"You’re shit, enjoy being shit." Man-management the Roy Keane way

Former Sunderland player Danny Higginbotham has provided a unique insight into life under Roy Keane’s management.

In an extract from his new autobiography Rise of the Underdog – My Life Inside Football, which is being serialised in the London Independent, Higginbotham revealed details of a remarkable team-talk Roy Keane delivered before a match with Aston Villa during the 2008/09 season, at a time when Sunderland were in a poor run of form.

“It was bizarre at the time, but turned out to be a stroke of genius,” writes the defender, who was also at Manchester United during Keane’s time at the club.