Memoir by one of the greatest of modern footballers, and former captain of Manchester United and Ireland, Roy Keane - co-written in a unique collaboration with Man Booker Prize-winner Roddy Doyle.
ROY KEANE was born in Cork in 1971, and is now a television pundit for ITV after an astonishingly successful football career as captain of Manchester United and Ireland. He is currently the assistant manager of the Republic of Ireland and Aston Villa teams.RODDY DOYLE was born in Dublin in 1958 and still lives there today. He is the author of ten acclaimed novels including THE COMMITMENTS, THE SNAPPER, THE VAN and most recently THE GUTS; two collections of short stories; RORY & ITA, a memoir about his parents; and TWO PINTS, a collection of dialogues. He won the Booker Prize in 1993 for PADDY CLARKE HA HA HA, and his 1991 novel THE VAN was a Booker Prize finalist.
Roy Keane's book is a masterpiece: The Second Half gives a
startling account of his colourful career and reveals the hard-man
midfielder's long-hidden good points ... Keane's book,
ghost-written by Roddy Doyle, is an endlessly absorbing piece of
work. It may well be the finest, most incisive deconstruction of
football management that the game has ever produced
*THE MAIL ON SUNDAY*
There is much in Roy Keane's new book that is thoughtful and
self-mocking, insightful and funny
*THE TIMES*
Keane's book - ghosted by Roddy Doyle - is brutal, amusing and
self-deprecating, often at the same time
*EVENING STANDARD*
Roddy Doyle's works, mostly set in a fictional Dublin suburb, often
star quietly frustrated everymen, and it's this book's achievement
to make you see its mighty subject in that light
*DAILY TELEGRAPH*
It is the dearth of integrity that makes Pietersen such a peevish,
trifling character, and the surfeit that makes Keane so
entrancingly epic ... the personification of honest to a fault ...
he is as close as sport can offer to an Old Testament prophet.
Heroically unconcerned with being loved, almost insanely devoted to
telling what he regards as the plain truth, he may not always be
engaging. But ... he stands out as utterly and irreducibly true to
himself
*THE INDEPENDENT*
The best things are the small things: regretting joining Ipswich
when he discovered the training kit was blue; refusing to sign
Robbie Savage because his answerphone message was rubbish; being
appalled that his side had listened to an Abba song before playing
football. The irrational, blistering intolerance is delicious.
Keane famously detested yes-men; he created himself as the ultimate
no-man. And he's still here
*EVENING STANDARD*
A genuine pleasure; it is a masterpiece of the genre and one that
paints, in an entirely unintentional way, an extremely flattering
portrait of the man ... Keane is not afraid to laugh at himself by
telling stories against himself ... His thoughts on his players are
humane, interesting, candid and never less than believable ...
Keane's story is of a man, too, one who has had to look at football
and life anew as a manager, and it is this added perspective that
gives richness and humanity to the tale
*THE TIMES*
When Keane says anything, listening is usually the best option.
He's scarily extreme, dangerously provocative, oxy-acetylene
forthright ... and hugely entertaining ... Self-desctruction,
self-pity, self-laceration - his latest unburdening has all this
and more. His book reveals more flaws and admits to more mistakes
than Sir Alex Ferguson did in his last literary effort - and
Keane's is much funnier
*SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY*
The book is brilliantly constructed, rattling along at breakneck
speed. And it makes a change from the standard sporting
autobiography in being so hard on its principal subject. This is a
book full of self-deprecation ... No self-aggrandisement, rather a
ruthless self-examination
*DAILY TELEGRAPH*
Keane's eminent co-writer, Booker Prize-winning Irish author Roddy
Doyle, does a brilliant job. His gift for comedy and swearing,
together with his wonderfully transparent style, not only captures
his country man's voice but also adds some much-needed light and
shade to the unforgiving business of being Roy Keane. It's not a
sentence I expected to write but the account of Keane's triumphant
first season at Sunderland is particularly uplifting
*FINANCIAL TIMES*
I'm surprised how much Roy Keane's second autobiography made me
laugh ... More importantly the book told me that Keane should be
the next Manchester United manager. The more I read what he had to
say, and his reflections on his two jobs as boss, the more I
realised how perfect he would be at Old Trafford
*MAIL ONLINE*
A book that offers great insight into the modern manager's job ...
The book does not attempt to deflect the mistakes Keane made but it
adds a dimension to the man. Especially in his reflections on small
details of behaviour, and there are scores of them ... Keane must
hope that the decision-makers in football take the trouble to read
the book itself
*i NEWSPAPER*
Very funny ... fantastically entertaining
*SHORTLIST*
The rhythm of it compels attention - it's like someone talking
directly to you in a pub ... It's a thoughtful book, for a
footballer. But while it's taken a novelist to write his life, it
may take a psychoanalyst to understand it
*THE MAIL ON SUNDAY*
Reflective and funny ... Doyle helps to capture Keane's humour and
polish his jokes (the punchline is invariably an expletive).
Despite the involvement of such an esteemed novelist and author of
The Commitments, there is no doubt that the voice is Keane's ... an
enjoyable read ... Keane is full of such sharp observations
*THE TIMES*
Searingly honest
*THE SUN*
The belligerence, dry humour and short fuse still exist but it has
now been accompanied by introspection, harsh self-criticism and no
little humility
*EVENING STANDARD*
I've just got my copy of The Second Half and although I'm only a
couple of chapters into it, it has not disappointed. People have
their own opinions of Roy and some would be fearful of him, given
how outspoken he can be. I have always judged people how I find
them and I can honestly say I have never found a fault in him ...
