Roy Keane Says In New Book He Rejected Real Madrid While Taking A S**t!

Former Manchester United captain, Roy Keane, is revealing all in his new tell all book, “The Second Half,” which is set to be released later this month. Keane, who was always outspoken as a member of the Red Devils, has many bizarre anecdotes in the book.

One story discusses his relationship with Old Trafford manager, Alex Ferguson. Keane writes that Ferguson would make up lies to the press about his team and players, and also that he did not want star David Beckham to wear the #7 jersey, and fought hard to not let him wear it.

One of the more astonishing parts in the excerpts that were released to the public on Wednesday was that Keane was offered an opportunity to sign with Real Madrid shortly after he was released by Man U in 2005. In the entry, Keane says he was sitting on the toilet, taking a crap, when he told his agent, Michael Kennedy, to put him on the phone with Real Madrid director, Emilio Butragueno.

“Michael had given me a heads-up that Emilio Butragueno would be phoning, so I took my mobile phone everywhere with me,” wrote Keane in the book.

“And – how’s your luck – he rang me while I was sitting on the toilet. He said: ‘Look Roy, we’ll be glad to have you.’ The club’s board just had to sanction the deal.”

Keane pondered the offer while going to the bathroom for a minute only to decide to reject the opportunity to join the Spanish giants. At the time, Keane believed he would get more playing time and have a better experience playing for the Scottish club, Celtic. So he turned down Real Madrid right then and there and moved to Glasgow in December of that year.

“I took a negative approach,” he wrote. “The weather and the training might have given me another lease of life, another two years of playing.

“As much as anything else, it was fear that decided me – fear of the unknown. I should have appreciated Real’s offer more. It was the most attractive challenge in front of me but I didn’t accept it. In hindsight, I should have said to myself: ‘Go, go to Spain, live there for a year and a half, learn the language, learn the culture.’” Keane continues.

Keane is currently the assistant manager for the Republic of Ireland’s national team. The release of the excerpts from the book coincides with preparations for their Euro Cup 2016 qualifiers that are taking place this weekend. According to the media in Ireland, current manager, Martin O’Neill, is upset with the timing of Keane’s release. When asked about the book on Thursday, O’Neill declined comment saying he will not get involved in the controversy being created by his assistant.

“I’m here to talk about the games and I wouldn’t want anything to be a distraction,” he said. “The book is not a problem to me at all. I have not read it. I have been given some updates and it seems to be quite funny, but the games are the main reason why we are here.

“You could turn around and say me speaking about this is a distraction, but nevertheless. Such is life, you get on with it. I genuinely don’t know what the headlines are about the book. It was obviously going to cause some sort of furor at some stage or another. The very fact that he put his name to this book suggests that exactly what has happened.” O’Neill continued.

Throughout the press conference ahead of Ireland’s matches against Gibraltar and Germany this weekend, O’Neill seemed to get frustrated at the amount of questions that were targeted at the book and not the team. Reporters made all the focus about the book and not the match.

“You can keep going on about this, but I have no idea what it’s all about. Let me read it first and then I might say something. He is over 21; he’s capable of dealing with his own stuff. He didn’t need to talk to me about it.”

Keane is a soccer legend, and is adored by the Irish fans. Despite the distraction this weekend, O’Neill knew what he was getting into when he appointed Keane to be his assistant on the national team. Ireland did not qualify for the World Cup in Brazil, and would like to right the course for the Euro Cup in 2016.