RODDY DOYLE has signed a deal to work with Roy Keane on the footballer's forthcoming memoirs.
The Commitments author will ghostwrite The Second Half, which will be published in the autumn and is described as a blend of "memoir and motivational writing in a manner which both disquiets and reassures in Roy Keane's own original voice".
Keane's first autobiography was ghost-written by Eamon Dunphy in 2003.
Doyle, who won the Booker Prize in 1993 for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, said: "Ten years ago I was buying something in a shop in New York and I handed my credit card to the young African man behind the counter. He read Bank of Ireland on the card, looked at me and said: 'Ireland – Roy Keane.' I'm delighted to be writing this book with Roy."
Roddy DoyleKeane added: "I am very happy to be working with Roddy Doyle on this book, and look forward to the experience."
Alan Samson, from publishers Orion, said: "I believe The Second Half will become a benchmark for sports autobiography. The combination of an outstanding player – and leader – like Roy with a writer of Roddy's extraordinary gifts should result in one of the books of the year."
Meanwhile, a film about Roy Keane as an 11-year-old has been given the green light by the Irish Film Board.
Entitled Rockmount - after his former schoolboy club - the film will tell the story of the young Keane as he struggles to make it as a schoolboy soccer player.
“I guess he is somebody that we all know so well from Nottingham Forest onwards,” said film director Dave Tynan about the Republic of Ireland football team assistant manager.
“The part that interests me is when he was Roy before he was Keane. What was this kid like when he was growing up?”
He added: “It’s not a biopic. It’s a creative imagining of Roy as an 11-year-old. Without dampening expectations, it’s not going to cover his entire career. It’s just our take on a little intense kid called Roy in Cork in 1981. If you’ve followed him, then there are a lot of things that will make sense as it will reference things a bit further down the line in his career. It’s inspired by it but not following any historical facts.
The next big hurdle the film’s makers face is finding a young actor who’s right for the role.
“That is everything,” said Tynan. “We’re in trouble if we don’t find that kid. The profile it has now, we better get it right. It’s a matter of going to Cork and throwing the net out to look at every kid we can. There will be open auditions and that.”
A trailer is scheduled to be released this summer before a possible premiere at the Galway Film Festival.
