United to discourage autobiographies

As recriminations over Roy Keane's autobiography continue to seethe, Manchester United will call a meeting of all their players to dissuade them from writing their life stories while still employed by the club.

While anxious to stop short of an outright ban, United want no further controversies of the kind provoked by their captain, although they admit they can do nothing about David Beckham's planned autobiography which HarperCollins has already declared "the publishing event of 2003". Since the firm has agreed to advance Beckham £3m for the book, three times what Keane and his manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, received for their life stories, it is entitled to expect some serious revelations when it is published next autumn.

Speaking in Bangkok, where he was opening a United store, the club's managing director, David Gill, said: "We need to make it clear that we don't think it's appropriate for players to publish a book while they are still playing for Manchester United. You can't apply rules retrospectively. If David's signed a contract, we're not in a position to deny him that opportunity. We believe they can still do commercial deals. David Beckham's here doing Castrol and Pepsi; Roy Keane does Aer Lingus; that's fine. But a book is another issue."

The Football Association's chief executive, Adam Crozier, expects to know in advance the themes, if not the detail, of Beckham's book. "I would expect that, as England captain, David Beckham would write a book that is acceptable to everyone," he said.

Manchester United have been troubled by two works other than Keane's, who has indicated he will strongly contest an FA disrepute charge the book has provoked. Managing my Life, Ferguson's best-selling autobiography, published in the wake of United's treble-winning season, provoked rifts with Gordon Strachan and his former assistant, Brian Kidd, who has not spoken to the United manager since.

Jaap Stam's book, Head to Head, revealed that Ferguson had approached him while he was still playing for PSV Eindhoven and encouraged his players to dive.