He had a fabulous career and I know I'm going to enjoy reading
about it
*DAILY MAIL*
A candid and at times moving account of Keane coming to terms with
the end of his playing career. It is at its most engaging when
Keane steps out of character: describing shedding tears upon
leaving Old Trafford and his twilight season at Celtic when his
broken body failed him. Star ghost writer Roddy Doyle captures
Keane's short, sharp and abrupt rhythm, like the cracks of a snare
drum
*SUNDAY EXPRESS*
People miss the fact that Keane is funny. Caustic, yes, clenched,
he'd admit. Angry (though no longer prone to rage, his book claims)
more than most. But funny. The light touch in The Second Half is
not exclusively Doyle's. Yet the heavy stuff compels ... The
account of Keane's Sunderland reign is riveting. The everyday
trials of a first-time manager are uncovered as in no other book
... The Second Half is brutally honest
*THE SUNDAY TIMES*
Defiant and enjoyable
*THE OBSERVER*
If you write a book, you have got to be true to yourself. It's no
good just making something up. You have got to show what is in your
heart, and what is in your head, and that is what Roy has done
*THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY*
The thing I love about this man is there is nothing he writes down
that he would not say to someone's face
*THE PEOPLE*
There is no denying the man is a compelling figure... Keane is a
welcome maverick. Football is entertainment and the Irishman is
infinitely entertaining. His aura makes his every word worth
listening to... Roy Kane is a treasure of the game; love him or
hate him, football would the all the poorer without his loveably,
uniquely scathing presence
*FOOTBALLFANCAST.COM*
True star quality... a brilliant insight into Keane's mindset
*IRISH EXAMINER*
There are plenty of insightful and entertaining anecdotes, wry
asides and sarcastic barbs. It's not unexpected. Keane is a more
rounded individual than the cartoon image that's been created
around him might suggest... Surprisingly, you might find yourself
chuckling as you work your way across a panoramic footballing
landscape
*THE HERALD (Ireland)*
Keane's wry wit enjoys the turbo-boost of Doyle's comic timing,
absurd observations and his mastery of the dark arts of
expletives
*IRISH TIMES*
Two books in one - the tales of a truly great Premier League
footballer, flawed by raging moments of visceral destructiveness...
then the tortuous account of an aspiring, complex 21st-century
manager... addictive road-crash reading... But the book's true
revelatory value is seen during Keane's time as manager of
Sunderland, which he relates with a remarkable candour and honesty.
An incomparable achievement - written with Booker prize-winner
Roddy Doyle - illustrating the contemporary demands on a player and
boss whose life has always been conducted with its own stark,
peculiar, and sometimes violent, logic
*SUNDAY MIRROR*
I won't name names, but most sporting biographies couldn't set an
ashtray on fire, let alone a crowd. The best one I've read of late
is Roy Keane's The Second Half, which is actually written by Roddy
Doyle, of course; and this is why it's good. It's not just Keano
himself that makes the book interesting; it's Doyle's writing
*Philip Kerr, author of IF THE DEAD RISE NOT and JANUARY WIDOW*
Keano rarely fails to entertain and with a ghost outrider such as
Roddy Doyle, we get a snappy, snapping tale,, with Keane putting
the boot into those he considers deserving but also not sparing the
rod on himself... Like the midfield dynamo in his prime, this story
could run and run
*RTE GUIDE*
Engrossing... a book that is both an exercise in truth-telling and
a piece of literary football writing
*NEW STATESMAN*
Brutally honest, self-deprecating and critical of everyone. Whether
you're a fan of Roy or not, you will see a whole new side of him
and his views
*THE SUN*
One of the most compelling sports autobiographies in recent
times
*GQ Magazine*
The former Manchester United and Ireland hard man comes across as
funny, scathing, regretful and, as with so many forcefully
clear-minded people, touchingly contradictory
*THE TIMES*
A thoroughly entertaining rampage
*THE TIMES 'Books of the Year'*
Keane pulls no punches in what he says. I admire him. He's
incredibly passionate and doesn't suffer fools. He deserves credit
for that. I was never on the end of one of his tackles but I always
enjoyed watching him and I like how he speaks his mind. We've lost
a little bit of that personality in the game - the likes of Keane
and his bust-ups
*LOADED*
Booker Prize-winner Roddy Doyle nails Keane's attitude and
cadences... Compelling, eye-opening, and - whisper it - great
fun
*METRO*
To use a sporting cliché, this blisteringly honest book - written
in collaboration with Roddy Doyle - is a tale of two halves. An
account of the driven Premier League star's career, then an insight
into life as a manager. Roy Keane's self-deprecating wit, combined
with a take-no-prisoners approach, make for an entertaining
read
*i newspaper 'The 10 Best Sporting memoirs'*
As an Arsenal fan, I was never a lover of Roy Keane. But I loved
his book, The Second Half, written with Roddy Doyle. Honest, self
critical and... a raising of the bar in the generally dodgy field
of football autobiography
*THE OBSERVER*
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