Boss Roy Keane says he would be lynched by Town supporters if he was to let boy wonder striker Connor Wickham move to Sunderland this summer. Reports emanating from the North-East over the last couple of weeks have claimed that the Black Cats want Wickham to move to Wearside as part of an exchange deal which would see Daryl Murphy, David Healy and/or Jack Colback joining the Blues on a permanent basis.

When the widely reported story was put to Keane by TWTD at his press conference, the Blues boss dismissed it out of hand: “That’s your silliest question of the season! And you’ve had some silly ones!

“I’m pretty sure Connor signed a contract a few weeks ago. I think our club is well run, Connor’s happy here, we’re happy with him and I think I’d be lynched by the supporters if we were talking about selling him.”

Keane says it’s wrong to consider players, particularly youngsters, merely as commodities: “Connor’s learning his trade, he’s doing well and we shouldn’t talk about a young player like Connor as if he’s a piece of meat that we’re going to sell to the highest bidder.

“I think the club’s good like that, I think with the owner we’re well run, we’re under no pressure and Sunderland wouldn’t be able to afford him anyway. They could swap him for 20 of their players and Brucey knows that.”

Keane’s former Manchester United team-mate and close friend Steve Bruce admitted that he was aware of Wickham’s talent and would be interested if he became available, but conceded that plenty of other sides would also be in the hunt.

The Town manager says it’s no surprise that Bruce would know all about the 17-year-old: “If you’re a manager in the Premiership and you’re interested in players, of course you’d be aware of him. If he’s not aware of Connor then he must be living on a different planet, because of the speculation over the last few months before he signed his contract.

“Connor’s got a great chance of being a good player, but he’s still learning his trade. He’s learning it fast, I’ll give him that. The good players do.”

Wickham signed a two-year professional deal with the Blues a fortnight ago, the longest professional contract a player can agree at 17.

Photo: Action Images

brockleyblueboy added 03:31 - Apr 23 Yes you would
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peterleeblue added 06:50 - Apr 23 On the basis that Connor was kept we asssume in favour of Jordan Rhodes and this season we have "suffered" while he has become Championship standard I for one would be less than pleased if he was sold / swapped.
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B1TFC added 07:11 - Apr 23 correct!
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itfc1981 added 07:14 - Apr 23 late night Phil?
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itfc1981 added 07:20 - Apr 23 never sell the Wickham man!
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Billy_Whizz added 07:50 - Apr 23 Great quote by RK there Phil “That's your silliest question of the season! And you've had some silly ones!" Does he come on TWTD for a laugh and a hint at what team not to select!
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bedsitfc added 07:58 - Apr 23 he cant be sold he is our one ray of hope
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Dolly2.0 added 08:04 - Apr 23 Silly Philly!
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mickeyjb added 08:05 - Apr 23 One for one with Darren Bent and maybe Colbeck thrown in plus paying Bents stupid wages above 12k for the duration of his contract with us. In otherwords 'it aint going to happen'
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bennyblue added 08:06 - Apr 23 sounds allright to me as long as they take keane back as well
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cphtractor added 08:23 - Apr 23 The quote should be printed on the next TWTD t-shirt.
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hmhb added 08:27 - Apr 23 colback yes please, the others no thanks
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Steve_ITFC_Sweden added 08:46 - Apr 23 Well, at least by asking a "silly" question, we got a straight answer. In as far as anything is certain in football, I think that puts this one to bed.
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brogansnose added 08:48 - Apr 23 Glad thats settled then. One less thing for this site to flounce about
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james1989 added 09:28 - Apr 23 to be fair connor has got a bright future but i would do the swap, but only for murphy healy and colbeck, i would want all 3 of them
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TractorRoyNo1 added 09:47 - Apr 23 well said, but i still think we should have loaned Rhodes to Huddersfield rather than sold him
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Lightningboy added 10:07 - Apr 23 Exactly TractorRoyNo1...any sensible manager would've done that but we've got Roy Keane. When do the tickets for the lynching go on sale btw..?
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jas0999 added 10:18 - Apr 23 We also hve to be realistic, if a Premiership club offered an obscene amount of money for Conner then it would probably be out of Roy's hands i.e. ME may wish o cash in as he owns the club. I am pleased however that RK has no intention to sell.
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Billy_Whizz added 10:21 - Apr 23 If Connor went to a Premiership club, he'd probably sit in the Reserves ala Walcott till all the skill is drained from him. Think he knows where his bread is buttered, just upto the rest of the team and RK to get us promoted so we can at last hold onto our young stars!
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brendanh added 10:45 - Apr 23 The "lynched" comment suggests he's learnt from the Rhodes debacle, shame his ilk don't come around very often.
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dirtydingusmagee added 11:09 - Apr 23 Billybub git me a rope, gonna be lynchin !
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itfc_price added 12:16 - Apr 23 DO NOT LET WICKHAM GO! Keep him as long as possible. Theres no point in doing a swap as we'll come off worse. Colback is the only decent player out of the 3, and we dont need any more midfielders.!
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unbelievable_tekers added 12:24 - Apr 23 owell keep wickham it shows that there willing to sell collback
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bennyblue added 13:15 - Apr 23 can we please disconnect the hotline phone too sunderland its not doing us much good.. i for one would be happy if roy never mentioned sunderland or any of its players past or present ever again for the remaining 2 games he has left with us hopefully.. and stop bloody bringing in irish players that doesnt seem to be getting town anywhere either try and broaden your mind and look a bit further roy sunderland rejects aint gunna get town up

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campowasgod added 13:24 - Apr 23 Connor is hot property. He is improving every game. With a good start to next season, say 12-15 goals before Jan window he could really be interesting the big teams and if one of the big clubs are having a bad season we could see silly money. We must keep him until Jan.
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