Roy Keane has three entries in the history of football in 100 quotes

A Matter of Life & Death is the new book from football writer Jim White, who purports to tell the history of football in 100 quotations.

The Shankly bon mot referenced in the title doesn’t actually feature among the 100, though White admits you could build a library, never mind a book, from Shanks quotations.

The Shankly line that makes is a nod to the Liverpool great’s obsessiveness and tongue in cheek humour:

"Of course I didn’t take my wife to watch Rochdale as an anniversary present. It was her birthday. Would I have got married in the football season? Besides, it wasn’t Rochdale. It was Rochdale reserves."

Other classic verbal signposts in the game’s history includes Joe Smith’s "Get the ball to Stanley, he’ll win it for you" at half-time in the 1953 FA Cup final, or the Matthews Final, as it became know.

There is Jock Stein ahead of the 1967 European Cup final: "We are going to attack as we never have before."

Clough’s "Gentlemen, the first thing you can do... is throw your medals in the dustbin" is selected, as is Bjørge Lillelien’s "Your boys" rant from 1981.

John Motson gets in for "The Crazy Gang have beaten the Culture Club" as those Brian Moore for his "It’s up for grabs now" beckoning forward of Michael Thomas in 1989.

More recent inclusions are Alan Hansen’s "You can’t win anything with kids"; Zidane’s post-World Cup lament, "He said very tough words about my sister and mother"; and Martin Tyler’s succint "Agueroooooooooo". Mourinho’s "Please do not call me arrogant" preface to labelling himself "The Special One" also qualifies.

And Keano has three contributions. Well, two of his own making.

Of Roy’s classic 2000 censure of Man United’s corporate support - "They have a few drinks and probably the prawn sandwiches..." - White writes: “Keano was in a long line of those who lamented the way that what had once been the most fearsome of atmospheres, one which had shaken the building to its foundations on European nights in the past, had rapidly diminished over the previous decade.

"At Old Trafford, they weren’t singing any more. And it wasn’t a problem confined to Manchester either. At Arsenal, the home support was frequently derided as the Highbury Library”. At Stamford Bridge, the once fearsome Shed had gone quiet. Across the Premier League, frequently the only noise to be heard at games came from the gaggle of away fans: “Shall we sing a song for you?”

The term prawn sandwich brigade “quickly established itself as the term of choice for disparaging the well-heeled supporter”, though White does point out an irony: “the principal beneficiaries in the enormous rise in gate receipts generated by the arrival of the prawn sandwich brigade were players like him (Keane).”

Roy’s second contribution is an equally famous one: “Mick, you’re a liar.. you’re a fucking wanker. I don’t rate you as a player, I don’t rate you as a manager, and I don’t rate you as a person. You’re a fucking wanker and you can stick your World Cup up your arse. The only reason I have any dealings with you is that somehow you are the manager of my country. You can stick it up your bollox.”

White’s take: “In ireland, the country went collectively berserk. No issue - not the Catholic Church, not divorce, abortion or the IRA, not even Sinead O’Connor - has so divided the population as this, the nation’s most gifted footballer walking out on his team.”

A fair assessment. Indeed, just by writing “walking out on his team”, White will probably reignite several thousand of those old feuds.

The third Keane entry was not said by Roy, but inspired by him, in part by remarks like those mentioned already.

“The hardest part of Roy’s body is his tongue.” The line from Alex Ferguson’s autobiography represents the essence of the great, Shakespearean falling out of modern football.

The choice of phrase is brutal, argues White, dismissing, as it does, Keane as “nothing more than a verbal bully.”

“These were words calculated to hurt.”