The Second Half

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

By: Roy Keane, Roddy Doyle

Narrated by: Roy Keane, Stephen Hogan

'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

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)

Heartbreaking

This is a good book, keano is obviously a person who attracted the press by the very nature of his personality. Someone who demands a lot from himself, far more than the average person. At the end of the book, we build a picture of a man who will perhaps never arrive at personel inward peace. He is a legend, a guy who I truly believe to be one of the greatest engine room players the game has ever seen, in the mould of Beckenbauer, Pele, Cruyff, those kinds of personalities. .... A good read,

Magnificent reflections on a great career

This book is one of the deepest and most sincere auto-bios I've ever read/listened to and I have come across some truly great ones. The second half is up there with the best. It's a book full of sincere reflections, self-critiques, regrets, lessons and happy memories. You really feel that Roy has opened himself up for this one. It wasn't something he did just because he wanted to put out a book...he had something to say and wanted to get it out into the world.

I usually don't enjoy football books (though I'm a huge football fan) because they are full of recollections of how games went, with not too much substance in them. But Roy's book is something else. Just listen to the intro and you'll realize that this auto-bio is truly magnificent.

Cannot rate it high enough! Great book, great performance of the reader and great feeling listening to it!

Excellent!

If you grew up watching Keano play, this book brings back good memories og his direct style and approach to the game!! Loved hearing in Keano’s own words how his exit from United unfolded.

Great player and individual!

YES!

I am a physician in the US and needed this book. similar enough issues. May repeat some of his words next time my perspective is requested or demanded.

Great book

Great book about 1 of the prems all time greats ,I enjoyed it. going to buy the hard copy