I have to admit that when my beloved Ipswich Town FC appointed Roy Keane as manger a couple of months ago I was a little sceptical. Most of what I knew about Roy came from the press and news coverage, most of it negative, which seemed to follow him around. Determined to give the latest bastion ... Read review
A publishing phenomenon in hardback Roy Keane's autobiography was the biggest selling ... more
sports book of the year. The book will include a new chapter covering events that followed the books publication: Keane's vindication by the FAI report; the punishme...
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The most talked about, written about and argued over sports autobiography of 2002, Keane: ... more
the Autobiography does not disappoint. This story of Manchester United and Ireland captain Roy Keane's brilliant and controversial career, written in collaboration with Irish journalist and former professional footballer Eamon Dunphy, crackles with score-settling vigour. It presents a revisionist view of a life in football that has had tabloid editors rubbing their hands with glee almost from the moment the fiery, confrontational midfielder made his British debut for Nottingham Forest under arch eccentric Brian Clough right through to his sensational bust-up with international boss Mick McCarthy and subsequent departure from the 2002 Irish World Cup squad on the eve of the finals. Amid all the wrangling and point-scoring Dunphy and Keane have written a rags-to-riches review of Keane's journey from a poor, battling background in Cork to the £50k a week highlife at Old Trafford. It's very entertaining, although an independent biographer would doubtless have put a less heroic spin on proceedings. The two key headline-grabbing stories--the war with McCarthy and the allegedly deliberate injuring of Alfie Haaland--read somewhat differently in the book from the way they did in the papers. Make no mistake about it, Keane is frank about his own failings, franker about the failings of others and prepared to spill the beans to some extent about being the odd-man-out in the Old Trafford glam-fest. But this is very much his side of the story. --Alex Hankin
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April 6 1996, and Eric Cantona has just scored a sixth-minute penalty against arch rivals ... more
Manchester City at Maine Road. Roy Keane rushes to congratulate him.It was a defining moment in an extraordinary season for Utd. Having lost Paul Ince, Andrei Kanchelskis and Mark Hughes in the summer, Sir Alex Ferguson's side were thrashed 3-1 by Aston Villa on the opening day of the season as he put his faith in the talented but unproven youth of David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Gary and Phil Neville."You'll never win anything with kids," said Match of the Day analyst Alan Hansen and when United trailed Kevin Keegan's Newcastle by 12 points in January few would have disagreed with him.Then the fightback began. Inspired by Cantona, United slowly gained ground on Newcastle, going in to April neck and neck at the top of the table. A trip to struggling City was next and when Le King slotted home this penalty to set up victory it seemed inevitable the title would be on its way to Old Trafford again. The Red Devils went on to complete a famous double and to cap a perfect season for the fans, Man City were relegated.Cantona always loved the Manchester derby and indeed only the great Sir Bobby Charlton, with nine, scored more than Cantona's eight goals in the fixture.The photograph is 16" x 12" in size and was personally signed by Cantona at an exclusive signing session organised and carried out by Icons with Cantona in Paris on February 26, 2009.The photograph is one of a limited number that were signed by Cantona and comes with an official certificate of authenticity featuring an image of Cantona signing the photograph.For information on our UK, US and international delivery terms go to Why buy from Icons - Delivery
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Advantages: Nice insight into the controversial aspects to Roy's playing career Disadvantages: Doesn't cover his time at Celtic, or any of his managerial work
...Ipswich Town FC appointed Roy Keane as manger a couple of months ago I was a little sceptical. Most of what I knew about Roy came from the press and news coverage, most of it negative, which seemed to follow him around. Determined to give the latest bastion of the Ipswich hot seat a fair crack of the whip I set about finding out a little more about the man behind the hype and headlines. My Brother recommended his autobiography which he’d penned in ... .../>
Roy Maurice Keane was born in Cork, Ireland in the summer of 1971, the fourth of five children. He was a mediocre performer at school, preferring to be out kicking a ball around than in a class studying. A smattering of junior Irish clubs came calling, most notably Rockmount. He actually came late into the professional game, having seemingly missed his chance he was noticed by a Nottingham Forrest Scout while playing for Cobh Ramblers ... more
I have to admit that when my beloved Ipswich Town FC appointed Roy Keane as manger a couple of months ago I was a little sceptical. Most of what I knew about Roy came from the press and news coverage, most of it negative, which seemed to follow him around. Determined to give the latest bastion of the Ipswich hot seat a fair crack of the whip I set about finding out a little more about the man behind the hype and headlines. My Brother recommended his autobiography which he’d penned in 2002 with the help of journalist Eamon Dunphy, so I gave it a read.
Roy Maurice Keane was born in Cork, Ireland in the summer of 1971, the fourth of five children. He was a mediocre performer at school, preferring to be out kicking a ball around than in a class studying. A smattering of junior Irish clubs came calling, most notably Rockmount. He actually came late into the professional game, having seemingly missed his chance he was noticed by a Nottingham Forrest Scout while playing for Cobh Ramblers in the Irish league. A couple of seasons with Nottingham Forrest ended with them relegated and Roy moving to Manchester United for the then record fee of £3.75 million. Manchester is where Roy made his name as an uncompromising player, giving no quarter and helping the team pick up virtually every trophy available. The drinking culture, prevalent in many teams in the eighties and nineties is also touched upon with honesty, Roy freely admitting that he did more than his share of socialising in his early Manchester days.
