick themselves back up if they don't go up, but the play-offs are always very difficult to negotiate.

"Sympathy (for Billy Davies) would be the wrong word to use if it didn't happen, because I don't want to sound patronising. But I hope they go up because they've had a fantastic season.

"The beauty of the play-offs is that it gives three other teams a chance. But it would be nice to see Derby go up because of everything they've done over the course of the season as a whole."

Even a play-off place looked to be out of Sunderland's reach when Keane took over from Niall Quinn in late August.

Promotion was no more than a possibility at the turn of the year, but the Black Cats' prospects had improved significantly by the time they entered the play-off places for the first time in mid-February.

An automatic promotion place was the target by early March, and Keane is understandably delighted to have avoided an end-of-season lottery that also involves Wolves and West Brom.

"You have to be prepared and, had we missed out on automatic promotion, we would have prepared for the play-offs," he said. "I suppose it wouldn't have been the end of the world if we hadn't gone up and we'd had to spend another year in the Championship.

"But I remember speaking to Dave Jones (Cardiff manager) a few months ago and he said that we needed to get out of the Championship this season because it's always such a competitive and close league.

"I'm just grateful we've managed to do it this year, and pleased that we haven't had to go through the whole thing of the play-offs."

While Keane is expected to take a brief break before stepping up his pursuit of his leading transfer targets, one of his first jobs at the start of next month will be to contact Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson to inquire about the possible availability of both Jonny Evans and Danny Simpson.

The pair have spent the second half of the season on loan at the Stadium of Light, and Keane is hopeful of retaining their services next season.

"I'll speak in the next few weeks," he said. "The last thing a manager wants is a phone call asking about his loan players. They (Manchester United) still have big games to play.

"It'll take care of itself in the next few weeks but, as I've said all along, Jonny and Danny aren't our players."

Simpson may be allowed to leave Old Trafford permanently this summer but, after signing a four-year deal before moving to Wearside in January, Evans will only depart on a temporary basis next season.

Keane is willing to sign the centre-half on a season-long loan, but is unlikely to consider temporary deals for any other player.

"The thing with the loan situation is that they're not your players," said the Irishman. "I want a strong squad of Sunderland players with no such thing as players being called back, because there's a lot of uncertainty in that situation.

"Suddenly, you're hanging on the end of a phone waiting to see if a club is going to let a player come here. A club like Sunderland needs to be in a better position than that."

Sunderland have been linked with a move for Vitesse Arnhem defender Ruud Knol.

The Black Cats are understood to have had scouts at Wednesday night's Eridivisie play-off game between Vitesse and NAC Breda, and Knol has claimed that he is aware of the club's interest in signing him this summer.