Roy Keane’s latest autobiography contains details of an embarrassing transport hiccup during the Republic of Ireland’s US tour which prompted the former Manchester United star to sarcastically label the unfortunate episode as ‘Saipan all over again’.
In The Second Half, the Ireland assistant manager describes how the squad’s travel plans following the 1-1 draw with Costa Rica at PPL Park in Philadelphia in June were unwittingly sabotaged by a well-meaning FAI official.
“We got stuck on the train from Philadelphia to Newark,” Keane wrote.
“We’d been in Philadelphia for the game with Costa Rica.
“We were getting off in Newark, in New Jersey - the players and the staff.
“We were using two doors to get out of the carriage, but the FAI official said that we should all get off through the one door.
“The door shut and myself, Martin, Seamus (McDonagh), Steve Guppy, three medical staff and Aiden McGeady were stuck. The train moved off.
“The lads - the players - on the platform were pissing themselves laughing. It was like a school trip.
“Panic stations - people going mad and Martin was a bit annoyed. But I was quite calm about it.
“I texted one of the FAI staff ‘Saipan all over again’. But I was joking.
“We went on to Penn Station, in Manhattan - about half an hour. We were lucky it wasn’t Boston or Chicago.”
When Keane and the other members of the squad who had failed to disembark rejoined the main cohort of players, one wit had engineered the perfect way to break the tension with the assistance of a hastily procured set of speakers and American indie band Soul Asylum.
Keane added: “We eventually got back to Newark, and out to the team bus. The players were sitting there, dead quiet. The two people who organised the travel were dead pale - white.
“Everyone was quiet - very tense.
“Then one of the lads put on the music. They’d gone off and bought some speakers while we were on the train.
“I don’t know the name of the band but the song was ‘Runaway Train’ and they all started singing with it: ‘Runaway train, never going back / Wrong way on a one-way track...’
“It was brilliant.”
“I texted one of the FAI staff Saipan all over again’. But I was joking." - Roy Keane
Meanwhile, the official launch for The Second Half is set to go ahead on Thursday as originally planned despite copies of the book having accidentally been put on sale already this week.
Supermarket chain Tesco has apologised and launched an investigation after one of its stores in Burnage, Manchester committed a blunder by putting the book on its shelves on Monday - three days earlier than the scheduled release date.
The plan for Thursday's official launch had included Keane taking part in a promotional press conference that afternoon at Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
And the book's publishers Weidenfeld & Nicolson confirmed on Tuesday that the event with the 43-year-old will still be happening.
A spokesperson for the publishers said: "It wasn't part of our plan obviously (for details of the book to be in the public domain before Thursday).
"But we are adapting to the situation and carrying on with the press conference because people will still want to speak to Roy himself."
The spokesperson said the publishers were unable to comment on the possibility of Weidenfeld & Nicolson taking legal action against Tesco, but added: "We have been in touch with Tesco and they have apologised and withdrawn any stock that was mistakenly put out."
Live coverage of Ireland v Gibraltar from 4pm on Saturday on RTÉ2, RTÉ Player and Radio 1. Live coverage of Germany v Ireland from 7pm on Tuesday on RTÉ2, RTÉ Player and 2fm.
