Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: young managerial novice with passion, personality, and the kind of monumental playing career that commands universal respect taps into the huge potential of a dormant northeast club. For Kevin Keegan, read Roy Keane; for Newcastle in the 1990s, read Sunderland more than a decade later. That, at least, is the theory.

Keegan, back at the club he took to within four points of the title in 1996, sees something of himself in the Irishman who plans to inspire a revolution at the Stadium of Light. “He has one magic thing that not every manager has,” says Keegan. “He is not going to ask his players to do anything he hasn’t done himself. If you have played at the level he has, and you say to players, ‘I believe in you, you can do this’, players tend to look back and think, ‘Wow, he wouldn’t say that if he didn’t mean it’. That’s where we are similar.”

There is something old-fashioned about the two managers who will lock horns for the first time in today’s derby at St James’ Park. Keane is notorious for his attacks on Wags, prawn sandwiches and the blazerati who denied Ireland’s players the best seats on a flight to Cyprus in 2001. Keegan is an entertainer, a purist who was so disillusioned by the effect of money on professional football that he had no plans to return after leaving Manchester City in 2005. “If you’d asked him then whether he would come back into football, I bet he’d have said no, but Newcastle and this area have that pull over him,” says Keane.

Maybe it is no coincidence that two of the country’s most passionately supported clubs have attracted two of its biggest characters. Keegan and Keane need Newcastle and Sunderland almost as much as the fans need them. “This club suits me,” says Keane. “The people here love their football. They live and breathe it. I’d struggle to be manager of a club where it wasn’t seen as important to the city. These are proper clubs, with supporters who are genuine football people. It would make it all the more fantastic if we can bring them a bit of success.”

That Keane refers only to “a bit” of success is revealing. You wonder if there is still enough room for principles in a game awash with money. Even Keegan admits the 1990s have gone, and with them the potential for another Newcastle title bid. The divide between the top clubs and the rest is too wide, thanks mainly to the Champions League. “Top four?” says Keegan. “It’s a dream. In reality, it will be difficult for either of us in the foreseeable future. The league is not as interesting as it once was.”

Keane knows better than to promise the earth, when his team haven’t even shored up their position in the Premier League yet. Assuming they do, and a win today could guarantee their survival, he wants to step up a level, on the field and in the transfer market, but knows it will be difficult on both counts.

Sunderland have never been able to attract glamour signings. It is said that Jim Baxter, in 1965, was the last to join them at his peak. Keane’s aim is to consolidate in the top flight, end their reputation as a “yo-yo club”, and hope the security on offer will help to solve their image problem with potential signings. “That’s what I’m fighting at the moment,” he says. “We have to change their mindset.”

The northeast, in general, is a hard sell. Keane has said players have turned him down because the area didn’t have enough shops for their wives. Keegan says some fear they will be accused of lacking ambition. “Sometimes, you just have to get them in a room and beat them up,” jokes the Newcastle manager. “We might be able to get the odd one but we’re just dreaming if we think we are going be able to get the absolute top notches.”

None of which will stop Keane from trying. This summer, he wants several established Premier League players, and one “franchise signing”, probably from abroad. Asked, with tongue in cheek, if Ronaldinho might be a candidate, he was poker-faced. “I think so. You’ve got to have an open mind. Whether he would come here is another matter, though. I don’t think we can compete for these players yet but you have to believe that one day we will. We have to learn from other teams. Look at Middlesbrough. They brought in Juninho, someone who got people off their seats. That’s something I would love to do. This summer would be fantastic, but these players don’t come over to play for free.”

Money is the trump card for Sunderland and Newcastle, the only means by which they can outweigh what is on offer elsewhere. Keane is again piling pressure on his chairman, Niall Quinn, by declaring he will need “60, 70, 80 million” if progress is to be made next season. “These players have to get big money,” he says. “They’re not going to come because I tell them we get 45,000 spectators through the gate. They will just ask me to back that up with 60, 70, 80 grand a week.”

As a manager, Keane is having to swallow his pride. When he came out in favour of the Premier League’s proposed 39th match, the ghostwriter of his autobiography, Eamon Dunphy, accused him of selling his soul, of becoming a politician and bullshitter, the two things he used to hate most. He doesn’t care much for the bling culture either but if Sunderland are to go where he wants them, he will put up with that as well.

Putting the northeast first

"Keane has one magic thing that not every manager has. He won’t ask his players to do anything he hasn’t done himself"
- Kevin Keegan

"Players will not come because I tell them we get 45,000 fans. They will just ask me to back that up with 80 grand a week"
- Roy Keane

TV match
Newcastle v Sunderland
Today, Sky Sports 1, 1pm, kick-off 1.30pm