‘In 1988, my football autobiography Tall, Dark and Hansen
was published. I might not have had the profile that David
Beckham enjoys now but at the time I was Liverpool's Double-
winning captain and some people might have expected a spicy,
interesting read on life behind the scenes at the most
successful club in the country. They were disappointed.
‘The book was rubbish. I think it sold about 600 copies and
half of those were bought by my proud mother. But the
quality of the book had nothing to do with the ghostwriter
or the publisher, it was my fault. I never wanted to say a
bad word about the club I had played at for 11 years.
‘As the first extracts from Beckham's autobiography are
released I hope that he does not go on to burn any bridges
with the club at which he spent such a fabulous decade. No
matter what his time at Real Madrid is like, Beckham will
look back at the time at Manchester United as the most
successful, and probably the happiest, of his life. He
should never jeopardise that.
‘Roy Keane had some strong things to say about his team-
mates in his autobiography last year as well as in the
interviews around its release. He seemed to get away with
the criticism of United because that is simply the kind of
character Keane is - you could imagine him telling other
players face-to-face that they had become too obsessed with,
in his words, the culture of "mansions, Rolexes and fast
cars".
‘And although Keane made his criticisms in public he did not
name names. He told us that one player was shaking as the
team lined up to face Bayer Leverkusen in the second leg of
the Champions League semi-final of 2002 but he did not tell
us who. In that respect he saved the sanctity of the
dressing room and that what goes on there happens in
private.’