The Second Half by Roy Keane (with Roddy Doyle) (Wiedenfeld & Nicolson 2014)

We brought in some players in January. Carlos Edwards, from Luton; Anthony Stokes, from Arsenal; and Jonny Evans – we got Jonny on loan from Manchester United. They were all good signings, brilliant, and just what we needed. One of the reasons they worked, I think, is because I knew a bit about them, beyond the stats – something about their personalities.

Carlos had played against us when we beat Luton earlier in the season, and I’d seen what a good player he was. He gave us a right-sided midfielder. He had pace, and he could get us up the pitch; we could counter-attack away from home.

Jonny was a centre-half. He had the qualities of a Manchester United player, and he was bringing them to Sunderland. For such a young man – he was nineteen – he was very mature, and a born leader. Jonny was unbelievable for us. He lived with his mam and dad in Sale, near my home, so I picked him up there and brought him up to see the set-up at Sunderland. I knew I was on a winner; I knew him, and I knew what he was about. I remembered an incident when I was still at United; there’d been a fight in the canteen and Jonny had looked after himself well – I think he knocked the other lad out. I knew Jonny was tough.

Stokesy got us vital goals towards the end of the season. He was a good signing for us, because there’d been a lot of competition for him. Celtic and Charlton, who were still in the Premiership then, were after him. So signing Stokesy sent out another message: we could compete with other clubs. I spoke to Stokesy’s dad and, for some reason, he thought I’d be able to keep his son on the straight and narrow – because Stokesy was a bit of a boy.

Slater or Larrson?

A canny bit of last minute business from Mowbray on transfer deadline day , I guess. If only because it takes the heat off him and his transfer policy for a few weeks or so. (February 28th, to be exact.)

Only thing is; hasn't Keane been here before?

And hasn't Celtic been here before, as well?

I guess I'm being unfair to Keano Mark 1, as Celtic did win a league and league cup double the year he was at Celtic Park, and I'm definitely a lot fairer to him than Keane Mark 2 was at yesterday's press conference when - mentioning no names - he stated: ""I am here until the end of the season, that is as far as I have thought about it. I didn't want to come here aged 35, at the end of my career and struggling. I am here at the peak of my career . . . "

I guess for some people Japan/South Korea 2002 was only yesterday.

Meano Keano has a Beano

Like the rest of us, he can't remember the last time Ipswich won two games in a row, but some things Roy Keane never forgets.

In Roy's mansion, FAI stands for 'Feckin' Arrogant Ingrates'.

Plugging the gap at the back

Found out about the Sheffield Utd YouTube clip via the Observer Sports Monthly, which is celebrating its 100th issue today.

Totally understandable that the magazine is in a self-congratulatory mood in its current issue but it doesn't get away from the fact that I never felt the urge to read any of its issues from cover to cover. It will always remain a magazine that I can dip in and out of, and the current issue is no exception

One of better pieces in this issue is Matt Tench looking back at the magazine's early beginnings, but the real cream is the link to a couple of old features from the OSM's vaults:

Tony Cascarino laid bare is a funny and candid excerpt from Cascarino's 2000 autobiography, 'The Secret Life of Tony Cascarino'. I think it's the most close to the bone writings I've seen from a footballer since I read Eammon Dunphy's 'Only A Game?' about ten years back. I guess it's the rawness of the book that got the book its plaudits but I its the humour that I liked:

"Bernie Slaven, another great character from my Ireland years, used to call his dog every night. I'd be sitting in the bed alongside and Bernie would be howling like Lassie into the phone 'Woof, woof, aru, aru, woof!' He'd be kissing the receiver and lavishing affection - 'Hello, lovey dovey' - on a dog! The first time it happened, I nearly wet myself and told him he was completely mad. Bernie, being Bernie, just laughed."

Despite the pigs ear that he made of his career at Celtic, I always had a soft spot for Cascarino after he described Glenn Hoddle - in the same book - as the unfunniest person he's ever met in his life.

Roy Keane and that picture piece by Sean O'Hagan deserves kudos if for no other reason that Keane disparages Teddy Sheringham without a second glance back. And, no, the Sean O'Hagan who wrote the piece is not the same Sean O'Hagan who used to be the guitarist and songwriter in Microdisney. I was labouring under that illusion for years. Don't attribute it to my ignorance, and see it more as an understandable mistake to on my part in light of the high intelligence of Microdisney. Why shouldn't its band members write articles? I wish I felt the same way about old commotioning bluebell, Lawrence Donegan, but his articles in the Sports pages of the Guardian invariably annoy the hell out of me.

PS - In the same segment, there's also an old article from Nick Hornby where he interviews and profiles Tony Adams. I would provide the link if I thought for a second that Tony Adams was in anyway an interesting character. His one redeeming feature is that he isn't John Terry.

Even Andy Johnson Scored

Following on from this post on the blog a few days back, Roy Keane hopes that Michael Ballack doesn't explain to John Terry and Frank Lampard that schadenfreude is not the name of German beer, whilst Craig Gordon has a lie down and thinks back to the glory days of Tynecastle.