During his playing days, including a seven-year stretch as captain of Manchester United, Roy Keane was known as a fiery, ultra-competitive player. Now 38 and the manager of the English Championship club Ipswich Town, Keane has mellowed a bit and gained some perspective on the many pitfalls that can cause a load of problems for a professional soccer, er, football player.
And the primary cause of trouble, at least as far as Irish footballers is concerned?
Drink, of course. Alcohol, hooch, the hard stuff, the sauce – call it what you want, the overconsumption of the sweet spirits appears to be a common denominator when it comes to Irish blokes finding trouble. Well, duh. They are Irish. Wait. So am I. What is this Keane fellow trying to say??
Admitting he was “something of a tearaway” (whatever that means) during his younger, wilder days, Keane blames alcohol for many of the problems young Irishmen face, particularly among the footballers.
Via The Guardian:
Living in Ireland, the drink is going to be there all the time,” said Keane. “When I come back I get a bit of a buzz for two or three days. I think it’s embedded in us. This thing, ‘let’s get out, there’s something on here and there’. Drink. It’s in the air. Especially when you stop playing and you are getting up for the day and there is no buzz, you need it.
“It’s a problem. It’s there, especially in the Irish players, I notice. In my short time in management I notice that just about every incident we have had to deal with that is drink-related, it is Irish lads. It’s an issue with Irish players. Always.”
Keane doesn’t hide from his past but is clearly grateful he made it through his hard-partying days relatively unscathed.
“When I was having my own escapades I hope I was being young and raw and stupid. I went too far sometimes, but my social life in that way had a short life-span. Burned out. The penny dropped a few years ago for a number of reasons. Thank God.”
Jeez, all this booze talk is making me thirsty. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m dry as dirt and about a quart low. Boy, I better stop mixing metaphors and begin mixing cocktails.
Hey, I’m Irish, I have an excuse. Didn’t you just read what Keane said about it? Pay attention.
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Roy Keane says alcohol is ‘always an issue with Irish footballers’ [The Guardian]
