Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn and former boss Roy Keane have reached an amicable agreement after the former Manchester United player quit the Stadium of Light. Quinn told Setanta Sports: "We've had a conversation since he's left and all was fine. There were a couple of things that I think he wasn't too happy with, things that should have been done, but that's all history now.

"I think he's already champing at the bit. You can tell from the interview he did that he's champing at the bit to get back into football."

Quinn accepted that Keane's expectations of his players were to high for some to meet.

He added: "Roy had standards and demands that were exceptional, and some players came to the front and warmed to the task. Others didn't and of course those kind of players are always going to look for excuses.

"Roy was a colossal influence on players and if Roy Keane told you to do something, then you did it. We got to great success with that, I think we just had a difficult two or three weeks which culminated a lot of pressure, and culminated in Roy saying 'Hey, okay, I don't hang around somewhere for six or seven months and not get what I want out of it'."

Quinn also insisted that he was not involved in Keane's departure.

He said: "I wasn't involved in what went on, I wouldn't say 'Oh you should have done this, you should have done that'. I think there were times we gave a couple of last-minute goals away and that could've changed everything.

"Football is such a fine line, and I don't think you can suddenly define it. I think Roy is Roy and probably for himself he would alter one or two things.

"I'm sure it's only a matter of time before he gets back in to the game."