But he will be back in the game soon. Refreshed, rejuvenated, no doubt looking to get out from under the feet of the wife and kids, the former Manchester United captain will soon be looking for new employers.
Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Lonely job: Roy Keane on the Sunderland bench at a pre-season game in Portugal in 2008
He lit up the Stadium of Light with his unique, demanding style of management.
His press conferences were legendary, certainly never dull. Without his endeavours, that brilliant first season and the money invested by the Drumaville consortium, who knows? where Sunderland would be today.
Keane, speaking to a Cork radio station on a night when he was clearly kicking his heels with little else to do, has made it clear that changes in the ownership at Sunderland forced him out of the club.
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And Keane, although unwilling to go into specific details, was clearly unhappy with the change of direction on Wearside.
Keane said: 'When accusations are made against you and you are told where to live or are accused of doing a one-day week, the time is right to go.
'In terms of supporters Sunderland fans were brilliant, but as usual, they don't know the whole truth and just believe the headlines and sometimes you feel you want the truth out there but I have kept my mouth shut.
'But there was stuff going on in the background I certainly wasn't happy about.
'You have to get used to it, people are quick to speculate or tell lies, slag me off. When I left Sunderland and Manchester United there was rubbish out there. Apparently I am always shouting at people but it sells newspapers.'
Keane has said he should not have taken the job at Ipswich Town after he left Sunderland. But he has no regrets about joining the Black Cats.
He was talked into it by Niall Quinn - despite their past differences. And after a Quinn-led Sunderland side had crashed out of the League Cup at Bury, the new man was put in charge to totally revolutionise a club which looked to be heading out of the Championship, at the wrong end.
Keane said: 'They say if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans and my plan was to chill out for a few years and step back.
In the beginning: Niall Quinn welcomes Roy Keane as Sunderland boss in 2006
'Before I knew it I spoke to Sunderland, said I couldn't do it because I had a few football courses to go on but in August when I was in Portugal they were still struggling and came back and I decided to go for it and really enjoyed it up there I have to say.
'I knew Niall was involved and on paper it should have been a nightmare, six seven Irish fellas involved and all the politics, but it was actually perfect, none felt they were the boss, so they just let me get on with it and the first two years were a dream, no interference no nothing.
'But that changed when the club was sold Ellis Short and when you have one owner the dynamics of the football club changed.'
Keane has vowed to return to football management when the time and the club is right.
The former Republic of Ireland skipper has been out of work since January when he was sacked by Ipswich Town.
Keane, who dismissed talk of working in Australia or New Zealand as 'nonsense' says he is enjoying his longest break from the game, but could be ready to make a return next season.
And he says he has learned mistakes from his spell at Portman Road.
He said: 'I want a club to take to the very top. Sunderland was so close, even in my third season there, we just had a few poor results which every manager goes through.
'I am a young manager, and you are always learning tactically. I would have to look at my staff, that is a vital part of football management, and you need to work with good players, that helps. And we had some really good players at Sunderland.
No such thing as a good loser: Roy Keane's face tells a story after losing 1-0 to former boss Sir Alex Ferguson
'You need good characters. I would learn from my mistakes particularly at Ipswich and I think potentially I could be a good manager. But potential is one thing. Going out and doing it is something very different.
'If you don't make mistakes, you never learn. I had a three-month break after Sunderland and Ipswich felt right. My only regret is I agreed to take it before I met the chief executive, I won't be doing that again.
'Sometimes the DNA doesn't work and doesn't suit. Look at Roy Hodgson, and I'm not comparing myself to him, but him at Liverpool, the dynamics were not right and Ipswich in the end was just not right and the chief executive role is vital when you are working with someone so closely.
'I have been out for a couple of months and I am enjoying my bit of time off because part of my problem, is when I am involved, I am involved 100 per cent and that takes its toll on you; not that I am going to keel over but it is time to recharge the batteries and take stock and see what is round the corner.
'A club might give me an opportunity but if it doesn't come I have some freedom and I will make the most of that.'
Middlesbrough making the right moves under MowbrayOn the ball: Tony Mowbray has turned Boro around
One club where the manager seems to make a perfect fit is Middlesbrough where the Tony Mowbray revolution finished with a positive final-day win over Doncaster.
Adam Reach, who scored on his Boro debut, became the 32nd player to graduate from Dave Parnaby's Academy and, from the embers of a miserable season, there is renewed optimism on Teesside.
Things have been worse at the club. Twenty-five years ago they were 37 minutes from going out of the Football League, but chairman Steve Gibson and his consortium managed to put together the package which, within 20 years, would take them to their first trophy, and into Europe.
Mowbray was there in those dark days, wearing manager Bruce Rioch's armband. And he can see another phoenix rising from the ashes of this campaign.
The Boro boss said: 'The message from 86/87 would be that you have an affinity and the fact you would go an extra yard for each other an extra inch if necessary to pull together. You create a bond with the supporters who see the good and bad.
'The message from me is to try to build the club from the bottom, block by block so it is strong.
'When we do get to the Premier League the group will have been together for five years and will know and understand each other's strengths and weaknesses and be competitive.'
Five years ago this week, they were in the UEFA Cup final in Eindhoven.
The team that night was: Schwarzer, Parnaby, Southgate, Riggott, Queudrue, Morrison, Boateng, Rochemback, Downing, Viduka, Hasselbaink.
The team, the club, the league they play in has changed somewhat since they were thrashed by Sevilla.
But the club in Mowbray's hands is heading in the right direction again.
On the up: Middlesbrough finished the season with four straight wins in the Championship
Since Gordon Strachan left they have moved up the Championship table, with the new manager somehow getting the best out of players he inherited, and even sold to Middlesbrough.
They could be a force again. And Gibson is clearly very pleased.
He said: 'I have known Tony since he was a teenager, and I keep reminding him of that fact.
'He is a Middlesbrough lad, he has Middlesbrough in his heart and it just feels absolutely right.
'We had the right skipper in 86 and we have the right manager now. We are Middlesbrough people and I think that is very important to the town.'
?Explore more:People: Steve Bruce, Bruce Rioch, Gordon Strachan, Roy Keane, Roy Hodgson, Niall Quinn Places: Liverpool, Republic of Ireland, Australia, Portugal, New Zealand, Europe Organisations: Football League
Source: Daily Mail
Source: Daily Mail