Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

IT WAS a wet and humid day in August of 1993 and the setting was the Manchester hotel room which Roy Keane was temporarily calling home.

Keane, who had turned 22 a couple of days earlier, had already experienced his first taste of success with his new club Manchester United, as a member of the victorious Charity Shield side. Now he was gearing up for the season proper. But there were also more practical matters to consider. The local paper on the bed, opened to the property pages, spoke of an urgent desire to make himself a permanent base.

Having been tipped off by a mutual acquaintance in Manchester about the hotel where he was staying, I’d taken the chance of ringing up and asking to speak to Roy Keane. To my surprise, I was put straight through and, far from being annoyed at the intrusion, the summer’s most talked about signing seemed only too happy to have the Sunday Press soccer correspondent around for a chat.