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BookZone: Keane
BookZone: Keane
Wednesday, 7th Apr 2010 12:43

In a week that he got the better of the Rams, we continue our reviews of round ball reads with Roy Keanes autobigraphy.

 

 

KEANE

By Roy Keane with Eamon Dunphy

Published by Penguin Books

ISBN 0-141-00981-0


Sometimes you can read a book by or about someone you haven’t thought you liked and you can be completely wrong about them and realise they are a better person than you originally thought. Tony Adams is a good example with his book ‘Addicted’.

Unfortunately I cannot say the same about Roy Keane after reading his autobiography. He has always presented to me as egocentric, aggressive, unforgiving and mean spirited, and his book gives me no reason to change my mind.


His ‘good’ points are that he is totally committed, dedicated to his football and completely devoted to the club he plays for.

If you enjoy your books littered with profanities you might like this book as they are liberally scattered on every page, often without real cause or meaning, just there to emphasise a point. The usage of English is poor and the sentence construction appalling.

To be fair, Roy Keane is not looking for admirers or for sympathy, he is just retelling the events of his life exactly as he sees them and he makes little in the way of apologies for anything he has said or done.

Some of his sending offs for crude tackles are dismissed as mere hazards, all of his disagreements with people are the fault of others and he is the only committed player on the pitch he seems to say.

He is scathing in his criticism of Peter Schmeichel, envious of the camaraderie among the Neville brothers, Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs and David Beckham and often glosses over some memorable moments in Manchester United’s games because the spotlight fell on others.

For example, he makes little reference to the Beckham ‘wonder goal’ against Wimbledon which thrust the England captain onto the national stage, and is only slightly more praising of Ryan Gigg’s solo effort v Arsenal in the FA Cup.

He makes it very clear that he preferred to be part of a team with a hard drinking culture and enjoyed his days with the likes of Steve Bruce and Bryan Robson more than those with the more health conscious younger players of today.

Alex Ferguson is praised throughout the book for his hunger to win, his ruthlessness and his refusal to tolerate indiscipline or compromise. These may be good qualities, but because they are lauded by someone as intransigent as Keane it makes them seem less worthy of applause.

He certainly worked hard at his football from an early age and was committed to achieving greatness at the expense of his education – which is perhaps not a good message to send out to youngsters, very few of whom will make it in the hard world of football.

Brian Clough is seen as someone worthy of praise, although there are a few digs at his idiosyncrasies.

In the edition of his book which I read, the chapter about his career-ending vicious tackle on Alf Inge Haaland has been changed and is nothing like controversial after the reprimand and punishment he received for his comments in the first edition.

His account of the World Cup fiasco where he returned home ‘in disgrace’ after a war of words with Mick McCarthy doesn’t really reflect that much credit on the author. Yet again he was unyielding, uncompromising and refusing to see anyone’s point of view except his own.

To read of him claiming he was really speaking up for the Irish fans is somewhat unbelievable – Keane speaks for Keane.

Nowhere in the book does he show remorse for his more questionable antics, except for occasions when drink made him worse for wear and he was involved in some escapade that hit the headlines. Even then you feel he is merely trying to show himself in a good light.

His whole attitude is ‘that’s me, take me or leave me’ without a thought for how he could strive to harness his faults and actually be of more benefit to his team.

I was surprised to read extracts on the cover from some of the reviews: “the most frank and explicit book ever written in Britain by a player still in the game” – Sunday Times, “The work by which all future football biographies will be judged” – The Independent with others describing it variously as ‘absorbing’, ‘a compelling read’, and ‘powerful’.

I found it to be none of those things. In my opinion it was honest – yes, brutal – yes but lacking in any absorption or genuine feeling.

Roy Keane remains to me exactly as he was before I read this book – a dedicated, brutal, committed and red-misted footballer who would probably walk into anybody’s dream team but who would be bottom of anyone’s list to invite to any respectable gathering.

 

Next Week:

Derby County: Journey Through A Season
Ian Hall

 

 If you have read a great or even not so great football related book (any team, player or subject!) and would like to recommend or warn RamZone readers then we would love you to submit a review.

You can do so by following this link.

 

 

 

Photo: Action Images



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