Now an attacking coach at AJ Auxerre, there was a time when Djibril Cissé spent a season at AFC Sunderland as a striker.
This was during the 2008-09 campaign, as he was loaned by Marseille to the Black Cats and played the vast majority of the games under both his managers at the time, first Roy Keane and then Ricky Sbragia.
It was the former who brought him to Sunderland in the first place, and the 42-year-old recalls an incident from his days at the Stadium of Light in an interview with Monaco-Matin.
While it didn’t involve him directly, Cissé was asked about a moment when Anton Ferdinand and El-Hadji Diouf weren’t getting along, which Keane decided to take into his own hands to sort out.
The former France international explained: “The two had got into an argument at the end of a game, and Roy had said: ‘Now, after the game, we aren’t going to talk about it’. The next day, he came to training with boxing gloves and told them: ‘Go in the gym and come out when you’ve calmed down’. It was a way of provoking and calming them down.”
Who won the fight, no one really knows, but Sunderland did avoid the drop that year, finishing above the relegation zone.
Keane had stepped down in December with the club in 18th place, only for his replacement, Sbragia, to help them steer clear of an unwanted return to the Championship.
During his time at Sunderland, Cissé played 38 times, scored 11 goals and assisted another two.
