‘I suffer for my self-destruct button’

While the initial leaks from Roy Keane’s new book generated some largely expected and occasionally unexpected headlines about what you might call the usual suspects — the likes of Alex Ferguson, Peter Schmeichel, Alf-Inge Haaland, Rio Ferdinand and Eamon Dunphy — arguably the most interesting revelations to date concern the man who, after all, ought to be the main subject of the autobiography: Roy Keane himself.

Exposing more of the private man behind the public face than ever before, the introspective Keane looks hard into the mirror and admits he isn’t always happy with what he sees.

“Anger is a useful trait,” he writes. “But when I’m backed into a corner, when I get into situations, professional or personal, I know deep down that when I lose my rag, and I might be in the right — it doesn’t matter — I know I’m going to be the loser.