New book out now on former Saddlers' wild-man... The ideal Christmas gift...
RED CARD Roy is the jaw-dropping story of terrace cult hero, Roy McDonough – Britain’s wildest-ever football who was sent off a record 22 times in a career spanning seven League clubs (including The Saddlers), more than 650 games, 150 goals, thousands of beers and 400 women.
From one of his first sending offs, aged 16, when he tried to strangle the referee in a school’s Cup Final, Red Card Roy is a roller-coaster ride of football, violence, sex and booze.
Featuring a who’s who cast from football in the 1970s, 80s and 90s – from his unlikely friendship with the late, great Bobby Moore, to his run-ins with current Premier League managers David Moyes, Martin O’Neill and Tony Pulis (who he kung-fu kicked to the floor after just seven minutes of an FA Cup tie).
But beyond the elbows and the early baths, the beer, the birds and the brawls, there is a poignant human story – the ultra-competitive dad, the uncontrollable temper and uncanny ability to make the wrong decision at the wrong time, all of which cost him the chance to play football at the highest level and sent Roy down a path of self-destruction… albeit one along which he had the time of his life!
Red Card Roy is published by Vision Sports Publishing (ISBN 9781907637568). Copies are available for £12.99 each from the Banks’s Stadium Programme Shop and would make the ideal gift this Christmas.
Pick up your copy ahead of our home game against Colchester United on Saturday, December 22nd!
ALL ABOUT ROY
Roy McDonough was born in Solihull in 1958. The striker signed schoolboy forms for Aston Villa but made his debut in the first division for Birmingham City in 1977.
Scoring his first, and only, top-flight goal against QPR in his second appearance, other than a short spell at Chelsea, this was his only taste of life in the ‘big time’.
The remainder of his career was spent in the bottom two divisions. He joined Walsall for £15,000 in September 1978 as he made the short journey from Blues. At Fellows Park he hit 15 goals in 82 League outings before Chelsea secured his services in a £15,000 deal in October 1980.
He went on to serve Cambridge United, Exeter City, Southend United and Colchester United, where he enjoyed a successful spell as player-manager.
McDonough has also turned out for a host of non-League clubs on his way to clocking up an English record 22 red cards during four decades of football.