Roy Keane's Sunderland Are Doomed - Eamon Dunphy

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On the edge: Roy Keane isn't a happy bunny as Bolton Wanderers destroy his Sunderland (PA)

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Roy Keane shocked football followers all over the British Isles when he admitted recently that was having doubts as to whether he was the right man to manage Sunderland.

Such an admission runs in complete contrast to the image of the fiercely confident and uncompromising midfielder who led Manchester United through their glory years in the late 1990s.

And Eamon Dunphy, the Irish pundit who ghost-wrote Keane's memoirs in 2002, believes the former Nottingham Forest star is on a road to nowhere.

"He’s pontificating on everything and he’s lost the plot," he said in The Sun. "It’s been apparent for the last 18 months that he isn’t going to be a serious manager."

Sunderland currently lie in the Premier League relegation zone, having collected just four wins from 15 games.

It is a hugely disappointing return for the club's big spending over the summer, as they brought in the likes of El Hadji Diouf, Pascal Chimbonda, Steed Malbranque, Anton Ferdinand and George McCartney.

But the expected top-half finish looks a near impossibility at this stage, and Dunphy believes Keane would do well to jump ship now lest he go back down with the rest of the Wearside club.

"I have the highest regard for him but he has lost the plot, big time," he continued.

"He is not a quitter but there is a new owner at Sunderland and the goalposts have moved.

"I think the whole project is doomed."

Dunphy, 63, had stints at Man United, York City, Millwall, Charlton Athletic and Reading as a player, and featured 23 times for the Republic of Ireland between 1965 and 1971.

Leslie May, Goal.com