Red Mist : Roy Keane and the Football Civil War - A Fan's Notes

By Conor O'Callaghan

Book Overview

2002 was the year of Roy Keane, if not exactly Roy Keane's year. Banished from Ireland's World Cup squad and then suspended by the English FA after comments in his best-selling autobiography, the... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0747570140
• ISBN13: 9780747570141
• Release Date: January 2004
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.88 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.9" x 10.0" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

An interestingly enough examination of the Saipan incident of Ireland's 2002 World Cup quest.

This book examines the dispute between Roy Keane and Coach Mick McCarthy in the preparations for Ireland's national soccer team in the 2002 World Cup. In it, the Ireland national soccer team sets up camp prior to the tournament on the pacific island of Saipan but they lacked some necessary supplies like soccer balls! The story is told through the eyes of an Ireland fan, the author living back in the Emerald island watching all of the events taking place through news stories and even visits to pubs to watch the team play their games. His family and namely son partakes in the story too. In summarizing, we do get an in depth view of this whole controversial episode of which we ourselves might base an opinion on whom was right and whom was wrong as if the pros and cons are laid out and outlined for us, the basic conundrum being that Ireland's midfieldsman, Roy Keane, a world class player at that time, did not join the team for the tournament in Japan/Korea because of disagreement on how the team was being run. As opposed to the popular book, Fever Pitch which is well known and of which many subsequent soccer books have probably used as a blue print in how to narrate a story (though it was not the first to do it that way), this author is definitely writing with an Irish slant to his English language, maybe better said, he writes and talks like an Irishman so it is not always as perfectly understandable as straight ahead English but that is really not a problem and probably a part of the charm of this book. It could easily be given the full 5 star rating but I don't think that properly reflects that while it is a very good book, it might not be among the very best soccer books out there. Thus, I give it only 4 stars. It is a must for any fan of the boys in green.

Fail to Prepare - Prepare to Fail

In 2002, soccer's World Cup Finals were played in Japan and South Korea. Following a two-year qualifying campaign, thirty-two countries were involved. While countries such as Brazil and France were among the pre-tournament favorites, the Republic of Ireland had qualified for only the third time in their history. Ireland's team captain leading up to the finals was Roy Keane, considered by many to be the country's greatest ever player. While soccer is a team sport, Ireland simply wouldn't have been capable of qualifying for the Finals without him. Keane, like all the other members of Ireland's squad, has spent the bulk of his playing career in England - where he has won the Premiership and the F.A. Cup (English soccer's top competitions) several times. He also has a winners medal from the Champions League (Europe's top competition) in his collection. A very focused and determined player, he believes it is necessary to train, eat and rest properly to perform at the highest level. The events that led up to the World Cup Finals that year, however, must have left him feeling disillusioned with the international set-up. The FAI (the organisation in charge of Irish soccer) had decided that Saipan would be used as the pre-tournament base. After all, it had a very nice hotel. Unfortunately, the team arrived to discover the FAI had brought no soccer balls or training gear - which made training a little difficult. Furthermore, Keane, as captain, wasn't too impressed with the attitude of some of his team-mates; there have been suggestions of late nights and heavy drinking (and I don't mean isotonic fluids). Furthermore, when the training equipment finally arrived, he was unhappy that some were allowed to skip the scheduled training sessions. Keane's anger at what was happening around him led to a huge argument with the squad's coach, Mick McCarthy. It seems that McCarthy found Keane's attitude unacceptable and reservations without foundation; as a result, he dismissed Keane from the squad and sent him home. The story was huge, and Ireland was divided. A large part of the Irish population bizarrely agreed with McCarthy. Vilified by many in the media, Keane was labelled a traitor. Some made claims about what he'd said to McCarthy. He denied making the most controversial remark, a denial supported by Niall Quinn - another player who'd actually backed McCarthy's position. Keane, however, did have his supporters - among them, the population of Cork City and Conor O'Callaghan. In this book, O'Callaghan looks back to the events of Saipan, the reaction of the Irish people and its effect on him. He was involved in any number of arguments defending Keane - his barber was one of his favorite sparring partners - while the situation left his seven-year-old son thoroughly confused. Like Steve Staunton - who was appointed Ireland's captain after Keane was dismissed - O'Callaghan was brought up in Dundalk. Staunton was another player who'd backed McCarthy at a press con