TEA ladies at Derby County may be as well to issue plastic mugs in the visiting team’s dressing-room tomorrow, just in case anything goes wrong for Roy Keane during his first match as a manager. A verbal barrage is assured but smashing china would not be in order.
Anything worse than that and Sunderland players may be sent to consult their lawyers. Mary Sutton, an employment law specialist at Davies Lavery, points out that footballers have been slow to twig to their rights under the little-used Protection from Harassment Act, one of the first measures brought forward by Tony Blair in 1997, when everybody liked him.
“If any player believed he was being bullied, this is legislation he could turn to,” she said. “Fear is not a good management tactic any longer. Players probably feel they don’t want to make things worse but the Act is there if they need it.”
A courtroom may be a safer haven than the Sunderland dressing-room if Keane’s expectations are not met. Send for Rumpole.