One of the real exciting aspects of the Championship this season has been the remarkable run Sunderland have enjoyed since the turn of the year - winning fourteen of seventeen games and drawing the other three.

Of course that all came to an end on Saturday when Colchester United defeated Sunderland 3-1.

New manager Roy Keane has been a revelation as manager and seems to have buried his personality as someone very critical of most and with an impatience bordering on the maniacal.

In fact he has continued to praise his players this season consistently - although he was not happy with the Colchester performance and gave them a Keane-like dressing down after the game. The players are quickly learning to expect that – when they don’t perform.

The players know exactly where they stand with Keane and a 100% committed performance is all that will be accepted by him.

Roy Keane played under two of the best managers ever in Brian Clough and Sir Alex Ferguson and certainly their good points in motivation and excellence have rubbed off on him big time.

Sunderland are a good club for Keane to manage – they have an excellent stadium and fans that are totally committed to the club. Keane has continually praised the support he has received from Sunderland on both the management side and from the fans.

The game on Friday evening with Burnley - at the Stadium of Light - will most likely be a sell-out and look for Sunderland to bag a valuable three points.

Certainly it will be interesting to see how the players react to their first loss in 18 league games.

Keane has a distinct philosophy in ensuring his players are happy at the club in every aspect and he goes out of his way to make them feel appreciated.

Here is a recent interview Keane gave on Monday where he talks about making the players happy in every way:

“The players are well-disciplined, they are focused on the job at hand, and my job is to make sure the players are happy.

“If the players are not happy with anything we do our best to make sure they are happy.

If they are not happy with the pillows at the hotel, we make sure they are soft enough for them.

“We are doing everything we can to make it a happy dressing room and I have to say, we have got a very good dressing room. And when you have that, you have a good chance.

“There has only been one example this season when I have been disappointed when we played as individuals and not a team and we were nearly caught out.

“But we reminded the players we need to be a team and since that performance they have been different class.”

“The priority for me when I took the job was to get a good team spirit, a good togetherness amongst the players, good characters in the dressing room - that is why I brought in the players I did, players I had played with,” he said.

“I knew a few lads who were here anyway, so I just felt if we got good characters and a good spirit amongst the players, we could go anywhere.

“Fortunately for us, the players have all settled in really well. The new signings have all done well, as have the lads who were here.

“It was important the likes of Dean Whitehead and Grant Leadbitter, Darren Ward and Danny Collins, players like that, played their part, and they certainly have. I think I have been very lucky.”

With an attitude like that lots of potential Sunderland players of the future will be looking at the instant revival of the club and would be only too willing to go and play for Keane on Wearside – certainly he has had no problems recruiting players to the club - he has signed 12 new players since he took over.

His partnership with Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn is professional in nature and Quinn has been wise to leave Keane completely in total control on the playing side – which is what Keane demanded when he first signed on. Quinn has also shown he backs Keane totally in the transfer market - like any good chairman.

There is no doubt they have both done a tremendous job this season for Sunderland - to the unending gratitude of their many loyal fans – and certainly they have Wearside buzzing again.

Ed Harrison is a lifelong Newcastle fan and writes regularly on the Newcastle United Blog