That Alf-Inge Håland incident
A couple of incidents stand out above all others in the playing career of Roy Keane, the 2002 World Cup walkout and the Alf-Inge Håland tackle, both are talked about frankly in this book. During the 1997-98 season Keane attempted to tackle Alf-Inge Håland when the latter played for Leeds United. The tackle was mistimed resulting in Keane rupturing the cruciate ligaments in his knee. As he writhed in agony in the Leeds penalty area Alf-Inge Håland accused him of play acting and faking the injury. And so the cast was set for a dramatic act of retaliation when Keane came face to face with Håland in the 2001 Manchester derby which would have recriminations far beyond the incident, not least when his take on the incident was written for this book.
2002 World Cup
Keane was becoming increasingly annoyed at the attitude of the management and officials around the Irish team. The general consensus seemed to be that Ireland had done well just by qualifying for the finals so they should just go along for the ride and the experience. This irked Keane, who believed that the whole setup was amateur and slipshod. This all culminated in a public row with Ireland boss Mick McCarthy over the state of the training pitch and run up preparations. Keane famously informed McCarthy that “..... I didn’t rate you as a player, I don’t rate you as a manager, and I don’t rate you as a person.” Exit Roy Keane with what seems like the world press on his trail.
Anyone who knows Roy Keane will be familiar with his disciplinary problems in the game, he has been sent off thirteen times, a record in the English game. This record of indiscretion does, at first glance, look like the mainstay of Roy’s game was to be a thug and cause damage to other players. Closer examination reveals that these indiscretions were borne not for a thuggish disregard for other players or the rules, but more the culmination of Roy’s frustration at his or the team’s poor performance.
The book is neatly displayed in chapters of thirty or so pages each, with a smattering of colour photographs to further break up the 290 pages of narrative. There is also an interesting interview Roy gave to Tom Humphries just two days before the infamous World Cup walkout. All in all this is a cracking read and really opened my eyes to Roy Keane the player, and Roy Keane the man. Far from coming across as a thug who couldn’t control his temper he is shown to be a man that cares deeply about the game and the teams he played for. And lest we forget, he is a devout family man who loves his wife, kids and dogs, and when all is said and done what’s not to admire in that. Despite the book being seven years old now and not covering his playing time at Celtic or any of his managerial jobs this is still a cracking read, which gets five stars out of five from me.
As like all my other reviews I like to say something before I begin. RoyKeane has just come back to the Irish national side after two years in exile thanks to Mick McCarthy in my opinion a man who couldn’t organise piss up in a brewery. The new Irish manager Brian Kerr well done to you.
Roy was and still is criticised by a few idiots who say thinks like "You traitor" "You walked out on us" Just for the record Roy was sent home by Mick McCarthy for airing his views on him.
I have read this book five times in two years and I have to say I love it.
The book begins giving us all the information on the Keane family and how in the 1970's an 80's people frowned upon the foreign games in Ireland such as his and my beloved football. Just reading this book you can feel how personal it is he describes in debt his family and how ...
Advantages: Seperates the facts from the lies, quite cheap Disadvantages: none
I must say that i'm not one for sitting down and reading a book for hours on end, but after the controversy surrounding the comments made by Keane in his latest Autobiography, I decided to read something that would really interest me and see what all the hype was about.
Naturally, I enjoyed what I read, so here's an insight into Keane's life as a footballer and the rollercoaster rides he went through along the way.
What's In The Book
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Highlighted at the very start of the book, Keane gives us a look behind the scenes of all that went on in the run up to Ireland's World Cup 2002 fiasco, in which Keane was sent home.
This gives you a taster for what the book is all about, but it very cleverly stops before answering all the why, what, when, where questions. You will find out the answers to all your ...
Advantages: this is a book about a legends life Disadvantages: some people may not be able to afford it
this is a book wich i would recomend to anyone who like me is a huge fan of roykeane. you find out all intresting facts about him and how he became a legend that he is.
in this book you find that roykeane is a genuine man and he is a people pleaser. you find out about all his pub brawls.
this book cost me £17.99 and i would rate that as a bargain price because of the information you find out about the man,the myth,the legend and how he achieved everything he has and his backround.
this is my favourite book because you see how roy struggled to get him self were he is and how well he did it.
you also see what his disadvantagers he had at a young age and what he did to over come it he sent invatations to all top clubs but all rejected him because he was to.
you get told about his family history and his ansesters were ...
A publishing phenomenon in hardback Roy Keane's autobiography was the biggest selling sports book of the year. The book will include a new chapter covering events that followed the books publication: Keane's vindication by the FAI report; the punishment meted out by the FA and Mick McCarthy's resignation. Brilliantly reviewed Roy Keane's riveting brutally honest autobiography has the potential to be one of the year's biggest paperback bestsellers.
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