PENGUIN SANDYCOVE WILL publish the autobiography of Irish football manager Roddy Collins later this year.
Collins – brother of former world boxing champion Steve – has collaborated on his memoirs with Paul Howard, the comic genius who created the character of Ross O’Carroll Kelly. The book, titled The Rodfather, will be published in October of this year.
Collins had 16 players as a club before moving into management, initially at Bangor in 1995 before coming to Irish attention when he was appointed manager of Bohemians in 1998. He went on to lead them to the league and cup double in 2001, a season in which Bohemians famously came from 4-1 down to beat Shamrock Rovers 6-4.
Collins went onto manage Carlisle United, where he partook in a fondly-remembered behind-scenes documentary called The Rod Squad. He returned to Ireland and had spells in charge at Dublin City, Shamrock Rovers, Cork City, Monaghan United, Athlone Town, Derry City and Waterford United, while he also coached Floriana of Malta.
“I am delighted to be working with Penguin Sandycove to put my story down on paper for the first time”, says Collins. “My life in sport has been a rollercoaster: euphoria and sadness, pain and gain, life and death, successes and failures, truths and lies, fights and friendships. No one else could have understood my story the way Paul Howard did, and for this I am very grateful. We spent six months howling with laughter at some of the stories from over the years. If readers laugh half as much reading it as we did writing it, we will have got something right.”
“I’m very excited to be involved with this book”, added Paul Howard. “Roddy and I have known each other for more than thirty years and I’ve always said that his story is one of the great unwritten Irish sports books of our time. The material that emerged from the months of conversation we shared convinced me of this even more and I feel privileged that he chose me to help him tell it. The story of his life and career is fascinating and funny and full of twists and turns. It will surprise a lot of people.”
