BOOK REVIEW

Keane: The Autobiography – Roy Keane

Mesmerizing look through the eyes of one of the most passionate men in football

        I had to be selective in deciding which football books to include amongst my reviews, as many I’ve read have consisted simply of banal post-career musings, guilty of the intellectual lethargy that is so often the caricature of professional footballers. Vieira’s didn’t have bite, Fowler’s was up-and-down, Gerrard’s was polite, and Owen’s was nothing more than a bore. Knowing that all of these books are ghost-written, I came to find that so many lacked the substance and real honesty that I was hoping for as they chronicled their subjects’ amazing careers.

          Keane’s book though, is different. Having first read this as a fourteen-year-old football fanatic – I’ve read it many times since – this was right up my alley. Keane tells of his extraordinary rise from the small city of Cork in Ireland to captaining and winning the treble with Manchester United, arguably the biggest club in the world. The man’s pure passion for winning got my very blood racing and his commitment to the team’s cause shines through in every single paragraph. Reading his perspectives on past teammates like Eric Cantona and Beckham, as well as his side of the story of his infamous departure from the Republic of Ireland’s World Cup camp in 2002 is fabulously engrossing and you cannot help to admire the man for standing by what he believes in and refusing to accept anything but the highest standard.

          It’s an attitude Keane still possesses: when asked about a quote from his previous manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, who said Keane was an inspiration to his teammates, covering every blade of grass during matches, Keane responded, “That kind of stuff almost insults me. What am I supposed to do, not give my best? That’s like praising the postman for delivering letters.” Retired he may now be, but Roy Keane still remains an absolute icon.​ 

-NP, August 2012