Roy and Roddy for RDS bash with new book due in October
The Republic of Ireland assistant manager has written his second autobiography, The Second Half, in collaboration with acclaimed novelist Roddy Doyle, and the tome goes on sale on October 9.
The Corkman claims to have mellowed of late, but given the nature of his spiky exchanges with former boss at Manchester United, Alex Ferguson, in recent years, it’s likely his new book will still carry at least a whiff of danger and intrigue.
The man himself, alongside Doyle, his writing partner, will appear at an exclusive Eason event at the RDS on Wednesday, October 22.
Tickets for the event go on sale on www.ticketmaster.ie next Tuesday from 10am, priced at€40.
The book will go on sale two days ahead of the qualifier against Gibraltar at the Aviva Stadium, and with due respect to European football’s newest nation, the topic of discussion in advance of the match could well lie within the pages of The Second Half rather than events on the training pitch.
Then there is the small matter of an away game to the newly crowned world champions, Germany, the following Tuesday.
Roy’s first autobiography, co-written with Eamon Dunphy, carried some explosive passages, not least those referring to former Leeds Utd and Manchester City midfielder, Alf Inge Haaland — comments which ultimately resulted in a five-match ban and a fine.
The collaboration between the Ireland football legend and the Booker Award-winning author has been eagerly awaited and is published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in hardback and ebook format. The publishers yesterday said it was not being serialised prior to publication.
As for the event in the RDS, 3,500 tickets will be available, and some on Twitter yesterday pointed out that at €40, it is twice as expensive as the cheapest ticket to watch Ireland take on Gibraltar.
The Second Half paperback is priced at €21.50; hardback €29.80; ebook €12.99: eason.ie.
