Red Mist: Roy Keane and the World Cup Civil War - A Fan's Story - Hardcover

2002 was the year of Roy Keane, if not exactly Roy Keane's year. Banished from Ireland's World Cup squad and then suspended by the English FA after comments in his best-selling autobiography, the Manchester United and Ireland captain was seldom out of the news. Red Mist - a passionate exploration of celebrity, temperament, one-all victories, Saipan, the World Cup and national aspiration - is Conor O'Callaghan's personal memoir of an Irish hero arraigned in the court of public opinion. It records the arguments In bars and across shop counters, the media debates, and the torrent of rumours that swirled around Mick McCarthy's team. It also sees the story from quirky angles: the drawings of the writer's football-mad seven-year-old son and the mysterious disappearance of his rag doll, Mr Roy Keane, during the weeks following his banishment from Saipan, plus letters in newspapers, eavesdropped conversations, tirades on website comment pages and even the washing powder commercials featuring Mrs Niall Quinn. Funny, polemical and unexpectedly moving, Red Mist is a portrait of a nation divided, and the summer when football and the love of football made players of us all.

Conor O'Callaghan is the author of two acclaimed poetry collections, The History of Rain (shortlisted for the Forward Poetry Prize Best First Collection and winner of the Patrick Kavanagh Award) and Seatown. He lives in Co. Louth, Republic of Ireland, with his wife and fellow poet Vona Groarke.