Crossing the divide to learn how to talk a good game

No matter how successful they might go on to be in management or anything else associated with the game - Liam Mackey writes - I’ve yet to hear a former footballer suggest that his new career ever comes even close to replicating the buzz he experienced as a player.

In his book ‘The Second Half’, Roy Keane recalls a moment in his short but lively career as a television pundit, when that truth hit home strongly. In Turin for a Champions League game between Juventus and Chelsea, he describes standing near the corner-flag before kick- off with ITV’s Adrian Chiles, the presenter gleefully soaking up the atmosphere.

Writes Keane: “He goes, ‘This is great, isn’t it?’ He’s a proper football fan. I went, ‘I used to play in these games, Adrian’. I wasn’t being cocky. He looked at me and said, ‘Yeah, I can see where you’re coming from.’