Roy Keane saves the baring of his soul for the pages of his autobiographies.
The former Manchester United and Republic of Ireland captain has been incredibly honest in his two books to date, not sparing himself when it came to his anger, his rows with colleagues, his anger, his drinking and his anger.
“The self-destruct button is definitely there. And I suffer for it. With my drinking, I used to go missing for a few days,” he wrote in 2014’s ‘The Second Half’.
“I think it was my way of switching off, never mind the consequences. It was my time. It was self-destructive, I can see that, but I’m still drawn to it. Not the drink – but the madness, the irresponsibility.”
Martin O’Neill’s assistant is, in many respects, an open book. However, in his role with the international team now he is often more reluctant to talk about himself.
Sure he will toss a few grenades at press conferences and stand back to watch the flames – so journalists can be burned, as can players, even translators.
But Keano rarely chats anymore about himself or his own career, or possible past indiscretions. So, it was a surprise to see him offering a tiny insight into his early career at Tuesday’s Airtricity League launch.
It turns out teetotaller Keane was fond of a few post-match pints during his Cobh Ramblers days…
Roy Keane doing a Q&A hopes the players prepare better than they did when he played for Cobh "we used to go for 4 r 5 pints after a game"
— Dave Hooper (@davehooperSSNS) February 14, 2017
Roy Keane now on stage. Says he hopes the players don't drink pints after matches anymore (unlike his day) pic.twitter.com/8j1mZg3KZU
— Eric White (@ericwhite80) February 14, 2017
Any League of Ireland players hoping to follow in the footsteps of former Dundalk duo Andy Boyle and Daryl Horgan and get called up to the international squad will need to be avoiding that kind of craic.
Can’t be behaving like Jason Lee and expect to be selected for the international team.
