Niall Quinn book review

[Daxion]

Niall Quinn, the autobiography


If talking was football, Niall Quinn would make a World XI. Fiercely articulate and patently honest, he is one of football's good guys, though he endeavours to set the record straight in his new autobiography.

He is no Mr Nice Guy, no Saint Niall, no Mother Teresa as Roy Keane once memorably called him, but a man with faults like the rest of us.

That's what he would have us believe. Drinking and gambling his girlfriend's life savings is as bad as it gets, yet he succeeds only in convincing us that he is a repentant, loveable rogue.

Quinn's book is a brilliant meditation on life and football and a class above Roy Keane's spite-filled missive. Added to Tony Cascarino's Full Time and Eamon Dunphy's Only A Game, the travails of Irish footballers is turning into a very interesting literary sub-genre.

Through all the ups and downs, the injuries and the loss of form, the highs and the lows, Quinn never loses sight of the privilege of being a professional footballer. The events of Saipan are gone into in exhaustive detail.

Quinn is still haunted by the Keane fiasco. He details the drinking sessions, the chaotic preparations, and the general air of disorganisation, which Keane railed against to such powerful effect.

He reaches different conclusions than Keane pointing out how he observed Scotland's exemplary preparations for the 1990 World Cup in comparison with the haphazard way Ireland went about theirs. Yet, Ireland reached the World Cup quarter-final; Scotland were eliminated in the first round.

His central emotion over the events of the World Cup is pride in Ireland's performance tempered by serious regrets at Keane's absence. He is unmercifully hard on himself and admits he bottled it by not taking a penalty against Spain in Suwon.

His candour only serves to remind us that, in a game populated by spivs and chancers, he is one of the more decent characters. He is also a nice guy, despite what he would have us believe to the contrary.

The review is taken from Rí-Rá, (http:www.ri-ra.co.uk) an Irish monthly magazine published in London,

Probably worth a buy. IMO a good Review.

[Shed End John]

Originally posted by DAXION
Niall Quinn, the autobiography
He is unmercifully hard on himself and admits he bottled it by not taking a penalty against Spain in Suwon.

His candour only serves to remind us that, in a game populated by spivs and chancers, he is one of the more decent characters. He is also a nice guy, despite what he would have us believe to the contrary.
.

Three cheers! Nice to see that in an era where ludicrous wages seem to have spawned nothing but pig-headedness and ill-manners amongst so-called 'professionals'.
He needn't be so hard on himself, as he was a damn good servant of Irish football, IMO one of the best.

Murphy Out Now!!!

[Jack_2001]

I think the quinn book is a good read, but it is written very cynically...

There are no clearly defined chapters really, each chapter has a paragraph on his club career, followed by a paragraph on the world cup (mainly focused on the keane affair), followed by another paragraph on his club career, etc... this is cynical as noone reading the book gives two ****s about his club career and just want to read the keane stuff, so mixing up the two in each chapter so the user will have to flick through the club stuff in order to find the keane stuff is a good idea from quinns point of view but not from our point of view.

I remember reading andy townsends world cup diary in 94, and his was in the same format, except that he marked the club parts and the international parts our clearly. I feel that quinn knew there would be never a better time t publish his book than on the back of the keane thing, coz he knew that this would be the best way to maximise income from any book he would write.

Does anyone else feel the same way or is it just me?

[patsh]

Anything written by Tom Humphries is usually worth a read...

[The Legend]

I agree with you Jack,

If i was a member of the World Cup soccer squad and was out to make a few bucks, i'd write a book too!

[Éanna]

Originally posted by The Legend
If i was a member of the World Cup soccer squad and was out to make a few bucks, i'd write a book too!

they make enough money as it is. how can they expect any respect when they cash in on every little thing, while earning more in a month than most of us do in a year

[Jack_2001]

Éanna, I think we've had enough respect for one day