‘Applaud Keane for writing an honest book at a time when so many other offerings amount to little more than bland con-tricks that tell you nothing’ Mirror.

The quote above says it all. Even though this book was written four years ago with an exclusive new chapter, the standards Roy Keane talks about in the book continue to hold him in good stead to this very day.

Yes he is now obviously a Sunderland legend after the wonders he has worked on Wearside in such a short space of time. I would be telling the truth if I said I only read this book because Roy Keane is the manager of my football team and the man’s done wonders for it, therefore I naturally and expectedly love the guy.

However it is always one of those books that you’d just have to read somewhere down the line, regardless of your football allegiance you’ve always wanted to know exactly what goes on in the mind of Roy Keane. This book is the perfect answer to this query as Keane is brutally honest in retelling his life. On no occasion is an unsavoury incident side-stepped, or ignored as Keane documents his life in a clear and open form, refusing to fall into the ‘bullshitting’ business he constantly refers to throughout.

Roy Maurice Keane was born on the 10 th August 1971 in Mayfield, a northern suburb of Cork city, in southern Ireland. From that day forward the close bond he shares with his family has never loosened and even in the height of fame and with every reason to forget your roots and become a ‘big-shot’ Keane has refrained and maintained his history and with it, his family.

Keane’s love for sport naturally took him to the world of football but unsurprisingly enough the world of boxing too. It doesn’t shock me to think Keane was a little fighter in his day but when the choice came between kicking the shit out of people for a living and playing football, Keane chose football but as you know, kept his hard side in tact for many a battle over the years.

As usual with every great player, there is someone along the line who doubted his ability and threatened to prevent one of football’s greatest players from performing on the world stage. Roy was branded too small and despite his obvious ability and work rate people thought his height was too much of a problem.

But Keane’s determination to play professional football made him send letters to every football league club in England asking for a trial. He had a few but it was Nottingham Forest and Brian Clough that ultimately gave Roy his breakthrough in football, and how he didn’t disappoint.

The rest they say is history with a move to Manchester United becoming the highlight of his career. Also may I point out he fucked off Newcastle to be manager Kenny Dog-leash to join United over Blackburn, Dog-leash threatened to sue but as usual was filled with more bullshit than a Geordie press conference. It was 1993 and he was showing signs of becoming a Mackem legend.

Years and years of success at Manchester United seemed to make things harder for Keane and his drive for success. After the treble winning season he accused many players of living on the success and happily settling for a place in the history book, instead of pushing on and thriving to do better for the club and themselves.

This made Keane increasingly unhappy and frustrated as he felt United could not make the step up to becoming the world’s best unless they continued to stay focused and showed a willingness to improve. This didn’t seem the case and played heavily on Keane’s mind, which is an indication into how much of a true winner he is, not prepared to reap in the rewards for a job that is only half done.

He viewed the Irish international set-up as farcical and felt the short-cuts made in pre-match preparation made them a laughing stock in the world of football and ripped off the loyal Irish fans that paid good money to watch their country play.

Overall the book is an honest account taken from an honest player’s life. He made no secrets about the mistakes he has made and refrains from being hypocritical about other players, as he constantly reminded himself he too was like that.

Anyways it’s an interesting and eye opening account into the ‘real’ world of professional football and fills me with even more optimism for the future, knowing that my football club is managed by the one man I believe to be genuine. Cheers for what you’ve done Roy and thanks for the book.

James Henderson

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