Author Roddy Doyle signs on to help Roy Keane write his next autobiography

Roddy Doyle and Roy Keane as 'The Commitments' author Doyle has signed a deal to work with Keane to write the footballer's autobiography (PA)

Roddy Doyle, author of "The Commitments", has signed a deal to work with Roy Keane on the controversial ex-footballer’s latest autobiography.

The book, called The Second Half, will be published in the autumn and is described as a blend of “memoir and motivational writing in a manner which both disquiets and reassures in Roy Keane’s own original voice.”

Dublin-born Doyle, who won the Booker Prize in 1993 for "Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha", said: “10 years ago I was buying something in a shop in New York and I handed my credit card to the young African man behind the counter. He read Bank of Ireland on the card, looked at me and said: ‘Ireland - Roy Keane.’ I'm delighted to be writing this book with Roy.”

Keane, whose career included stints for Nottingham Forest and Manchester United, said: “I am very happy to be working with Roddy Doyle on this book, and look forward to the experience.”

Alan Samson, of publishers Orion, said: “I believe The Second Half will become a benchmark for sports autobiography. The combination of an outstanding player - and leader - like Roy with a writer of Roddy’s extraordinary gifts should result in one of the books of the year.”

Since retiring as a player, Keane has managed Sunderland and Ipswich, and is now the assistant manager to the Ireland team. He has forged a career as an acerbic pundit, regularly taking pot-shots at his former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson.

An earlier memoir, Keane: The Autobiography, co-written with Eamon Dunphy, published in 2002, resulted in controversy when Keane revealed he had deliberately set out to hurt Manchester City’s Alf-Inge Haaland in a tackle the previous year.