Keane will send his players into a must-win Barclays Premier League clash with Wigan tomorrow with just two points separating them from the drop zone following last weekend's 3-0 defeat at Liverpool.

However, a man who relished a battle during his playing days is in no danger of allowing the tension of the situation to get to him.

Keane said: "I am quite relaxed about it, I have to say. I am okay with it.

"It might be different with two or three games to go, but at this moment in time, I am fairly focused.

"There is that much going on, you don't get time to get too worried about it.

"I keep looking at the group of players and still feel we have got enough to reflect on a good season."

Keane has had to learn his job at the coal face along with his players, many of whom had little or no Premier League experience before the start of the campaign.

However, he is confident the lessons they are all learning will stand them in good stead for the future.

He said: "You could not buy the experience we are having at the moment, whether it be the good, the bad, decisions going against us - these are all experiences that will make this football club and hopefully make me a top manager.

"You cannot buy this, you don't learn this on courses. It is being in there, and you have got to learn fast in this game.

"But it is fantastic. The group of players, I wouldn't swap them for anybody, the staff I have got and the supporters.

"We are in a battle, we are in a fight, there's no getting away from that.

"But I could have been on a beach, I could have stuck to my retirement, I could have taken it easy, but I wouldn't swap where I am now for anywhere else, I tell you.

"It's great."

That said, three points against Wigan tomorrow will provide manager and team alike with a major boost, especially with the Wearsiders having already lost twice to the side now managed by Keane's former United team-mate Steve Bruce this season.

The Irishman is once again hampered by injuries - Liam Miller's calf problem has put further pressure on his limited midfield resources.

However, Keane is perhaps most concerned with striker Kenwyne Jones, who did not return to the north-east until today after playing in Trinidad and Tobago's friendly clash with Guadeloupe.

The manager said: "Kenwyne wanted to go and I wouldn't want to stop anyone from playing for their country.

"He played the full 90 minutes and I don't think that will be a problem - but I don't care who you are, the travelling can catch up with you.

"But Kenwyne knows the score, we have a very important game this weekend and he knows he better perform for us. He's very much aware of that."

Travelling is something which has been very much on the agenda over the last 24 hours amid revelations that Premier League chiefs are to consider proposals to play a round of games abroad.

It is an initiative Keane for one welcomes, and he believes the club's fans, far from resenting the idea, would embrace it.

He said: "I know our fans and I know they would probably find a way of travelling in numbers, even if it is on the moon - particularly if it is against Newcastle."