‘Basically, you’re shit’ – New book reveals some of Roy Keane’s craziest team-talks

Reverse psychology or stone mad honesty?

Danny Higginbotham has an autobiography, Rise of the Underdog, coming out and we are already considering dusting off the sleeping bag to queue up outside the nearest book store so we can nab a copy. Higginbotham's career has seen him brush shoulders with the likes of Roy Keane, Zinedine Zidane, Ryan Giggs and Pascal Chimbonda. If that is not enough, he has a heap of juicy revelations from behind the dressing room doors of Manchester United, Sunderland and Stoke. In an extract in today's London Independent, Higginbotham describes an off-the-wall Keane team-talk when he was Black Cats manager:

That [Aston Villa] game was the scene of one of the most bizarre team talks I’ve ever experienced, and that’s saying something from someone who had a childhood acquaintance give one. It was bizarre at the time, but turned out to be a stroke of genius. “Listen lads,” he said. “Basically, you’re shit. Try and enjoy the game. You’re probably going to get beat. But just enjoy being shit.” Then he just walked out. Those words have got to be insulting to any professional, no matter who they come from, and I’ll admit it served as the perfect motivation to get out there and prove him wrong. I scored after 10 minutes and we were leading at half-time. We ended up drawing.

Another extract describes how Keane laid into Sunderland's younger players. Higginbotham writes, 'You’ve got to give everything. If you carry on like last night, you’ll find yourselves working at f*****g Sainsbury’s this time next year. You’ll be on the dole.' Keane, who is now Ireland's assistant manager, then turned on the experienced Higginbotham: 'Danny [said Keane], all I’m f*****g hearing from you when I’m watching that game yesterday is f*****g encouragement. That’s all I’m hearing.” I thought, well, that’s not so bad. “I don’t f******g want that. I want you to tell some of them they’re being c**ts. Tell them.' Put us down for eight copies Danny.