Roy hits out at League's trophy snub

Keane has already turned down the offer of a victory parade through Sunderland, so the trophy will be presented to captain Dean Whitehead in front of the players, staff and their families at the Stadium of Light.

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Keane said: "It is a disgrace and a PR disaster for Coca-Cola, the Football League and whoever is responsible. It's shocking that the effort of the players has not been recognised here and they have not received the trophy.

"They mentioned something about safety to me but I cannot see the problem. The police did a good job here, I have been lucky enough to receive trophies at other grounds and it was never a problem."

Preston, who defeated Sunderland three times this season, did Keane a favour at last with their late victory over Birmingham, who had gone into the last day as league leaders.

But Sunderland still needed to play their part to claim top spot and their demolition of relegated Luton was one of the most convincing wins of Keane's reign. And of course he took the whole thing in his stride.

As his players sprayed the bubbly and leapt on each other for the benefit of the cameras and travelling support, and Nyron Nosworthy donned a fetching pork pie hat, Keane simply stood to one side, arms folded, chewing gum.

He watched the scenes for several minutes and then headed to the tunnel, with a flicker of a smile, even a wave and a short round of applause.

His players and the fans will celebrate for weeks. Keane has already started to plan for next season.

He said: "I enjoyed it, I have to say. I slept well because I could see no signs of nerves in the players and they were sharp. If we had slipped up here I would not have been very happy but we did our job and if I was a betting man, I would have taken Preston to win.

"Hopefully, we can relax for a day or two, and I might even have a day off now. But this is just the start. We get ready for another challenge now and we will set standards very high. It's not just about survival, we will bring something to the Premiership."

With chairman Niall Quinn set to hand over a £25million transfer kitty, the former Manchester United captain has an impressive list of targets who can make the Premiership sit up and take notice.

But Keane acknowledged this win against a woefully inadequate Luton came largely thanks to players he inherited, with young Grant Leadbitter leading the way from central midfield.

In the fourth minute Anthony Stokes put them ahead with a first-time shot past Dean Brill.

The goal provoked celebrations among the away supporters, and hundreds who had infiltrated the home stands also burst into song, to the displeasure of Luton fans.

Their mood was not helped by a second Sunderland goal within two minutes. Whitehead's long pass caused confusion among the Luton defenders and Carlos Edwards crossed for Daryl Murphy to score.

Murphy took his season's tally to 13 seconds into the second half, capitalising on wretched defending from Kevin Blackwell's young team to screw the ball past a furious Brill.

The goakeeper was then beaten by shots from substitutes Ross Wallace and David Connolly as Sunderland made the most of the party.

Leadbitter, who went close four times as he tried to cap his outstanding contribution with a goal, was close to tears by the time Luton let in more than a thousand ticketless Sunderland fans to join the celebrations after the final whistle.