The Second Half

The Must-Read Autobiography from the Legendary Footballer and Co-host of The Overlap

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The Second Half

By: Roy Keane, Roddy Doyle

Narrated by: Roy Keane, Stephen Hogan

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About this listen

'ENDLESSLY ABSORBING' Mail on Sunday
'MASTERPIECE' The Times
'RUTHLESS' Daily Telegraph
'INCOMPARABLE' Sunday Mirror
'SEARINGLY HONEST' The Sun

The No.1 bestselling memoir of Roy Keane, former captain of Manchester United and Ireland

In a stunning collaboration with Booker Prize-winning author Roddy Doyle, Roy Keane gives a brutally honest account of his days as a player, the highs and lows of his managerial career and his life as an outspoken ITV pundit.

As part of a tiny elite of football players, Roy Keane has had a life like no other. His status as one of football's greatest stars is undisputed, but what of the challenges beyond the pitch? How did he succeed in coming to terms with life as a former Manchester United and Ireland leader and champion, reinventing himself as a manager and then a broadcaster, and cope with the psychological struggles this entailed?

THE SECOND HALF blends anecdote and reflection in Roy Keane's inimitable voice. The result is an unforgettable personal odyssey which fearlessly challenges the meaning of success.©2014 Roy Keane

Football (American)

Football (Soccer)

Sports

Celebrity

Inspiring

Thought-Provoking

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Critic reviews

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 (Patrick Collins)

There is much in Roy Keane's new book that is thoughtful and self-mocking, insightful and funny (George Caulkin)

Keane's book - ghosted by Roddy Doyle - is brutal, amusing and self-deprecating, often at the same time (Des Kelly)

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 (Anthony Cummins)

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 (Matthew Norman)

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 (Dan Jones)

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 (Mike Atherton)

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 (Aidan Smith)

Most relevant

Having been a fan of Roy Keane as a player I wanted to find out what makes him tick. I found out in this book about his life after Manchester United, his spells at Sunderland, Ipswich and Celtic. A real honest tell all book, I really enjoyed it.