Sunderland warned over Roy Keane appointment as Gabby Agbonlahor says he was ‘disrespectful’ to Aston Villa players and has ‘0/100 man-management skills’

Gabby Agbonlahor sent a warning to Sunderland about hiring Roy Keane as he suggested the Manchester United legend is not suited to management.

Keane, the iconic former United captain, has been linked with a surprise return to management after 11 years out with the League One side offering him a second spell in the Stadium of Light dugout.

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Agbonlahor knows first hand what Keane is like in a coaching role, having worked under him when he acted as Paul Lambert’s assistant at Aston Villa.

The Villa legend, who is their all-time Premier League top scorer with 74 goals, revealed he was no fan of the 'disrespectful' way Keane would speak to players, and doesn't believe his methods aren't right for management.

“The problem with Roy Keane was that when he came to Aston Villa, he couldn’t understand that we weren’t as good as the players he played with,” Agbonlahor told talkSPORT Breakfast.

“He couldn’t accept that we weren’t going to be as good as Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, David Beckham and those players.

“Just his way of coaching, it wasn’t the right method for players nowadays, for players when he was at Aston Villa.

“Just the way he spoke to players. There were times when there were quite experienced players, people like Joe Cole, and he didn’t speak to them right.

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“He spoke to them in a way that was disrespectful. His man management would be zero out of 100. It was that bad.

“There was a time in training when we were doing a shooting drill. Imagine all 22 players doing a shooting drill, you’ve got to pass it to five players before you get a cross in.

“We hadn’t had a shot for 11 or 12 minutes, you are going to be getting cold and frustrated, so the standard wasn’t very good.

“The gaffer, Paul Lambert, calls us in and Roy Keane is there as well. Lambert says the standard isn’t good enough.

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“Me, as captain, I had to come forward and back the players saying we only get one shot every 11 or 12 minutes and we need to do something different.

“Roy Keane comes forward and says ‘oh, are you cold? Do you want another warm up?’

“I said, ‘I’m not talking to you, Roy. I’m talking to the manager’. He gave me that evil stare and the next day he left.

“At that time at Aston Villa, he left because of me.

“I was at Villa for so long. I was captain and it was my club, I wasn’t going to let anyone come in and try to bully me at my club.

“Afterwards, even now, I’m happy it happened.”

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When asked what Lambert said afterwards, Agbonlahor said: “He was fine. I think he understood that Roy’s way of coaching, you just can’t do that with the players.”

He continued: “Maybe it just wasn’t working for him there. His ways of speaking to people weren’t right. That was six or seven years ago, you can’t speak to players like that anymore. You are going to lose them.

“You’ve seen managers in the Premier League do it and end up leaving. 

“His way of management I just don’t think is right. It’s alright on Sky when you can hammer people.”

Keane spent two-and-a-half years as Sunderland manager, leading them to the Championship title in the 2006/07 season.

Things are a lot different now at the club as they have dropped to League One, but are pushing for promotion back to the second tier.

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But Agbonlahor warned that Keane could have a detrimental effect.

He said: “If I’m a Sunderland owner I would be thinking twice. He might go in there and make them even worse.

“If you are a player now, especially a young player, you give the ball away in training and some of them need an arm around them. Roy is the sort of player who will say ‘you are rubbish, get out of here’.

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“He doesn’t speak to players in the right way. Yes, one of the best midfielders in the Premier League but that doesn’t make you a good coach or manager.”

Keane is not the only candidate for the Sunderland role with Grant McCann, recently of Hull, also a possibility.