Chilton, Martin. "Roddy Doyle interview". The Daily Telegraph. 22 September 2011. The 53-year-old Dubliner, who will be the headline performer at the start of the 10-day Telegraph Bath Festival of Children's Literature, said: "I'm an atheist so I suppose that was part of the challenge of writing about a ghost. Strictly speaking, I don't believe in anything. Boland, Eavan. "Roddy Doyle." Irish Writers on Writing. San Antonio: Trinity University Press, 2007.

Roy Keane's second autobiography charting the end of his Manchester United career, his playing career and his time as a manager, coach and pundit. A genuine pleasure; it is a masterpiece of the genre and one that paints, in an entirely unintentional way, an extremely flattering portrait of the man ... Keane is not afraid to laugh at himself by telling stories against himself ... His thoughts on his players are humane, interesting, candid and never less than believable ... Keane's story is of a man, too, one who has had to look at football and life anew as a manager, and it is this added perspective that gives richness and humanity to the tale -- Mike Atherton * THE TIMES * Keano certainly had thing or two to get out of his chest from the previous autobiography written by Eamon Dunphy. The first chapters were bit scattered because of that and the reading wasn't flowing as freely as I would have liked, but there were still interesting bits, for example his take on events that led to his eventual departure from United and that Real Madrid came courting him after the departure but as we know he decided to go to Celtic, his boyhood dream club. No. 1 bestselling memoir of Roy Keane, former captain of Manchester United and Ireland - co-written with Man Booker Prize-winner Roddy Doyle. It has been a busy year for Roddy Doyle. Not content with scripting the stage version of The Commitments, which is currently at the Palace Theatre in the West End of London, he is knee deep in collaborating on a high-profile memoir with the footballer Roy Keane. Doyle is also involved in a hush-hush new television series that he absolutely can't talk about.

Keane's book - ghosted by Roddy Doyle - is brutal, amusing and self-deprecating, often at the same time The best things are the small things: regretting joining Ipswich when he discovered the training kit was blue; refusing to sign Robbie Savage because his answerphone message was rubbish; being appalled that his side had listened to an Abba song before playing football' Evening Standard Each man trails numbers, stats that speak for themselves. The Man United captain played 600 times and won seven Premier League titles and a European Champions League; Pietersen, double Ashes winner, is England’s most prolific run-scorer of all time in all forms of the game. In both cases, however, it is not the decade of triumph that they dwell on, but the manner of its ending. For all the sweat and glory that preceded it, their lasting focus is, sadly, on the monosyllabic exchanges in an office, each lasting “less than five minutes”, that marked the final act. As Oedipus or Othello might have explained in a post-match interview, at the end of the day, Brian, life just isn’t fair. I went into this book with high expectations. It was, after all, a book about my childhood hero (Keane), co-written and composed by a Booker prize winner (Doyle). How could it possibly disappoint? Well, it did, and on reflection, the blame lies with the author more than the subject matter. For that, we first need to talk about the subject matter.

A book that offers great insight into the modern manager's job ... The book does not attempt to deflect the mistakes Keane made but it adds a dimension to the man. Especially in his reflections on small details of behaviour, and there are scores of them ... Keane must hope that the decision-makers in football take the trouble to read the book itself -- Sam Wallace * i NEWSPAPER * The Roy Keane book will be published in October. Coauthoring is a real change of gear for Doyle – and, he says, very much a one-off. Before taking it on he weighed up his strengths the way a manager might look at a new midfielder. His interest in dialogue. In the use of, ahem, vernacular language. “I asked myself, ‘Is the fact that I’m not a sports journalist an advantage? Is the fact that I was never a sportsman an advantage? The fact that I don’t support Manchester United?’ ” If you write a book, you have got to be true to yourself. It's no good just making something up. You have got to show what is in your heart, and what is in your head, and that is what Roy has done -- Terry Venables * THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY * Booker Prize-winner Roddy Doyle nails Keane's attitude and cadences... Compelling, eye-opening, and - whisper it - great fun The book straight starts with Keane's incident on ALf Halaand, which Keane believes that he still accuses him of destructing his playing career. Moving forward, the main attraction, as media claims, should be when Manchester United tore up his contract after Keane lambasted his teammates in an interview with the club’s television channel. On reading, a reader will be able to judge by his own conscience.Four middle-aged friends from Ireland take a week's vacation in Spain and reflect on life. New Yorker, 28 April 2008. " Bullfighting online text" Allen Randolph, Jody. "Roddy Doyle, August 2009." Close to the Next Moment: Interviews from a Changing Ireland. Manchester: Carcanet, 2010. I'm surprised how much Roy Keane's second autobiography made me laugh ... More importantly the book told me that Keane should be the next Manchester United manager. The more I read what he had to say, and his reflections on his two jobs as boss, the more I realised how perfect he would be at Old Trafford To use a sporting cliché, this blisteringly honest book - written in collaboration with Roddy Doyle - is a tale of two halves. An account of the driven Premier League star's career, then an insight into life as a manager. Roy Keane's self-deprecating wit, combined with a take-no-prisoners approach, make for an entertaining read I liked listening to Roy's take on life after Manchester United. His reflections on his time at Sunderland and what he learned at Ipswich. Most of all his contentment and enjoyment as No.2 for Ireland.