MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
Plc chairman Sir Roy Gardner confirmed in yesterday’s Independent that Roy Keane, Haaland, book et al is on the plc’s board agenda later this month.This is hardly a startling revelation but there was not much news around yesterday and the Roy Keane story is starting to peter out so had to find something.
‘"We will debate the issue but beyond that I will not be quoted on Mr Keane other than to say he is a very talented footballer," said Sir Roy, who had trials with Queen's Park Rangers as a schoolboy.
Sir Roy, who is also chief executive of Centrica, said it was not unusual for the board to discuss individual players. However, the Keane affair threatens to have more repercussions for the quoted parent company than usual.’
KEANE BOOK INTO ORBIT
Telegraph Diary reports that whatever fine the Football Association may decide to hand Roy Keane, it is unlikely to make much of an indent into the profits from his book
‘It is breaking all records in Ireland with booksellers unable to keep up with the demand. In the first week an estimated 100,000 copies were sold, not just in book shops but grocery stores and other unusual outlets.
In one Dublin bookshop a customer wanted 500 copies but there were not sufficient supplies in stock.
"People who have never read a book in their lives are buying it," said a spokesman and spin doctor supreme for Penguin Ireland. "There is no such thing as bad publicity," he added when asked about Keane's sending-off and two disrepute charges over the past nine days.
RAVE REVIEW OF KEANE’S BOOK IN INDIE
'the book by which all future football autobiographies will be judged'
AGENT IN DESPERATE DEFENCE
After cocking up his advice to Keane so far Michael Kennedy seems anxious to make up for his past errors of judgement and has invoked the Human Rights Act but the FA insist they aren’t bothered.
"This issue concerns the Human Rights Act and the belief in freedom of speech. We don't see how Roy has brought the game into disrepute.
"The FA has given us 14 days to respond and we shall consult with Manchester United before putting forward a firm defence."
A senior FA member responded: "All players are constrained on certain matters by the contract they sign with their club. The rules and regulations are clearly laid down and if anyone challenged them in a court of law, we would be on the road to anarchy."
FRANK SKINNER - TIMES
The poor man’s Michael Aspel tries imitate Danny Baker, Frank Skinner in the Times.
I've been a bit reluctant to join in with the recent press attacks on Roy Keane. There seems, to me, to be some sort of raw honesty informing his behaviour. One might even say "In Keano veritas".
Take the Jason McAteer incident, for example. McAteer is - once again turning to TV advertising for my information - a very tolerant man. Though the world may be full of all sorts of cruelty and injustice, there is, we are told, but "one thing that Jason won't tolerate, and that's dandruff".
Despite this assurance, there was clear evidence, last weekend, of at least one other thing that Jason won't tolerate - and that's being elbowed really hard in the earhole. Keane's attitude to Head and Shoulders, it seems, is specifically concerned with separating one from the other.
Anyway, my point is that we all knew why Keane did it. How could we not know? The post-World Cup, post-book feud between these two men was very public. It was an elbow waiting to happen. Violence, of course, is always horrible but it's hardly a rarity on the football pitch. Keane's brand of physicality causes such uproar not because of its severity but because of the almost theatrical clarity of its context. People know that players carry out acts of physical revenge, but they still like a bit of doubt to hide behind.
Likewise, everyone knew what the Alf Inge Haaland tackle was about, but they didn't like having their noses rubbed in it. People seem more affronted by Keane spelling it out than they are by the actual tackle. The general view seems to be "we know these things go on, but he should never have said so".
Personally, I like honesty in an autobiography. If, rather than financial gain or macho cred, neither of which he's short on, Keane's motivation for the Haaland confession was, regardless of fine and suspension, some blind obsession with telling the truth, you have to respect him. This doesn't mean you have to respect everything he's honest about. I enjoyed his attacks on prawn-sandwich eaters and spoilt footballers more than I enjoyed his attacks on McAteer and Haaland.’